Azulejos...

There is a new entrance to the Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau metro station. I have used the station for years… never thought about how the walls are decorated, but using the corridor leading to the new entrance (or exit), I was struck by the wall decoration (see top picture)…

… and when looking around I realised that the walls of the whole station are decorated by a large number of similar ceramics.  

I then learnt that they are all created by a Portuguese artist, Manuel Cargaleirio. The previous ones have been there for more than 20 years… and I have overlooked them. I also learnt that there has been an exchange between the Lisbon and the Paris metros. The Paris metro has got these “azulejos”, and the Lisbon metro has got one of the typical Guimard metro entrances.

The additional decoration was officially inaugurated a couple of weeks ago in the presence of the artist (now 92 years old), the Portuguese Prime Minister, the Mayor of Paris…  (pictures "stolen" on the net).

A hidden church.

This church, so well hidden, dates from 1855 and is in a perfect Neo-Gothic style. Some modern buildings have later separated the entrance from the street. We are just in front of the “Le Bon Marché” department store (see previous post here).

The church is called Saint Ignace. It’s a Jesuit church dedicated to Saint Ignace, Ignatius de Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit movement. I already talked about the fact that Ignatius together with some friends decided about the creation of the “Society of Jesus” in 1534 in a little chapel on the slopes of Montmartre (see previous post here). Maybe we should remember that the present Pope is a Jesuit.

The church has a number of very nicely decorated chapels dedicated to different saints, one of course to Ignatius himself, see top picture.

The immediate neighbour to the church is a Jesuit university-level faculty, opened in 1974, today open to men and women, lay and religious.  

Gloomy sky, but...

Yes, we have had some grey days…, but Paris is still there.

I realised that, on this photo, you can see not only the Sacré Cœur, but also the top of the Opera Garnier, Napoleon on Place Vendôme… and, in the very front, the statue of Thomas Jefferson.

I take the opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year !