Paris1972-Versailles2003

Well back to the lonely period we are cruising thru and decided to look back deep into my blog to update some older posts that needs it. After several years, some of these posts gets very updated and the links fade away. Therefore, here is my updated post on the Church Saint Séverin of Paris!

I have told folks many times there is so much to see in Paris alone to last you a  lifetime! I do have several posts on Paris in my blog and numerous sites but there is always some new ones found! And this one was so close to very well known places like the Place St Michel amazing never dwell into it. Until now!  Let the feet do the walking and you will be amazed of what you see in Paris, and I only give you the general views, details need a book lol! Let me tell you something about the Church of Saint Séverin of Paris! I really only wanted to go to St Michel for lunch but there you go once parked in the indigo place st michel parking and started walking new things pop out as usually the case when walking…The Church of Saint-Séverin is located in the Latin Quarter at 3 rue des Prêtres-Saint-Séverin in the 5éme arrondissement or district of Paris, near the Seine river and place St Michel.

The ensemble formed by the church, as the parish house – presbytery, at the place André-Lefèbvre and the cloister is bounded by the rue des Prêtres-Saint-Séverin, rue Parcheminerie, rue Saint-Jacques and the rue Saint-Séverin. As a parish seat from the 9C, the Saint-Séverin Church is one of the 52 parishes of the Paris Diocese when the property of the clergy was confiscated in the French revolution of 1789-90. Its priest is then one of the two archpriests of the diocese. It is de facto the only parish Church of Saint-Séverin-Saint-Nicolas Parish (the two parishes were merged in 1968).

A bit of history I like ,briefly…

In the 6C, a hermit, Séverin (Saint Séverin of Paris), has the habit of praying in a small rudimentary oratory. After his death, a basilica is erected on the spot. It is first of all a chapel. 9C ,destroyed by the Vikings during the siege of Paris, the church is rebuilt in the 13C for the bell tower and the first three bays of the nave and the second half of the 15C for the rest. In 1412 , casting of one of the bells ; it is today the oldest in Paris and bears the name of Macée . In 1487 the completion of the spire of the tower. By 1489-1495, the construction of the chevet. By 1498-1520, the realization of the side chapels of the nave. In 1673, Jules Hardouin-Mansart removes three spans of the mass grave to raise, on the right side of the church, the oval Chapel of Communion. By 1681-1684, Jean-Baptiste Tuby realizes a marble decoration of the choir on a drawing of Charles Le Brun, works financed by donations of the Duchess Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orleans, called the Grand Mademoiselle, cousin of king Louis XIV. In 1745, the organ buffet is done.

The architectural interest of the church also lies in its mass grave, former parish cemetery. The Church Saint-Séverin indeed has the peculiarity, exceptional in Paris, to have preserved almost intact the site of its cemetery and its charnel house. This cemetery, opened around 1250, was surrounded on three sides by a gallery, similar to that of a cloister, built around 1430, which was used both as a mass grave and as a residence for the priests of the parish, with floors dedicated. But in 1674 the church wardens decided to prohibit burials and close the mass graves, the whole then becoming a simple cloister. The bays of the gallery were decorated with stained glass windows a few years later, in 1699. In 1926, a building with ogival windows was built in their place to serve as presbytery, which made it possible to remove the two upper floors reserved for housing. priests. Today this ensemble is now transformed into a nice garden.

The inside has a 17 meters high, flamboyant nave  decorated with stained glass windows from the 19C. With 8 bays, it has the shape of a parallelogram ending in a semicircular apse. This Church of Saint Séverin contains a collection of stained glass windows, staged over seven centuries. The church contains Gothic windows, including a Jesse tree, stained glass windows of the 19C, and a set of several modern windows along the ambulatory, inspired by the seven Sacraments. They are from the second half of the 15C. In the rosette of the west facade is the Tree of Jesse which is a stained glass window from 1482, largely concealed by the organ buffet since the 18C. A series of 8 stained glass windows to be inaugurated on May 10, 1970, replacing those of the 19C in the Gothic windows of the ambulatory. The church has many murals from different periods of the15C, 17C, and the 19C.

The official parish of Church Saint Séverin: https://saint-severin.com/visite-de-leglise/visiter-leglise/

The Paris tourist office on the Church Saint Séverin: https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71119/Paroisse-Saint-Severin

There you go folks,the Church Saint Séverin is on a nice quant area of narrow streets full of shops a lovely walk indeed while the hordes were concentrating on Notre Dame Cathedral not far away. Worth the detour indeed, we like it .Hope you enjoy the post and do visit.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

Well back to the lonely period we are cruising thru and decided to look back deep into my blog to update some older posts that needs it. After several years, some of these posts gets very updated and the links fade away. Therefore, here is my updated post on the Odéon Theater of Paris!

Ok so on my ongoing opportunity to visit my eternal Paris , let me continue my saga of the eternal city with a very nice monument. I have written briefly before and passed by it many times, a great monument of my belle France often overlook but it should not. Let me tell you briefly about the Odéon theater of Paris! or now of Europe!  The neighborhood of the Odéon is the 22nd administrately neighborhood of Paris located in the 6éme arrondissement or district of Paris north of the Jardin du Luxembourg.

