Shakespeare and Company

In a previous post I wrote about what was the first “Shakespeare & Co.” shop in Paris, close to the Odeon theatre, owned by Sylvia Beach who published James Joyce and where Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others were regular visitors. That shop closed during WW II after Sylvia Beach had refused to sell a Joyce book to a German officer.

The present one, well-known to many of us, but perhaps more especially to all English speaking visitors (you may recognise an American lady blogger on one or two of the pictures below), is situated close to Notre Dame, just after crossing one of the bridges to the left bank. This shop opened in 1951 by an American, George Whitman. It first got the name “Le Mistral”, but when Sylvia Beach died in 1962, the bookshop took over the name of “Shakespeare & Co.”

This bookshop and library is an institution, full, really full, of new and old books.

Maybe the best way to learn about the philosophy of how the shop has been run is to read what George Whitman has written, January 1, 2004, on the back of some window-shutters:

SOME PEOPLE CALL ME THE DON QUIXOTE OF THE LATIN QUARTER BEACAUSE MY HEAD IS SO FAR UP IN THE CLOUDS THAT I CAN IMAGINE ALL OF US ARE ANGELS IN PARADISE. AND INSTEAD OF BEING A BONAFIDE BOOKSELLER I AM MORE LIKE A FRUSTRATED NOVELIST STORE, HAS ROOMS LIKE CHAPTERS IN A NOVEL AND THE FACT IS TOLSTOI AND DOSTOYEVSKI ARE MORE REAL TO ME THAN MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS AND EVEN STRANGER IS THE FACT THAT EVEN BEFORE I WAS BORN DOSTOYEVSKI WROTE THE STORY OF MY LIFE IN A BOOK CALLED “THE IDIOT” AND EVER SINCE READING IT I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THE HEROINE, A GIRL CALLED NASTASIA FILIPOVNA. ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO MY BOOKSTORE WAS WINESHOP HIDDEN FROM THE SEINE BY AN ANNEX OF THE HOTEL DIEU HOSPITAL WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN DEMOLISHED REPLACED BY A GARDEN. AND FURTHER BACK IN THE YEAR 1600 OUR WHOLE BUILDING WAS A MONESTRY CALLED LA MAISON DU MUSTIER. IN MEDIEVAL TIMES EACH MONESTRY HAD A FREE LAMPIER WHOSE DUTY WAS TO LIGHT THE LAMPS AT NIGHTFALL. I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR FIFTY YEARS. NOW IT IS MY DAUGHTER’S TURN.

Henry Miller, Allan Ginsberg, William Burroughs... were frequent guests. You must have a look at the second floor. There are several beds and against a few hours work in the shop you can sleep over here.

George Whitman is now some 96 (or 98?) years old and since 2004 his quite young daughter, Sylvia Beach Whitman, has taken over the business, running it in a similar way her dad did, but also introducing a book festival, wishing to create a small theatre in the cellar....

Philippe Auguste wall

I have already made some posts on the different walls that have surrounded the ever bigger Paris.

There is still a rather large number of traces of the Philippe Auguste wall from around 1200. So far I have posted about the largest visible part in the St. Paul area and also about some more discrete ones along the Rue des Francs Bourgeois. I have also referred to one in the small alley, Cour de Commerce St. André and its adjacent court, Cour de Rohan.

Since I made this later post, the place where one of the towers is hidden, a showroom, is under renovation which makes the view through the windows easier. On top of what can be seen is a private home, still inside the tower.

I was told about another trace in an underground parking place, rue Mazarine. I have no car any more, but you can of course enter also as a pedestrian. I wonder how many of the car owners realise that some of the walls are some 700 years old. Paris was on lower grounds when the wall was built and it can be seen as well on the first as the second underground floor.

A Roman aqueduct

When the Romans occupied Lutetia (Lutèce), the future Paris, during the first three centuries AD, they consumed a lot of water. The dwells, sources, rain and river water was not sufficient. There were at least three public baths, whereof the Cluny Baths still visible were the biggest, and many fountains. A lot of clean water was important. At least one aqueduct was constructed, leading water from south of the city. It seems that it had a capacity of some 2.000 m3 per day. Compared to those days’ population, some 8.000 (?), it would mean that their per capita consumption was comparable to what we today use as water!

There are still a few things left from the Roman times, the most visible are probably the “Arènes”, the amphitheatre (see previous post) and the Cluny Baths (see previous post). The Roman Forum was to be found close to where you can now find the Panthéon (see previous post), but nothing is today visible.

