This building from the year 1931 is now something of an embarrassment (anyone who isn’t embarrassed ought to be) because the whole front façade is covered by crass propaganda bas-reliefs glorifying the French colonial system, which at that time was still in full operation even though revolts had already started Read More …
The Faubourg Saint-Antoine is a Paris neighborhood that begins at Place de la Bastille (first photo) and stretches about 2 km eastward to Place de la Nation. The word Faubourg means “outside the walls”, now usually translated as “suburb”. In the Middle Ages this neighborhood was in fact outside the Read More …
This striking new footbridge, Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, was built from 2004-2006 to connect the new National Library François Mitterrand with the new Parc du Bercy. It is a steel structure with oak planks as a deck, and it crosses the Seine in one leap, with no supports in the Read More …
The Austerlitz Bridge is a stone bridge with five arches. It was originally built from 1801 to 1805, but it was widened and strengthened twice during the nineteenth century. The bridge was named after the Battle of Austerlitz, a French victory under the command of Emperor Napoléon I in 1805. Read More …
For a hundred and ten years, from 1859 to 1969, there was a railway line that started at Place de la Bastille and went east to Reuilly, Bel-Air and Saint-Mandé. This line went on a viaduct above street level for nearly two kilometers before descending to ground level at the station Read More …
The only way to have a look at the backstage areas of the Opéra Bastille (unless you have business there) is to take a guided tour. These begin at 5.00 pm on some afternoons from September 1st until July 16th. You can find more details on their website. Tickets go Read More …
This audience at the Opéra Bastille in Paris turned out to be highly enthusiastic, rewarding all four of the lead singers in Verdi’s Troubadour with bravos and prolonged applause after their main arias. There’s a special word for this in German, Szenenapplaus (literally ‘scene applause’ but I don’t know of Read More …
In September 2011 I paid all of five Euros and got the next-to-last standing room ticket for the premiere of the opera Salomé by Richard Strauss (1864-1949). This was the first performance of the 2011-2012 opera season in Paris. The standing room tickets are not sold in advance, but go Read More …
Right behind the Opéra Bastille in the 12th district of Paris there is a hospital called “15-20”. Since this is a national eye hospital, I first thought the name “15-20” might have something to do with visual acuity, as in 20/20 vision, but that turned out to be a totally Read More …
In Paris back in 2011 I saw an insightful theatrical revue about the Second Empire, the eighteen-year period from 1852 to 1870 when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte ruled France as Emperor Napoléon III. The musical spectacle “Hugoffenbach” combined texts by Victor Hugo (1802-1885), expressing his outrage at Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s seizure of power, Read More …