Paris - The Orsay Museum - 7me

Plate LXI - The Orsay Museum...

Arguably the most beautiful museum in all of Europe (I certainly have not seen one I prefer) the Orsay Museum is housed in the splendour of the old Orsay railway station. With similarities in design to the Grand and Petit Palaces, Victor Laloux completed the station in three years to ensure that it was available for the Paris exhibition of 1900. Abandoned as a station only a short thirty-nine years later owing to the short platforms not suiting the increasingly long trains of the times, the deterioration of the structure placed it under threat of demolition. Many sepia postcards recording its days as a station may be found in the stalls of the bouquinistes.

It survived through serving various temporary purposes (including being used by Orson Welles as a film set), and was declared a national monument by President Georges Pompidou in 1978 with plans for its conversion to a museum being unveiled in 1977. Work on the massive project lasted from 1980 to 1986, when the 20,000 square metres of exhibition space was opened by President Mitterand on December 1st.

Currently housing exhibits of mainly 19th and early 20th century work, the Orsay bridges the gap between the antiquities and old masters of the Louvre, and the modern contemporary works of the Tokyo Palace and Pompidou Centre. Perhaps the most notable collections are of the impressionist group, works that demand the more natural lighting and airiness of the Orsay. There are collections of architecture and the decorative arts, and most notably a fine gallery devoted to the art of the photographer. 

Was there something particular I sought here? Apart from the usual suspects – too numerous to list - there were two works I specifically sought. My grandmother had always treasured a pair of prints of Millet’s works the Gleaners and the Angelus. They’re here - and did not disappoint me.  

Unlike the Louvre, you can cover the Orsay in single visit, but do take a full day!!!

Paris - Opéra Bastille - 4me

Plate XL - Opera Bastille…

My favourite performance of music by the often sombre German composer Wagner is conducted by a Frenchman. Listen to ‘Boulez Conducts Wagner’ and you’ll understand why.

France’s Théâtre National Populaire owes its continued existence mainly to one man - actor and director Jean Vilar.

Anyone who knows or cares about dance is familiar with the name Maurice Béjart and with his unique convergence of classical, jazz and modern choreography.

As you’ll shortly see there is a link between these three men of the arts.

On 14th July 1789 (commemorated in modern times as France’s national day), the notorious mediaeval Parisian fortress prison and symbol of repression known as the Bastille was stormed by a mob in the opening days of the Révolution. Famously, only a scant few prisoners were found to be incarcerated within its walls. For over a century the site of the destroyed Bastille was later occupied by a train station, built in 1859 and closed at the end of 1969.

On July 13th 1989 a new building was inaugurated on the site with a concert conducted by Georges Prêtre, and featuring Placido Domingo and Theresa Berganza. It was the Opéra Bastille, first proposed in a report submitted to French President Francois Mitterand in 1968 and promoted by Boulez, Béjart, and Vilar.

Finally built to a design by architect Carlos Ott, Opéra Bastille has since 1990 been home to the Théâtre Nationale de l'Opéra, formerly based in the better known Opéra Garnier (home to the legendary Phantom).  

During opera seasons the cultural juxtaposition found at this modern French centre for the performing arts, facing onto a nearby fast food outlet serving the 'take-away' feeding tourist hordes that frequent the city and crowd the opera steps to eat, creates an interesting mix of customers as patrons of the Opéra in evening finery sidestep the casually attired visitors.

Pommes frites, anyone?

Paris - Louvre Pyramide - 1er

Plate XIV - The Pyramide from Cour Caree ...

The Cour Carée is not the most attractive part of the Louvre precinct. In fact I can think of only one reason to visit here and that is to orientate oneself before entering the buildings and so gain an understanding of the history of the Louvre’s plan, and then to exit. Although the complex of the Grand Louvre appears at first to have been architecturally co-ordinated in the French Renaissance manner, the many differently styled buildings were actually constructed over a period of 480 years – from the early sixteenth century reign of Francis I up to the presidency of Francois Mitterand who commissioned Ieoh Ming Pei to develop the Grand Louvre designs. The Mediaeval origins of the Louvre are no longer visible above ground, but still remain in open excavated exhibitions. I daresay it is not finished yet. Rumours abound that there is a plan, growing in popularity amongst the French, to reconstruct the Tuileries Palace within the Grand Louvre surrounds, and if progressed it will certainly take the exercise at least well into this 21st century. 

The major wings of the museum show a definite rivalry between Baroque and Classicism. Neither wins, and in my mind they live harmoniously side-by-side.

For his work on the entrance to the Louvre, Pei was awarded France’s Legion d’Honeur in 1993. It is interesting to learn of the many obstacles he was to overcome in his designs, and the unexpected discovery of those large subterranean relics of the mediaeval Louvre, now also presented to visitors to the museum.

This view of his Grand Pyramid is a bonus for visiting the Cour Carée. Perhaps that makes it two reasons to go there.

Paris - Grande Arche Detail - La Défense

Plate III - Grande Arche de la Fraternite

The three main elements of the Grande Arche are: the arche itself (comprising of two glazed side tower blocks of some 87,000 square metres and a linking belvedere platform creating the span); the Teflon canvas, steel and glass cloud; and the exposed external elevator shaft. Clad in three hectares of white Italian Carrara marble the shape of the arche can be seen from many vantage points throughout Paris. It is arguably the greatest architectural contribution to the city skyline of the twentieth century, and like many of the city’s architectural features it was a controversial addition. Designed by Danish architect Johann Otto Von Spreckelsen in 1983, on an initiative launched by incumbent French president Francois Mitterand in 1981, the arche was inaugurated on 14th July 1989 to coincide with the bicentenary of the French Revolution (and a full century after the Eiffel Tower). The date also coincided with the 15th G7 Summit. 

The arche, at a height of 110 metres (about 300 feet) and forming an almost perfect cube at 108 metres wide, could enclose Notre Dame cathedral. The mass of the arche is calculated at about 300,000 tons – approximately six times the mass of the Eiffel Tower - (the 'roof' contributing some 30,000 of these), and it rests almost centred (it is inexplicably turned at 6.33 degrees) on the furthest point of the historical axis of Paris, on twelve pillars. I choose to believe this slight rotation gives an impression of its depth from any point along the axis (others will tell you it was a more pragmatic decision, taken to accommodate the deep foundations of twelve massive concrete piles intruding into the subterranean train and metro stations below).

The interior space of the Grande Arche is made interesting by the inclusion of “the cloud”. This may be adjusted by height and shape to suit events taking place within the space of the arche. Dramatic lighting effects at night make the cloud visible from distances kilometres away, down the spine of the historical axis, making the name of the shape entirely appropriate, for it’s changing form truly is reminiscent of a cloud.

The arche was constructed in an amazingly short three years. I was in complete awe. It is magnificent – a word I found myself overusing then as I probably shall again and again now. Forgive me.