There are some timid traces of the aqueduct outside the city, but there seems to be only one today to be seen within the city limits; the other few rests are underground and the aqueduct's way through the present city is rather clear, the red dotted line. The visible rests can be found just north of the Parc Montsouris (see previous post) - marked here by the little yellow circle - and were obviously found and brought to light when some modern buildings were constructed.

When looking a bit closer, you can see that the Romans already knew how to manufacture water resistant concrete, reinvented much later.

I wish you a nice weekend!

Fondation Cartier

The “Fondation Cartier” has existed since 1984 and moved to the present premises in 1994, in a glass building created by Jean Nouvel (also creator of the “Institut du Monde Arabe” and the “Musée du Quai Branly”). The foundation is of course linked to the famous jeweller and watchmaker, but nothing of this is for sale here; this is a place to promote contemporary art by temporary exhibitions.

The present exhibition (soon finished), “Born in the streets – Graffiti”, covers the movement that was created in the streets of New York in the 70’s and since has become worldwide.

As you can see above, during this exhibition, temporary walls outside the building have allowed anybody to "create". The outside decorations change every day. (It seems that a van parked there has been included in the surface for some "artists".)

Some 20 artists expose representing a number of countries, basically the US, South America and France, among them "Obey Giant" (creator of the Obama portrait), "P.H.A.S.E.2", inventor of the typical "softie" or "bubble" lettering...

Some of the works are presented in the garden behind the building.

Here you can see more in detail what the outside wall looked like a couple of days ago.

Also in the basement, some corridors (and the toilets) have been left free for anybody to create. The walls are well covered; the exhibition has been going on since July - see also top picture.

I made my visit accompanied by Catherine, "THE 5 OF US". She has also made her post; please check her version!

Château de Vincennes

Time to resume blogging! Thanks for your very kind comments on the preceding post! ... and of course, all the best for 2010!

Maybe a glimpse of what the Champs Elysées looked like when I crossed it on my walk home well after midnight, early January 1.

So, now, today's subject, the Vincennes castle.

The first kings of France moved a lot, from one castle or fortress to another, not necessarily in Paris; some provincial castles were then and also later frequently used, e.g. along the Loire valley, but also close to Paris - Fontainebleau, St.Germain-en-Laye....

After some more preliminary installations, around the year 1000 the Palais Royal on Ile de la Cité was created, today with some remains in the Palais de Justice (see previous post), including the Sainte Chapelle (see previous post). The Louvre (see previous posts) was made to a royal castle, then rather a fortress, during the 14th century.

During the 12th and 13th centuries, the royal family had also a preference for Vincennes, more or less as a summer and hunting residence. A bit later, the Château de Vincennes became, about simultaneously with the Louvre, a fortified castle, with a keep, walls and moats, thus constructed during the 14th century. It was frequently used by the royals for centuries.

If the original Louvre castle has been destroyed (the foundations can still be seen underground), the Vincennes castle is to a large extent saved as it was during medieval times. The donjon, the walls, the moats (today without water) and the drawbridges are still there. The donjon, which is the highest remaining construction of this type in Europe, was initially inhabited by the royals. It has of course some thick walls, dark rooms, steep stairs (well used)... During the centuries other more comfortable buildings were added, now disappeared.

The last addendums were made by the young Louis XIV, who added the King’s and the Queen’s pavilions in the beginning of his reign, using the same architects and artists that later were involved in the creation of Versailles (Le Vau, Le Nôtre for the gardens...). He and his court spent considerable time here until they abandoned as well the Louvre as Vincennes for Versailles in 1682.

The Vincennes castle has also its Sainte Chapelle, commenced during the 14th century, but completed only in the middle of the 16th century. It’s at present under restoration and the photo of the inside is actually a photo which I photoed.

When the royals abandoned the Vincennes castle, it was used for different things including manufacturing of chinaware, weapons... Especially the keep / donjon has frequently been used as a prison. I will not make the list of all famous prisoners, it’s long; perhaps just mention the Marquis de Sade, who spent some six years here. One can see a letter that he addressed to his wife in 1780.

It may be interesting to know that General De Gaulle for a while considered installing the presidential palace at Vincennes.

Paris is a rather small circle with two appendixes, the Bois de Boulogne in the west (see previous posts) and the Bois de Vincennes in the east. Actually, the Château de Vincennes is today situated just outside the Paris border.

As we can see, the Vincennes castle was well outside the city (the map from the 17th century), surrounded by forests, lakes and gardens, which to a large extent have been saved; the Bois de Vincennes (on which I may make a post or two, when the leaves and flowers are back).