of the finest shops in Paris; the Rue St Honoré running parallel with the Rue de Rivoli, from the Rue Royale to the Central Markets; the Rue de Lafayette, one of the longest streets of Paris, traversing the town from the Opera to the Bassin de la Villette; the Boulevard Magenta, from Montmartre to the Place de la République; and the Rue de Turbigo, from this place to the Halles Centrales. On the left side of the river the main thoroughfare is the Boulevard St Germain, beginning at the Pont Sully, skirting the Quartier Latin, the educational quarter on the north, and terminating at the Pont de la Concorde after traversing a quarter mainly devoted to ministries, embassies and other official buildings and to the residences of the noblesse.
Squares.—Some of the chief squares have already been mentioned. The finest is the Place de la Concorde, laid out under Louis XV. by J. A. Gabriel and noted as the scene of the execution of Louis XVI., Marie Antoinette and many other victims of the Revolution. The central decoration consists of an obelisk from the great temple at Luxor in Upper Egypt, presented to Louis Philippe in 1831 by Mehemet Ali, and flanked by two monumental fountains. The formation of the Place Vendôme was begun towards the end of the 17th century. In the middle there is a column surmounted by a statue of Napoleon I. and decorated with plates of bronze on which are depicted scenes from the campaign of 1805. The Place de l’Étoile is the centre of twelve avenues radiating from it in all directions. The chief of these is the fashionable Avenue des Champs Élysées which connects it with the Place de la Concorde; while on the other side the Avenue de la Grande Armée leads to the fortifications, the two forming a section of the main artery of Paris; the well-wooded Avenue du Bois de Boulogne forms the threshold of the celebrated park of that name. In the centre of the Place, the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile, the largest triumphal arch in the world (162 ft. high by 147 ft. wide), commemorates the military triumphs of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic troops. The finest of the sculptures on its façades is that representing the departure of the volunteers in 1792 by François Rude. The Place de la République, in which stands a huge statue of the Republic, did not receive its present form till 1879. The Place de la Bastille stands a little to the east of the site of the famous state prison. It contains the Colonne de Juillet erected in memory of those who fell in the revolution of July 1830. The Place du Carrousel, enclosed within the western wings of the Louvre and so named from a revel given there by Louis XIV., was enlarged about the middle of the 19th century. The triumphal arch on its west side commemorates the victories of 1805 and formed the main entrance to the Tuileries palace (see below). Facing the arch there is a stone pyramid forming the background to a statue of Gambetta. Other squares are the Place des Victoires, dating from 1685, with the equestrian statue of Louis XIV.; the Place des Vosges, formerly Place Royale, formed by Henry IV. on the site of the old Tournelles Palace and containing the equestrian statue of Louis XIII.; the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, once the Place de Grève and the scene of many state executions from the beginning of the 14th century till 1830; the Place du Châtelet, on the site of the prison of the Grand Châtelet, pulled down in 1802, with a fountain and a column commemorative of victories of Napoleon, and the Place de la Nation decorated with a fountain and a bronze group representing the Triumph of the Republic, and with two columns of 1788 surmounted by statues of St Louis and Philip Augustus, corresponding at the east of the city to the Place de l’Étoile at the west.
South of the Seine are the Place St Michel, adorned with a monumental fountain, and one of the great centres of traffic in Paris; the Carrefour de l’Observatoire, with the monument to Francis Jarnier, the explorer, and the statue of General Ney standing on the spot where he was shot; the Place du Panthéon; the Place Denfert Rochereau, adorned with a colossal lion symbolizing the defence of Belfort in 1871; the Place St Sulpice, with a modern fountain embellished with the statues of the preachers Bossuet, Fénelon, Massillon and Fléchier; the Place Vauban, behind the Invalides; and the Place du Palais Bourbon, in front of the Chamber of Deputies. On the Île de la Cité in front of the cathedral is the Place du Parvis-Notre-Dame, with the equestrian statue of Charlemagne.
Besides those already mentioned, Paris possesses other monumental fountains of artistic value. The Fontaine des Innocents in the Square des Innocents belonged to the church of that name demolished in 1786. It is a graceful work of the Renaissance designed by Pierre Lescot and retains sculptures by Jean Goujon. On its reconstruction on the present site other carvings were added by Augustin Pajou. A fountain of the first half of the 18th century in the Rue de Grenelle is remarkable for its rich decoration, while another in the Avenue de l’Observatoire is an elaborate modern work, the central group of which by J. B. Carpeaux represents the four quarters of the globe supporting the terrestrial sphere. The Fontaine de Medicis (17th century) in the Luxembourg garden is a work of Salomon Debrosse in the Doric style; the fountain in the Place Louvois (1844) representing the rivers of France is by Louis Visconti. In 1872 Sir Richard Wallace gave the municipality fifty drinking-fountains which are placed in different parts of the city.
