Lutetia Parisorum

I chose this title for the post as it was the first name of the first settlement in what is now Paris, or at least the name that has come down to us from Roman times. The city of Paris proper began on what is fittingly named the Ile de la cite. Just to the west in the Seine is another island Ile Saint-Louis, named after the only French king to become a saint, Louis the IX (and, incidentally, the namesake of the Kansas/Missouri city). Interestingly, we now know quite a bit more about the early residents of Lutetia Parisorum, ever since the French undertook the building of a parking garage under the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris – they abandoned the project when they found the ruins of the Gallo-Roman city. This area is now called the Paris Crypt, and it contains an archaeological museum. As was the case in many areas (Troy, for example), succeeding generations simply built up on the ruins of old cities; naturally, the banks of the Seine are now quite a ways below the ground level of the modern city.

However, I went to Ile de la Cite for the common reasons, namely Notre Dame cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle, and a few uncommon ones, including the Hotel-Dieu, the Conciergerie, and the Hotel de Ville, just across the river on the left bank.

Notre Dame is nearly finished with its restoration – or at least the façade is. It is once again the sandstone color of the indigenous rock of Paris, of which much of the city was built. The stained glass inside is nice, but unfortunately it doesn’t amount to much more than cute when compared to Chartres. Sorry, but I’m spoiled.

Sainte-Chapelle was built by the aforementioned Louis IX to house the Crown of Thorns which he bought from the emperor of Constantinople at quite a staggering cost. Interestingly, building this beautiful “Holy Chapel” cost less to build than Saint-Louis paid for the crown of thorns, a relic that now resides in the vault of Notre Dame de Paris, across the island.

The Conciergerie, right next to Sainte-Chapelle, is a sight that is unfortunately often overlooked by tourists. In existence since the middle ages as an office of the king’s administrators, it was turned into a political prison. During the revolution, the far western tower, Tour Bonbec, became called the Tower of Babel, in reference to the many screams emanating from the tortured prisoners encased within. This is where the nearly 5000 people beheaded around the time of the Reign of Terror were kept, including, eventually, Danton and Robespierre, who were the administrators thereof (in a very particularly French twist of fate). When their time came, they were marched to the Place de la Concorde, then called Place de Revolution, which is a few blocks from me, to meet the guillotine. Poor Marie Antoinette had a dingy 2 meter-square cell here. It is now a chapel.

The Hotel-Dieu and Hotel de Ville, despite both being called “hotels” are two very different buildings. In fact, neither is actually a hotel, as we know it now. To the French of the 19th century and before, a hotel was simply a chateau, except in the city rather than the country. The Hotel-Dieu is a hospital, and it was the site of most of France’s important advances in chemistry, including those by Lavoisier, who was confined to a dank basement that doubled as his laboratory. The Hotel de Ville was the seat of the National Assembly, at least, when they were not in Versailles because of an abject fear of revolutionary Parisians (I don’t blame them). It served as the seat of republican government during several times in French history.

And of course, there is the Seine. What can be said of the Seine, except that it is very romantic? Yes, I definitely have a soft side.