The neighborhood of the Odéon is so named because of its proximity to the Théatre de l’Odéon, itself making reference to the ancient meaning of the word: a place for songs and, more generally, a Greco-Roman theater. The statue standing in the middle of Place Henri-Mondor is that of Danton, which is not far from the former home of the politician and the place of his arrest.  The Théatre National de l’Odéon or National Theater of the Odeon, called since March 1990 Odeon-Theater of Europe, is located at Place de l’Odeon , 6éme arrondissement, inaugurated in 1782 to host the troupe Théatre-Français or French Theater. The Odeon is since September 1971 one of the six national theaters of France.  Architecturally, it is an Italian-style theater with a cubic-shaped stage and semicircular hall and the exterior is neoclassical.  The exterior is sober with an austerity looking façade the original façade was flanked by pavilions linked by an arc and a semi circular layout, this is the first Italian inspired theater with an orchestra ,benches while the public attended on foot.

A bit of history I like

In 1767, the Marquis de Marigny, then director of the King’s buildings, asked Marie-Joseph Peyre and Charles de Wailly to work on a project for a new theater for the Théâtre-Français.  On March 26, 1770, a decision of the Council of the King orders the execution of the construction site on the ground of the garden of the hotel of the prince of Condé, which this one wishes to be undone in order to settle in the Bourbon palace.   The location of the theater is slightly modified compared to the original project, so as to bring it closer to the palace of Luxembourg, home of Sire, brother of the King, so that it is a new amenity for their home work begins in May 1779. The troupe of the Comédie-Française settles in its new walls on February 16, 1782 and the hall is inaugurated by Queen Marie-Antoinette on April 9.  On April 27, 1784, The Marriage of Figaro de Beaumarchais was created by Dazincourt, still in front of Queen Marie Antoinette and the court. The comedian Talma debuted on November 21, 1787.

By a decree of July 1789, the National Assembly renamed the room Théatre de la Nation or Theater of the Nation. In 1791, the ban by Louis XVI of the play of Marie-Joseph Chénier ,Charles IX, causes a conflict between actors loyal to the king and those favorable to the French Republic, which will lead to the departure of these last April 1791, led by Talma, for the new room of the Theater of the Republic at the Palais Royal. It is these actors loyal to the French Republic who will form the current Comédie-Française. Georges Danton would have said: “If Figaro killed the nobility, Charles IX will kill the royalty.”  Arrested during the Terror, in the French revolution ,the actors who remained at the Théâtre de la Nation reopened the theater on June 27, 1794 under the name of  Théatre de l’Egalité or theater of equality, for performances given  by and for the people, in a hall transformed by the destruction of lodges in egalitarian amphitheater stretched with blue-white-red draperies. It becomes in July 13, 1796, the Odéon , in reference to the odéon of ancient Greece.

There is a second theater. The theater of the Odeon, ceded by Napoleon to the Senate and restored identically by the architect Chalgrin, reopened in June 1808 under the name of “Theater of Her Majesty the Empress and Queen”. However, the room is again destroyed by a fire on March 20, 1818. The new theater opened in 1819 and place by king Louis XVIII under the management of the Comédie-Française, as the second French theater or Second Théâtre-Français.  During the days of the Trois Glorieuses revolution in  July 1830 the theater was the center of the insurrection of the revolutionary youth. In 1848 Victor Hugo writes   “The Odeon is still deserted. putting a theatre in a deserted neighborhood that you want to vivify and imagine that you will bring the public, it’s as if you figure that by posing a fish on the earth somewhere, you will bring water”  As the area of the Faubourg Saint Germain does not attract as many folks as those of the Tuileries, Palais-Royal, and the now call Boulevard des Italians.

Sarah Bernhardt made her debut at the Odéon in the role of Aricie du Phèdre Racine given for the feast of the Emperor August 15, 1866. But it is in 1869, in a small act of François Coppée, Le Passant that she enters, under the costume of the “Florentine singer,” in her glorious career. In 1872 she triumph in Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo before joining the Comédie-Française.  In May 1968, the Odéon is open to students during the uprising demonstrations. The Odéon became a National Theater in September 1971. It is only on June 1, 1990 that the Odéon will truly regain its independence vis-à-vis the Comédie-Française, by decree. It then takes the name of Odeon-Théatre de l’Europe. Since 2003, the Odéon has a second modular room from 350 to 450 seats, installed in former warehouses sets of the Opera Garnier, boulevard Berthier ,17éme arrondissement of Paris.

The official Odéon Théatre de l’Europe: https://www.theatre-odeon.eu/#1

The Paris tourist office on the Odéon Théatre de l’Europe: https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71656/Od%C3%A9on-Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre-de-l%E2%80%99Europe

There you go folks, a nice monument architecturally stunning and lots of history inside. The shows are nice if with time. Another dandy in my eternal Paris, the Odéon theater and its neighborhood is a must to visit. Hope you enjoy the post as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!