There is a
surprising piece of facade on an ordinary haussmannian building on
Boulevard-de-la-Tour-Maubourg. It clearly reminds you of a piece of the Château de
Blois, more particularly the part of the castle which was initiated by King Louis
XII; Blois was his favourite royal residence. Louis reigned 1498-1515.
The resemblance
with this piece of facade and the Château de Blois is even more striking when
you look on some details, similar to the ones you can find on the Blois castle. The porcupine
was Louis XII’s emblem. One of his (three) wives was Anne de Bretagne (Brittany)
and we can read an “A”.
I have
tried to find out what this façade may hide, but have no clear answer. The
place seems abandoned, empty. On the net
I have found some guesses about a former (antique?) shop. I even asked someone
who obviously lived in the building, but he didn’t know. On the net, there are
also some hints about the “Order of the Porcupine”, which however only
officially existed between 1394 and the beginning of the 16th century when
Louis XII dissolved it. I hope that maybe one of my readers may have a
good explanation.
10 comments:
I"m sure you're shocked that I can't reveal the mysteries here for you Peter! :)
You find some amazing places in Paris.
V
"Qui s'y frotte s'y pique" Mieux vaut peut-être ne pas chercher :-)
je ne me souviens même pas de l'immeuble...
Il s'agit sans doute de l'ancien consulat de Syldavie. En effet, la devise de ce pays était "Qui s'y frotte s'y pique" (Cf. Le sceptre d'Ottokar, page 21).
J'aime bien les tonalités chaudes de ta façade parisienne...
Il ne faut pas trop se frotter non plus au chardon...
Ni à la rose...
Oh my gosh, maybe the order still exists! Secret meetings and hidden activities for hundreds of years... You never know, huh? Do tell us if you solve the mystery one day!
I LOVE how you "see," Peter. And all you discover simply amazes me!
Thanks for another post which makes us think and explore. I could find nothing except http://www.paristoric.com/fr/paris-visite/tourisme-arrondissements/paris-7eme-arrondissement/848-paris-7eme-le-porc-epic-a-paris.html?&tmpl=component'which I assume you knew about anyway.
I hope someone finds the answers.
Linda
This place used to be a cozy cocktail bar where the waitresses were very, very, very welcoming... if you see what I mean.
I've never been there of course, someone told me !!! ;-)
Thanks JPD! It's good to have friends who know! :-)
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