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Leaving the Rodin museum you can walk
through the rue de Grenelle (superb 18th century 59, rue de Grenelle,
still being in the 7th arrondissement. It's the area of embassies and
ministry department offices. During the week you can eventually have a peek look
at the courtyards and gardens. On weekends everything is closed, the area is
dead.
In the 17th century, with the
start of the urban development of Paris, the 7th arrondissement
reached its peak in the 18th century when members of the French
nobility, fleeing the busy and noisy ambience of the Marais liked this place.
Facing the Tuileries, on the left bank of the Seine, numerous urban palaces were
built, the so-called “hotels”. Luxurious villas, hiding their idyllic
beauty, garden and interior courtyard by high walls, still put their mark on
this exclusive neighbourhood. The elegant ambience isn’t gone, it is still
there. You find there, side by side and in good neighbour relationship, members
of all the classes who dominated successively the political and economical life,
since 3 centuries. A few billionaires offered themselves their little hotel
particulier, like Niarchos, whose hotel rue de Chanaleilles, hides one of the
most prestigious private collections of ancient French furniture of the 18th
century and about 10 Van Gogh. Where
the nobility used to give its receptions and feasts, are now the main meetings
for political and diplomatic life in Paris. 19 ministères are populating the
area. The parliament holds its sessions in the PALAIS BOURBON, rue de
l’Université 126, a palace built by Louis XIV for one of his daughters in
1728 and the official residence of the prime minister (for the moment it is
Jospin), is the in 1722 built HOTEL DE MATIGNON, rue de Varenne 57.
Another anecdotic case is the story of the
HOTEL DE BEAUHARNAIS, rue de Lille 78. Built by the marquis de Torcy in 1713 it
was only named after Eugene Beauharnais in 1803 when it became its propriety.
Renovations into Empire style costed an enormous fortune but Eugene had no shame
and presented the bill to his stepfather Napoleon. Napoleon paid but only after
having one of his famous heavy anger attacks. In 1817, the palace was sold for a
ridiculous price to the Prussian occupants and today it is the propriety and
embassy of….Germany. It is a classified monument now, and houses one of the
most beautiful private collections. Only visible in exceptional cases after a
telephonic rendezvous. Notice that in this area where, curiously, the big
companies are absent, the last inhabitants are the heirs of the great families
of France. Dozens of them still live, after a few revolutions and a lot of other
problems, in the hotels their ancestors build, 200 to 300 years ago.....
A jewel is certainly the “PAGODE”, rue
de Babylone, a villa, built in Japanese style in 1896. It looks very peculiar in
this area. The building has a mysterious atmosphere. It was built as a
“folly” for the wife of a Parisian department store owner. It housed
numerous receptions and masque balls where the “Tout Paris” had to be if
they wanted to be considered. The French film director Louis Malle later saved
the Pagode from destruction. Now it is the home of the only movie theatre of the
area and a unique tea-parlour.
The 7th arrondissement is
certainly not a paradise for shoppers, but it ids proud to present the oldest
department store of Paris: “Le Bon Marché”, rue de Sèvres, opened already
in 1863. This large building is sustained by an iron structure designed by
Gustave Eiffel. Another anecdote and important fact to notice about this
department store is that Aristide Boucicaut, director and founder of the “Bon
Marché”, was the inventor of the principle that the customer could come into
a store, look around and buy nothing. He introduced very visible price tags and
the possibility to exchange articles.
Bibliography: --Vie et
histoire des arrondissements de Paris, ed.Hervas, 1985-1988, 20 volumes- -Le piéton de Paris, by L.P. Fargue, ed.Gallimard 1997--Rive Gauche, une expérience unique, by Cl.Evrard, ed.Albin 1991--Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris, by J.Hillairet, ed.Minuit
1985,-- Hoog in aanzien, gebouwen uit het 7de arrondissment, by J.Laermans
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