The Seine.—The Seine flows for nearly 8 m. through Paris. As it enters and as it leaves the city it is crossed by a viaduct used by the circular railway and for ordinary traffic; that of Point du Jour has two storeys of arches. Three bridges—the Passerelle de l’Estacade, between the Île St Louis and the right bank, the Pont des Arts and the Passerelle Debilly (close to the Trocadéro) are for foot passengers only; all the others are for carriages as well. The most famous, and in its actual state the oldest, is the Pont Neuf, begun in 1578, the two portions of which rest on the extremity of the island called La Cité, the point at which the river is at its widest (863 ft.). On the embankment below the Pont Neuf stands the equestrian statue of Henry IV. Between La Cité and the left bank the width of the lesser channel is reduced to 95 ft. The river has a width of 540 ft. as it enters Paris and of 446 ft. as it leaves it. After its entrance to the city it passes under the bridges of Tolbiac, Bercy and Austerlitz, that of Sully, those of Marie and Louis Philippe between the Île St Louis and the right bank; that of La Tournelle between the lie St Louis and the left bank; that of St Louis between the Île St Louis and La Cité. The Cité communicates with the right bank by the Pont d’Arcole, the Pont Notre-Dame, built on foundations of the 15th century, and the Pont au Change, owing its name to the shops of the money-changers and goldsmiths which bordered its medieval predecessor; with the left bank by that of the Archevêché, the so-called Pont au Double, the Petit Pont and the Pont St Michel, the original of which was built towards the end of the 14th century. Below the Pont Neuf come the Pont des Arts, Pont du Carrousel, Pont Royal (a fine stone structure leading to the Tuileries), and those of Solférino, La Concorde, Alexandre III. (the finest and most modern bridge in Paris, its foundation-stone having been laid by the czar Nicholas II. in 1896), Invalides, Alma, Iéna (opposite the Champ de Mars), Passy, Grenelle and Mirabeau. The Seine has at times caused disastrous floods in the city, as in January 1910. (See Seine.)
The houses of Paris nowhere abut directly on the river banks, which in their whole extent from the bridge of Austerlitz to Passy are protected by broad embankments or “quais.” At the foot of these lie several ports for the unloading and loading of goods, &c.—on the right side Bercy for wines, La Rapée for timber, Port Mazas, the Port de l’Arsenal at the mouth of the St Martin canal,[1] the Port Henry IV., des Celestins, St Paul, des Ormes, de l’Hôtel de Ville (the two latter for fruit) and the Port St Nicolas (foreign vessels); on the left bank the Port de la Gare for petroleum, St Bernard for wines and the embarcation of sewage, and the ports of La Tournelle (old iron), Orsay (building material), the Invalides, Gros Caillou, the Cygnes, Grenelle and Javel (refuse). Besides the river ports, the port of Paris also includes the canals of St Martin and the portions of the canals of St Denis and the Ourcq within the walls. All three debouch in the busy and extensive basin of La Villette in the north-east of the city. The traffic of the port is chiefly in coal, building materials and stone, manure and fertilizers, agricultural produce and food-stuffs.
Promenades and Parks.—In the heart of Paris are situated the gardens of the Tuileries[2] (56 acres), designed by André Le Notre under Louis XIV. Though added to and altered afterwards they retain the main outlines of the original plan. They are laid out in parterres and bosquets, planted with chestnut trees, lindens and plane trees, and adorned with playing fountains and basins, and numerous statues mostly antique in subject. From the terrace along the river-side a fine view is to be had over the Seine to the park and palace of the Trocadéro; and
- ↑ This canal (3 m. long) leaving the Seine below Austerlitz bridge, passes by a tunnel under the Place de la Bastille and Boulevard Richard Lenoir, and rises by sluices to the La Villette basin, from which the St Denis canal (4 m. long) descends to the Seine at St Denis. In this way boats going up or down the river can avoid passing through Paris. The canal de l’Ourcq, which supplies the two canals mentioned, contributes to the water-supply of Paris as well as to its transport facilities.
- ↑ These gardens are the property of the state, the other areas mentioned being the property of the town.
