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Paris through the Ages-Ile Saint Louis stroll, hotel Lambert, hotel de Lauzun (part 4)
(all credit to Arthur Gillette)

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We are at the quai d'Anjou now. Take a good view on the HOTEL LAMBERT, which main entrance is on 2, rue Saint Louis en l'Ile. With a little bit of luck the door will be open offering you a peek at some very sumptuous Le Vau architecture. It's not sure, but Voltaire is supposed to have stayed here. It was used as a hospital during the Commune uprising in 1871. When they were defeated, four wounded were taken out by government troops and shot summarily on the riverbanks below, leaving the bodies exposed, as a warning. Cruel and inhuman times!
Walk now a few steps on the PONT DE SULLY bridge towards the right bank, then turn and look back at the wall leading down below the quai d'Anjou in front of the hotel Lambert's semi-circular tower. Arthur Gillette discovered and points us out to the archway, now stoned in, through which the hotel residents as other Ile riverside townhouse dwellers had direct access to boat transport. Shades of Venice!!
Get back to the quai d'Anjou, dip into the bread baker's museum at no.7, watch the plaque at no.9 telling that the French caricaturist Honoré Daumier lived here and let's focus our attention now on the HOTEL LAUZUN, at no.17.Who was this Lauzun? Simply an admirer and lover of Mme de Montpensier (La Grande Mademoiselle) who was the daughter of Gaston d'Orléans, brother of Louis XIII. She was six years older than Lauzun, very tall, skinny and not very pretty. Possibly because of uncomplimentary comments he made about her, Louis XIV imprisoned him for ten years, after which he bought this house and......married "La Grande Mademoiselle"!! But the house is better known because of the many personalities that had their home here. Intellectuals and poets including Theophile Gauthier and Charles Baudelaire. Living in an attic here, he entertained a lot of ladies in his bed described by a friend as a sort of "sculpted coffin", writing pornographic verses. He and other poets formed the Haschish Club, for reasons that don't need to be spelled out. 
Still richly decorated, the Hotel de Lauzun belongs now to the city of Paris and can be visited from time to time. It is mainly used for very official receptions, organized for visiting dignitaries like Queen Elizabeth, the Lord Mayor of London and so forth. Arthur Gillette claims that many years ago, he passed on a warm evening and saw Nikita Kruschtjev leaning out a window for breath of air. Arthur waved to him, and Nikita smiled and waved back. 
Next on quai d'Anjou will be the subject of the last article, inspired by Arthur Gillette's stroll no7.L You can order Arthur's walking map by mailing to Armedv@aol.com evocating my name : Jack.

Bibliography

The Grand Century of Ile Saint-Louis, stroll no.7 in the series "Paris
through the Ages", by Arthur Gillette (ed. Media-Cartes)