PARIS FROM CLASSICISM TO THE REVOLUTION
History of Paris France

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Paris under "François Ier"

François Ier put new life into the Louvre having pulled down the big clock. He changed its orientation by moving the main entrance from South to East.

Then, he had one river bank constructed.

He ordered the edification of the Town Hall which started on July 15, 1533. But the masterpiece was completed only 75 years later. This masterpiece was to disappear in the big fire of the “Commune” in 1871. Later it was the turn of Saint-Eustache Church.

Paris under Henri IV

"Henri IV" decided to make Paris his residence town. Was it because he had had such a difficult time conquering Paris in 1594 after a five year siege? He therefore decided to give Paris a “make over”. Having lived less time in the City than his predecessors, he certainly completed several important architectural projects. He then rewarded himself with the title of “Governor of Paris”.

He started the edification of the first "Place Royale" which later became the “Place des Vosges”.

The development of the new Italian Renaissance aspects is linked to the Court and the King’s residences. In 1610 Paris did not go beyond the actual Town Hall of the Vth district in the South, the "Porte Saint-Denis" in the North, the "Temple" in the North West and the “Porte de la Conférence” in the West.

In the North was the town for the King residing at the "Louvre" and was also the King’s strength while it had its seat at the "Temple", at la "Bastille", a fortress and at l’"Arsenal", a prison ; as well as for the officers who stayed around the new "Place Royale" ; for trading, for handcraft, for the harbours that scattered from Quay "St-Paul" to the "Place des Grèves". In the South was the "Université" full of universities and convents.

Beyond the surrounding walls came the outskirts such as "faubourg Saint-Germain" with its abbey, its games, its fairs, "faubourg Saint-Jacques" with its monasteries, the overcrowded "faubourg Saint-Marcel". In the North, surrounding the town, was "faubourg Saint-Honoré", "Montmartre", "Saint-Denis", "faubourg du Temple", "faubourg Saint-Antoine". Then, there was the country, the flat country, the woods. On the "Chaillot"’s and "Roule"’s hills one could breathe the fresh air. One could admire the view from "Belleville" or "Ménilmontant"’s heights. Hay could be cut from the "Grenelle"’s fields. One could harvest the grapes in "Montmartre".

Paris was wide open to the countryside and nobody felt emprisoned in it.

It is a round town, a closed-in town with walls measuring four meters high and two meters wide, with the river in the middle and hundreds of church towers.

It is also five hundred hectares of tortuous streets patched around at random, five hundred hectares covered with palaces, churches and convents, open markets and harbours with emerging barges overloaded with goods. That is what Paris looked like the day after the King was murdered.

Paris under Louis XIII

Louis XIII did not have a flair for architecture but as he hardly did any building, private individuals thought about it for him. Paris under Louis XIII grew to a third of its size, which, in Parisian history, was quite exceptional.

Major new monuments appeared : "L’Académie française", "La Poste" and le "Jardin des Plantes". The "Pont Notre-Dame" was built by Christophe Marie, a specialist in bridge buildings. In 1659, Louix XIII decided to have the "Pavillon de l’Horloge" built and asked “Lemercier” and "Le Vau" to supervise its edification; more buildings were added to the pavillion.

Paris under Louis XIV

Under Louis XIV the town continued to expand and to flourish. Louis XIV decided to enlarge the Louvre and asked "Le Vau" to multiply by four the surface of the Square Yard. It was "Le Nôtre", who enlarged the "Tuileries" garden. During the King’s Parisian years major modifications in the town were undertaken. “Colbert”, building supervisor wished to make Paris a new Rome.

He wanted that way to attract the King to his town and also to link the name of Paris with its inhabitants to the monarchistic power.

The "Hôtel des Invalides", built after the General Hospital ("La Salpêtrière") was to shelter its casualties of war. In honor to the King two big squares were built. That sycophantic urbanism was found in the "Place des Victoires" (1689) and in "Place Vendôme" (1698) which were both carried out under the initiative of "Maréchal de la Feuillade" and "Louvois".

But in spite of these edifications Louis XIV settled in Versailles.

Paris under Louis XV

Louis XV’s reign brought some innovations in the Parisian landscape. The "Ecole Militaire" (1773) was constructed by Ange Jacques Gabriel. The "Hôtel des Monnaies" (1768) represented the so-called style "Louis XVI".

The "Panthéon" edification (the old Sainte-Geneviève church) took most half of the second part of the XVIIth century. More than thirty years elapsed between Soufflot’s drawings (1757) and the edification achievement just before the Revolution.

Very few exceptional events hit the capital town. A new police order dating from July 30, 1729 finally announced the naming of streets. In fact, up to the XVIIIth century, streets had never been given official names.

Paris under Louis XVI

Louis XVI achieved a lot for Paris. Project and improvement of the railway networks in Paris by way of digging new streets in lieu of the national properties which were taken away from the Catholic Church and from the emigrates.

In Paris, symmetry became fashionable. Nevertheless, medieval architecture was not completely rejected. In 1815, Paris still remained a medieval town. Up to the XIVth century, the old town kept its medieval layout. Gothic art was still in favor. The Sainte-Merri Church or even the Saint-Jacques Tower built between 1508 and 1522, were not indeed gothic expressions.

In order to slow down the Parisian growth and after many efforts, it was only in 1783 that following monarchy orders, streets were listed on a plan while eager speculators were opening new districts. One must wait another hundred years before seeing major urbanism projects appear in Paris.

The main project in Paris was the edification of "Sainte-Geneviève" started by "Soufflot" with a Greek cross and a dome. It was later transformed into the actual "Pantheon".

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