Bourse de Commerce

The above photo is from the interior of the “Bourse de Commerce”, situated in the western corner of what is still called “Les Halles”, the place which until 1969 was the Paris central food market (see previous post). It’s close to the Saint Eustache church (see previous post) and also the Rue Montorgueil (see previous posts).

The present building was preceded by different castles, the last one built for Catherine de Medicis (1519-89, consort queen to Henry II and mother of three French kings – the de facto ruler – and blamed for the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew 1572). This is what her castle looked like. You can see what is said to be an astronomical tower – from 1574 - on the right side; Catherine believed a lot in astronomy. The castle has disappeared, but the tower is still there.

Around 1760 the castle was replaced by a “Halle aux Blés”, for the then important wheat commerce - basically the present building. After some fires and construction and reconstruction of the dome (the present one from 1811, the glass decoration from 1838), the looks have changed little, although the building was again on fire in 1854. The wheat commerce was abandoned and the building was taken for use by the Paris Chamber of Commerce in 1885. It was for some decades the home for different merchandise markets (sugar, coffee, potatoes...), but is today basically used for other activities linked to the Chamber of Commerce.

The remarkable paintings on the upper part of the walls date from the latter half of the 19th century.

You can also check the hour and the barometric pressure.

In the immediate neighbourhood, you will find some shops specialised in all equipment you need to prepare and consume your food...

... and, of course due to the vicinity to the previous food market, there are a number of good restaurants, including the well-known brasserie “Pied de Cochon”.

Behind an old entrance to a mansion, just behind the Saint Eustache church, you can today find the fashion house “agnès b”.

Polish church

I dedicate this post to some blogger friends, Polish, with Polish origins or family... Krystyna, her mother Maria, Terrie (Feasting on pixels), Anna Bobryk... and I forget.

This is the major Polish church in Paris. It was originally part of a convent (Le Couvent des Dames de l’Assomption). The church building dates from 1676. Having suffered during the Revolution, as most other churches, it later became the parish church of the 1st arrondissement until the bigger church, La Madeleine, took over in 1842. In 1844 it was attributed to the Paris Polish community. As you can see it is extremely well situated, in the very centre of the 1st arrondissement.

Outside the church is an always flower decorated tribute to Pope John-Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła).

(I’m sorry about the quality of the photos, but the inside is quite dark and it seems that lights are turned on only during masses and I didn’t want to disturb.)

The Polish influence here was great during especially the 19th century, when many Polish nationalists chose to live in exile. I have already made some posts related to Poland and Paris, e.g. concerning the Polish school, where Marie Curie (born Sklodowska), the only woman buried at the French Pantheon*, had a room during her university studies, where Adam Mickiewicz, one of the greatest Polish poets, was President of the school council.... and about Frederic (Fryderyk) Chopin, about the places where he lived and about his grave at the Père Lachaise cemetery ... about the Square-du-Cardinal-Wyszynski (family-related to Terrie)...

I was told that the official Polish anthem lyrics contain some maybe surprising lines (“We’ve been shown by Bonaparte, ways to victory...”, “Fighting with the Swede, to free our fatherland from chains...”). Of course, Bonaparte’s links to Poland were not only wars and politics, but also Marie Walewska.

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*/ Actually there is also another woman buried there; Sophie Berthelot, who died in sorrow one hour after her husband and was buried with him “in homage to her conjugal virtue”.

New family member:

This has nothing to do with the above, but I wanted to introduce you to Elfy, the little Boston terrier that just arrived to the home of my daughter Stéphanie and her boyfriend.

Christmas show windows

Two of the most important department stores in Paris, Printemps and Galeries Lafayette are neighbours on Boulevard Haussmann. There is obviously a fierce competition about who has the nicest Christmas show windows. I took photos of (I believe) all their windows. Who is the winner this year?

First comes the Printemps windows:

... and here are the Galeries Lafayette windows.

Awaiting your opinions, I wish you a nice weekend!

Christmas trees

Sweden has the chairmanship of the European Union during the second semester of 2009. This is combined with different demonstrations with the intention to make the country better known by the other EU countries. One expression of this was the illumination of two big Christmas trees in front of the Paris Town Hall by Crown Princess Victoria last Monday. The trees were offered by the Swedish State to the City of Paris.

Here we can see the Crown Princess listening to some speeches by some officials, including the Swedish ambassador, and making her own speech.

The trees were then illuminated.

After the illumination of the trees, we had the pleasure to listen to a short concert by the Paris Swedish Church choir, on the Santa Lucia (Sankta Lucia, Saint Lucy, Sainte Lucie) theme, including the Neapolitan Santa Lucia song in Swedish adaption (you can listen to it here) and also some Christmas carols. Saint Lucy should normally be celebrated only December 13, so this was a bit early, but this is clearly part of the Swedish before-Christmas-traditions. Sweden being a basically protestant country, it’s a bit surprising to see the celebration of this catholic saint; there has obviously been a mixture of Christian and previous pagan traditions. Before the Gregorian calendar introduction during the 16th century, Saint Lucy’s day fell on the winter solstice, meaning the darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and there is a symbolic image of light overcoming darkness.

When the ceremony was finished, the spectators were all invited to the Swedish Institute, in the Marais, and we walked there in some kind of a procession, unfortunately under rain. In the courtyard, we were invited to some “glögg” drinking, still under rain. “Glögg” is the Nordic version of mulled wine (heated red wine, cinnamon, cloves, raisins, almonds...) . We could then go inside and listen to more beautiful singing. (There should also be a film show, but I had to leave.)

Blog names

Ruth, with an excellent blog, “Synch-ro-ni-zing”, which I try to follow regularly, asked her visitors to explain how they came up with the name of their blogs. I believe I must stupidly have promised to do so. What is there to say about the name of my blog? Peter is my name and I write basically (with a few exceptions) about Paris. Not much more to say. I suggest however that you have a look at Ruth’s post today, where she and others have written their stories about their respective blog names.

Ruth asked me anyhow to add something about how I came to Paris: Here also the answer is simple - married to a French girl, loving France and finding a job. That was 35 years ago.