Palais Garnier

Palais Garnier

The tremendous size of this building

almost causes a person to 

overlook the magnificent

details.

Did I mention that I have

a thing for shoes?

Palais Garnier

8, rue Scribe

75009, Paris

La tristesse

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cimetière de Passy

 

 

One of thousands of statues

in Paris cemeteries,

this one resonated with me.

 

 

 

 

Cimetière de Passy

2, rue de Comandant-Schloesing

75116, Paris



 

Il me manque énormément

 

 



Elle pleure

She cries

She has cried many times 

over the past century

for loss of innocent lives

She cried again 

on January 7, 2015

Cimetière du Père Lachaise

75020, Paris

Pensive? Nostalgique?

Printemps - premier étage

As this statue perched outside on the second floor 

peers in at the grand staircase, 

do you think that she must be a bit wistful 

to have spent the past 100 years 

only looking in at the fashions of Printemps?

must be a French girl

Printemps

64, boulevard Haussmann 75009, Paris

Trois statues parmi les fleurs

Three statues among the flowers

Without regard to the season or the weather,

one can always find fresh flowers, herbs, and plants in Paris.

Are you ready for spring?

Mahasiah

234, boulevard Raspail

75014, Paris

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame

The exterior of this 800-year-old cathedral 

is well-known for its many statues over the massive doors.  

The broader view reveals gargoyles and chimeras in various poses.  

Do you think that this one might look like 

J. R. R. Tolkien's Gollum?

bon dimanche

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris

6 Parvis Notre Dame

Place Jean-Paul II

75004, Paris

 

 

Parc de Monceau - une statue

A statue (or two)

Parc de Monceau

A warm sunny day in the park

found this gentleman in meditation 

Parc de Monceau

Boulevard des Courcelles

(five entrances around the park)

75008, Paris

Métro Monceau

 

 

Chapelle Saint-Vincent-de-Paul III

Chapelle Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

In one of the ornate chapels of this church, 

so unassuming by its exterior, 

is seen this serene statue adorned with a crown of gold.  

Under the left foot is a serpent which has been crushed.  

The backdrop has been styled to appear as a fine silk fabric.  

The details of this alcove are memorable.

bon dimanche

Chapelle Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

95, rue de Sèvres

75006, Paris

Métro Sèvres-Babylone

 

Previously posted here and here

Arc de Triomphe - au soldat inconnu

Arc de Triomphe

Originally commissioned by Napoleon in 1806, he died before its completion.  It sits magnificently at the hub of twelve intersecting roads and has witnessed history.  After World War I, the returning soldiers marched triumphantly through the arch, and it became the site of the tomb of the unknown soldier.  

The Arc de Triomphe is remembered as a memorial to all those who died in World War I.  I recently accompanied two World War II Veterans the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC.  Today we remember all those lost in wars defending our freedom.

Arc de Triomphe

Place Charles de Gaulle

75008, Paris

Musée du Louvre - Mercure et son ombre

Mercury 

This bronze of Mercury is seen in an arabesque pose, balanced it would appear, on the head of Zephyr.  He is poised on a gust of air coming from the mouth of this god of the east wind.

My search of the internet has not told me for certain the name of the sculptor... any help?  There is one by Giambologna, a Flemish artist, but that bronze is in Florence at the National Museum of the Bargello.

Mercury in this pose of flight is recognized often as the emblem of FTD Florist.

Musée du Louvre

75001, Paris

Place des Victoires

Place des Victoires

Inspecting the equestrian monument of Louis XIV dressed as a Roman emperor, 

I almost missed the woman high on the balcony.

bon weekend,

 and do not go out on a ledge

Place des Victoires

75002, Paris

Jardin des Tuileries - Tigre terrasant un crocodile

Tigre terrasant un crocodile

Auguste Cain (1873)

 

(Tiger overwhelming a crocodile)

Overwhelming?  I would say that he is going to "eat" the crocodile!

This is perhaps my favorite of the bronze animal statues in the park.

I love the powerful image in bronze.

Jardin des Tuileries

75001, Paris

Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

 

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, watchmaker, inventor, musician, diplomat, fugitive, spy, publisher, arms dealer, financier, revolutionary, 1732-1799

He was perhaps most known for his theatrical works, including three Figaro plays: Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, and La Mère coupable.   

Determined to publish Voltaire's complete works, many of which were banned, he bought the rights to the manuscripts and set up a print shop in Germany.  He was instrumental in saving many of Voltaire's works which might otherwise have been lost.

This statue by Louis Clausade (1895) sits in a triangle in the Marais.

Beaumarchais statue

Rue Saint Antoine et Rue des Tournelles

Métro Bastille

75004 Paris

Palais Garnier - Illumination

Always look "up" or you might miss something spectacular like this...


Le Grand Escalier (The Grand Staircase)
Palais Garnier

Palais Garnier

At Palais Garnier, home of Opéra de Paris, the Grand Staircase will take your breath away with its opulence. Two larger-than-life gilt statues dominate the entrance to the ampitheatre.

Inaugurated in 1875, the architect of this magnificent building, Charles Garnier, was a previously unknown 35 year-old. I will bring you here again...

Rainy day in Jardin des Tuileries

This photo was taken on a gray December day in Jardin des Tuileries near l'Orangerie, and there was no need to present it in black and white as the weather had reduced the landscape to monochrome tones. This white marble statue is one of over a hundred found in this park, bordered on one end by Place de la Concorde and on the other end by Jardin du Carrousel and the Louvre. Peter of Peter's Paris had a post on the statues of Tuileries and noted that most of the marble ones were from the 19th Century. The marble statues in his posting appear to have been cleaned since my photo was taken.

For those of you who saw my post "Un, deux, trois" a few days ago (Nov 18), Laurent of Daily Photo in Paris has an almost identical perspective only taken at night... have a look here!

Le Corbeau et le Renard

The poet Jean de al Fontaine spent 26 years writing his version of fables, numbering 243 in total. This statue in Square du Ranelagh shows him regardant a ses pieds le corbeau et le renard, one of his revered fables.

La Fontaine also had contemporaries who wrote fables, but what distinguishes him is that he wrote his in verse. Thanks to him, the fable became a poetic genre, with rhyme and rhythm, even if La Fontaine's fables retain some of the freedom of prose in their use of metrics. The lines of varying lengths create a rhythm that has less of a monotonous chanting quality and more of the irregularities of natural speech.

Square du Ranelagh
16ième arr.