Tag Archives: Napoleon Bonaparte

Zinc

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Parisian Fields

So many sights in Paris pique our curiosity and lead us to learn things we would not have learned otherwise. This blog post began as we thought about the beauty of Paris’s zinc roofs. One could argue that zinc roofs … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris architecture, Paris history | Tagged Belgium, Bon Marche, Esperanto, galvanizing, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Jean-Jacques Dony, Liège, Maison de la Metallurgie et de l’Industrie, Moresnet, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III, roofing, Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille-Montagne, UNESCO, Vieille Montagne, white rust, zinc bars | 23 Comments

Cloches et clochers

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Parisian Fields

On April 15 of this year, as Paris remained in lockdown, one of Notre Dame’s bells rang out to mark a year since the fire that largely destroyed the cathedral’s interior. The bell’s name was Emmanuel, and a grainy still … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris churches, Paris history, Paris music | Tagged angelus, Bells, Belltowers, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, Glockenfriedhof, Louis Vierne, Napoleon Bonaparte, Notre Dame Cathedral, Notre-Dame-de-Jouy, Regis Singer, Sacre Coeur, Saint-Severin, Sainte-Odile, Savoyarde, Second World War, St-Germain-l’Auxerrois, St-Merri, St-Philippe-du-Roule, St-Yves, Stephen J. Thorne | 10 Comments

The ugliest building in Paris

Posted on September 8, 2019 by Parisian Fields

In the last blog, I mentioned Gabriel Davioud, who is credited with designing some of the classic street furniture of Paris. I wanted to know more about him. That proved to be a challenge. The ordinarily helpful Gallica offered 25 … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris architecture, Paris expositions, Paris history | Tagged Aquarium du Trocadéro, Charles Blanc, Charles Percier, Charles-Marie Widor, Exposition Universelle de 1878, Gabriel Davioud, Jacques Carlu, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Jules Bourdais, Jules Simon, Marcel Proust, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon II, Palais de Chaillot, Palais du Roi de Rome, Pierre Fontaine, Trocadéro | 11 Comments

The Rise and Fall of the Visual Telegraph

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Parisian Fields

Sometimes we go looking for blog ideas, and sometimes they come along and tap us persistently on the shoulder. This one did – three times. First, I spotted an “advertorial” in a 1912 issue of a small American magazine called … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris history | Tagged Abraham Chappe, Abraham-Louis Bréguet, Belleville, Claude Chappe, Ecouen, François Blanc, Louis Blanc, Napoleon Bonaparte, Père Lachaise, Réné Chappe, rue Chappe, rue de l’Université, Saint-Martin-du-Tertre, semaphore, St-Pierre de Montmartre, St-Sulpice, telegraph, Tom Standage | 14 Comments

The lost neighbourhood

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Parisian Fields

Last month, I was inspired by one of Lawren Harris’s paintings to investigate gasometers in Toronto and Paris. A second visit to the Lawren Harris exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario evoked another parallel between the two cities: the destruction … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris history, Paris maps, Paris museums | Tagged Abbé Delagrive, Augustus Charles Pugin, Chateau d’eaux, David Hanser, Eaton Manufacturing Building, Ecuries du Roi, Empress Josephine, Hotel de Crequi, Hotel de Crussol, Hotel de Longueville, Lawren Harris, Machine infernale, Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III, Quartier du Louvre, Quinze-Vingts, rue de Chartres, rue St-Nicaise, St-Louis-du-Louvre, St-Nicolas-du-Louvre, St-Thomas-du-Louvre, The Ward, Theatre du Vaudeville, Toronto City Hall, Tuileries Palace, Turgot map, Viljo Revell, William James | 14 Comments

Pugin’s Picturesque Paris

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Parisian Fields

For us, no trip to Paris is complete without time browsing through racks, boxes or bins of old engravings of Paris. We find them at antique fairs, flea markets, galleries, book stores and many other places. Quite a few were … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris art, Paris history | Tagged Alexander Books, Andrea Quinlan, Augustus Charles Pugin, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, Canal de l’Ourcq, Charles Heath, Fontaine de l’éléphant, Gordon Russell, Henry IV, Jennings and Chaplin, Kate Murdoch, L.T. Ventouillac, Lead shot, Marie de Medici, Napoleon Bonaparte, Paris and its Environs, Place Vendôme, Pont Neuf, Robert Jennings, Taylor-Murdoch-Beatty bookbinders, Toronto International Antiquarian Book Fair, Tour St. Jacques, William Watts | 11 Comments

An honourable education

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Parisian Fields

Every time we plan a trip to Paris, we have a list of things we want to do there. And every time we get to Paris, we end up doing fewer than half of those things. After all, opportunities arise … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris churches, Paris history | Tagged Basilica of St. Denis, Legion of Honour, Madame Campan, Maison de l'Education de la Legion d'Honneur, Napoleon Bonaparte, St-Denis | 11 Comments

The Other Great Nineteenth-Century Tower of Paris

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Parisian Fields

The story begins in a photograph shop in the Village St-Paul. I was browsing among the stereograph cards, when I came across something that looked like this. It captivated me. I say “looked like,” because this is not the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris civic functions, Paris history | Tagged abattoirs, Abattoirs de Grenelle, Abattoirs de Vaugirard, Abattoirs des Invalides, artesian wells, champ de mars, Constant Delaperche, Fontaine du Puits de Grenelle, François Arago, Louis-Georges Mulot, Napoleon Bonaparte, Puits de Grenelle, slaughterhouses, universal exposition | 8 Comments

The Technology of Compassion

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Parisian Fields

I had just finished typing when typewriter collector Martin Howard took the photo below. If you read Braille, you will see that it says “parisian fields.” The Pantheon is the final resting place of France’s heroes: Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Émile … Continue reading →

Posted in Paris history, Paris typewriters | Tagged Braille, Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzano, Charles Barbier de la Serre, Coupvray, Frank H. Hall, Hall Braille Writer, Helen Keller, Illinois Institution for the Education of the Blind, Jacques Joseph Emile Badiou de la Tronchère, L’Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, Louis Braille, Martin Howard, Napoleon Bonaparte, New York Point System, Pantheon, Pelligrino Turri, Valentin Haüy | 11 Comments

Food, drink, and lodging in Paris postcards

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Parisian Fields

In a sense, all postcards are a form of advertising. Some advertise the sender’s good fortune or superiority: “Hi. I’m here. You’re not.” Others advertise the attraction itself: Kozy Kabins in Niagara Falls, the highest rotating restaurant west of the … Continue reading →