Paris Reborn
Napoléon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City
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3.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Stephane Kirkland gives an engrossing account of Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and one of the greatest transformations of a major city in modern history
Traditionally known as a dirty, congested, and dangerous city, 19th Century Paris, France was transformed in an extraordinary period from 1848 to 1870, when the government launched a huge campaign to build streets, squares, parks, churches, and public buildings. The Louvre Palace was expanded, Notre-Dame Cathedral was restored and the French masterpiece of the Second Empire, the Opéra Garnier, was built. A very large part of what we see when we visit Paris today originates from this short span of twenty-two years.
The vision for the new Nineteenth Century Paris belonged to Napoleon III, who had led a long and difficult climb to absolute power. But his plans faltered until he brought in a civil servant, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, to take charge of the implementation. Heedless of controversy, at tremendous cost, Haussmann pressed ahead with the giant undertaking until, in 1870, his political enemies brought him down, just months before the collapse of the whole regime brought about the end of an era.
Paris Reborn is a must-read for anyone who ever wondered how Paris, the city universally admired as a standard of urban beauty, became what it is.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The filthy, haphazardly arrayed Paris immortalized in Victor Hugo's Les Mis rables gives way to the idealized tree-lined boulevards and planned building projects of the opulent Second French Empire, in urban architecture blogger Kirkland's debut. Long before Robert Moses set about sculpting New York City, Baron Haussmann with the blessings of Napoleon III (the Napoleon's nephew) transformed Paris from a medieval maze into a modern metropolis. While many of Haussmann's changes especially the long, straight, wide boulevards have come to signify Paris in the popular mind, the metamorphosis was not without its attendant obstacles, including backroom deals, public outcry, and what many deemed prohibitively high costs. The greatest failures, however, were the new public housing developments Napoleon III's pet projects were ineffective, and builders rebelled against his vision. Their treatment is also the book's greatest shortcoming: Kirkland glosses over root causes of lower class unrest and leaves unanswered questions regarding why the public housing didn't satisfy its residents. Nevertheless, Kirkland is an able navigator of architectural history vivid descriptions abound, and the evolution of the city's infrastructure, public spaces, and other amenities is a testament to the oft overlooked reign of Napoleon III. Lovers of the City of Light and urban planners alike will find Kirkland's survey illuminating. 8-page photo insert.
