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A Few Signs of Revolution…

This is a plaque to commemorate the work of Charles Comtesse, who in 1625 completed the bell tower of the church of Saint-Nicholas-du-Chardonnet, on rue des Bernadins, here: http://bit.ly/2s0nj3Z. Revolutionaries scratched out Comtesse’s name (because of its aristocratic ties) and references to the King. (If you go into the church, you’ll also find a monument to favourite painter of Louis XIV, Charles Le Brun, who decorated Versailles, and is buried here along with his mother.)

Rue (Saint) André des Arts, one of the many streets that lost its religious connection under the revolution. Around the corner is another example, rue (Saint) Séverin:

Coats of arms were erased from many buildings, such as the old Hotel Carnavalet (now the Musée Carnvalet):

And revolutionary graffiti in the seventeenth century Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis church, in the Marais. Despite repeated attempts to remove it, the declaration  “French Republic or death”, refuses to budge. Perhaps the communard who wrote it also defended the barricade outside, on rue Saint-Antoine, during the “bloody week” of May 21-28, 1871.

 

 

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Walking Tour – Introduction

Here are some photos of our walking tour led by Nigel in the introductory session.

 

Setting out!

 

Listening attentively to our tour guide!

 

The Communards’ Wall, up against which men were summarily shot, in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

 

 

The sign to the Supreme Being outside the Saint-Sulpice church

 

The Gnomon, an astronomical instrument installed in 1743, inside the Saint-Sulpice church.

 

The former home of feminist Olympe de Gouges, in rue Servandoni.

 

 

The hiding place of philosopher Condorcet during the Terror of 1793/4, and of the resistance publisher Editions de Minuit in 1943, in rue Servandoni.

 

Metre measure in rue Vaugirard.

 

The Pantheon, where the remains of a number of key historical figures are kept including Marie Curie and Jean Moulin, a Second World War resister.

 

 

Café d’Harcourt/Librairie Rive Gauche, the Nazi bookshop that was attacked by resistance fighters, (which is now Gap!) in the Place de la Sorbonne.

 

Shrapnel damage from the liberation of Paris, August 1944, on the wall of Odéon Theatre.

 

 

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