Tuesday, July 11, 2006

The Conciergerie - a "head" of its time


Ok, let's move away from soccer now (thanks a million again for all of your nice contributions) and go back to Paris cliches for a while... One of the most beautiful buildings in Paris is La Conciergerie. It was the first palace of the kings of France before they moved to the Louvre and then became the first prison in Paris in 1391. As you may know it became famous during the Revolution where men and women were sentenced to death and held here until they left for the place de La Concorde where they were subsequently beheaded. And everybody knows that Marie-Antoinette, queen of France at the time, was among the unlucky occupants of this, now, astonishing building. More about its history here.

Put this photo on a card, calendar, mug, t-shirt, bag and more here!
Publié par Eric

45 comments:

  1. Hopefully, they won't put Zidane in there ;)

    By the way, can you still see the markings the Seine left in there when it flooded the facilities way back when? Saw that once when I was a kid... almost as impressive as looking at the building from the outside!

    Beautiful shot, Eric!

    ReplyDelete

  4. Nice! You even managed to get the moon in there. I love the lights and shadows and shades of gold. The Seine at night, I don’t think there’s anything quite like it in the world.

    ReplyDelete

  5. That history is well known to me. I have no idea if this is in bad taste or not, but I have a small Marie Antoinette doll (holding her head in the crook of her arm) as my little guardian of my car. I don't even remember where I got her, but she guards my car and Edgar Allen Poe guards my computer, warding off evil spirits and bad luck...you know, because those two are just perfect for warding off bad luck!

    ReplyDelete

  6. Ok, I'm a total dork. I was only half paying attention a minute ago, so it only just dawned on me that the title of this photo was a great pun! Michael, buzzgirl, you guys can come up with some more great ones, right? This has to be as easy as the plethora of cow puns!

    ReplyDelete

  7. Beautiful lighting. Great photo!

    ReplyDelete

  9. Tomate: yes, the level of the flood are well marked in the walls inside (at least the last time I visited).

    Soosha_q: LOL re: M-A doll and Edgar. Any other secret spirit shakers you have lying around?
    As for puns, I'm at a loss for this one. All the good ones I'd use would be heading down the wrong path.

    Excellent shot Eric.

    ReplyDelete

  10. Matt...a beautiful July 4th photo on your blog!

    ReplyDelete

  11. Those conical roof tops are very fairy tale like..L

    ReplyDelete

  13. Has anyone seen the film "Marie-Antoinette"? Any good?

    I did find here that her quarters at Versailles are newly open to visitors.

    ReplyDelete

  14. michael I'd say thanks but I snitched it (Flikr)

    ReplyDelete

  15. The moon in the sky is perfectly creepy yet, beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

  16. A long time ago, Rafael. Here are some pictures and a little backround.

    http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/france/paris/photos/flood/flood_1910_paris.html

    ReplyDelete

  17. FYI, I already posted the flood mark at the Conciergerie. Here it is...

    ReplyDelete

  18. To the Q re. Marie Antoinette movie, yes, I liked it a lot - great soundtrack. Started me reading a bio by Stefan Zwieg re. M-A. Would love to hear from anyone who's read his stuff...

    ReplyDelete

  19. ERIC!

    I just LOVE how you Photoshopped the crescent moon in the sky! ;-)

    JUST KIDDING!

    And NO KIDDING....ya almost can't get more beautiful than this...you've done it again!

    That's it, I'm going to the fridge for olives, brie and a macaron...oh, but wait! I don't HAVE a macaron...

    "Say La Vee!
    ;-)

    ReplyDelete

  20. Really beautiful. I have a painting from the 1400s in a book of days in which La Conciergerie seems to be in the background, and Lucy is right, it does seem fairytale-like.
    -Kim

    ReplyDelete

  21. that moon is stunning! certainly adds to the fairy tale of the shot. beautiful picture eric. and now I know Marie lived there, my fantasy is complete.

    ReplyDelete

  22. la seine, the light, and the moon there.... stunning!!

    ReplyDelete

  23. breaking news! LOL!! too bad just came back from holiday , no extra budget to go paris :p

    ReplyDelete

  24. Oh, yeah, that's right! My bad.

    Well, the Conciergerie I remember growing up around was all dark gray / black, as were most of the monuments in Paris, Notre Dame, most of the bridges, etc., at the time before they started cleaning them up. That's why I was wondering if they left the flood marks when they cleaned up the stone to make it look so nice and white... 'nuf said. :)

    ReplyDelete

  25. Great shot and History lesson! Thanks

    ReplyDelete

  26. What a beautifully composed and balanced shot.

    ReplyDelete

  27. the sky, the moon! moon looks like somethin unreal! this is really great shot!
    tanya

    ReplyDelete

  28. Since the romain times, and all along the centuries, there are 3 parts on the "ile de la Cité":

    - the East of the island is the "religious power" part where you have now the cathedral Notre-Dame. (there used to be already a romain temple and the famous "pilier des Nautes" at the 2nd Century)

    - the West of the island is the "political power" part, where you have now "le Palais de Justice" sticked to la Conciergerie which used to belong to it (la Conciergerie was still a prison in 1914!). Centuries ago, in this west area, there used to be the palace of the romain governor and of the all successive kings until Charles V in 1380, and then it was the main place for trials in Paris(it still is).

    - the center of the island, between the 2 parts hereabove, was "La Cité" which was filled with personal homes (unfortunatly, no more today, because of big works in the 19th century)

    ReplyDelete

  29. "Paris cliches" you say? Who cares!? This photo is beautiful in every way; others have very eloquently identified its many positives. I can only say that I am delighted that you posted this. Ah, to dream....!

    ReplyDelete

  30. Nice photo, nice ambiance !
    The film 'Marie Antoinette' ? yes an unexpected beautiful film. I do like it.

    ReplyDelete

  31. I've always been impressed by your night moon photos (18 Mars 2006)! Beautiful city of lights...

    ReplyDelete

  32. Sorry to divert, but this just in from Jay Leno...American comic:

    From his monologue, Monday July 10th :

    "Congratulations to the Italian people for winning the World Cup. ... They won after France's best player got ejected for head butting. That's the closest anyone in a French uniform has come to combat in 60 years."

    ReplyDelete

  33. Michael: Not really, except Harry Potter keeps my son safe and we have lots of dragons around the house. Oh wait, I just hung Frank Sinatra up to watch over my hall way and Desi Arnaz wouldn't dare let an intruder into my bedroom.

    ReplyDelete

  34. Beautiful photo.
    It remainds me of my days in Paris.
    I would walk all the way from Rambuteau street to there twice a week.

    ReplyDelete

  36. Michael : french bashers not welcome.

    ReplyDelete

  37. Stunning. I love the light- and the crescent moon!

    ReplyDelete

  38. lafayette: I hope you didn't misunderstand. Anybody here can tell you that I'm not a french basher by any means.

    ReplyDelete

  40. What an astonishing photo!! It so beautifil, perfect impression for the city of lights.

    ReplyDelete

  41. I am here because of search results for blogs with a related topic to mine.
    Please,accept my congratulations for your excellent work!
    I have a used car toledo ohio site.
    Come and check it out if you get time :-)
    Best regards!

    ReplyDelete

  42. Very cool design! Useful information. Go on! »

    ReplyDelete

  43. Why soccer, not football? Are you from USA ? :) Everyone in Europe knows word Football

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)