[Paris] Place Vendome
On the address that has come to be immortalised in both literature and film, writer Ernest Hemingway famously professed: “When I dream of an afterlife in heaven, the action always takes place at the Ritz, Paris.”
- O local é conhecido por ser o local onde Chopin viveu seus últimos anos e morreu em 17 de outubro de 1849.
- Quando se trata de alta joalheria, o centro mundial é a praça Place Vendôme, em Paris.
- A praça esta para as joias como o vale do silicio esta para a tecnologia
Passado
Para que tudo fosse perfeito, na Praça Vendôme foram construídas primeiro as fachadas e só depois os edifícios que a rodeiam. No centro foi colocada uma estátua equestre de Luís XIV que seria destruída durante a Revolução Francesa.
Durante o período da Revolução, a praça muda o seu nome para Place des Piques. Posteriormente, no lugar que antes ocupava a figura de Luís XIV, foi colocada uma enorme coluna (Coluna Vendôme) com um baixo-relevo que imita a Coluna de Trajano de Rom
Completed in 1699 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, whose design stamp can be traced across France’s architectural high points, from the Palace of Versailles to Notre-Dame, the ambitious feat of urban design was initiated to frame the statue of then ruler Louis XIV.
Breaking away from the typical square format, Hardouin-Mansart traced out a perfect octagon, with the clean lines of the sandstone-clad, neoclassical townhouses forming its perimeter. More than a symbol of monarchy, Place Vendôme was a rare open space, where people could breathe freely beyond the maze of winding Parisian streets.
Napoleon Bonaparte took high jewellery as his own symbol of political power. His wife, Empress Joséphine, became the original muse for Chaumet, popularising tiaras among the ladies of her court.
The Statue
The equestrian statue of Louis XIV didn’t survive the French Revolution of 1789, when it was pulled down and melted for scrap. (The equestrian statue of Henry IV on Pont Neuf met the same fate.) Twenty years later
Napoleon used the vacant spot to erect a column celebrating his victory in the battle of Austerlitz. The stone core was encased in a bronze spiral frieze made from the 1,250 Russian and Austrian canons captured during the battle. And what did Bonaparte think would be the perfect way to cap off the 44-meter-high column? A statue of himself as a triumphant Caesar, of course.
Napoleon’s reign as emperor didn’t last long, and neither did his statue. Restoration king Louis XVIII removed it and replaced it with a giant fleur-de-lis, the symbol of French royalty. Napoleon’s statue was melted down and the metal was used to create… a replacement equestrian statue of Henry IV on Pont des Arts, the one you see there today. The next French monarch, Louis-Philippe, re-established Napoleon on the column, this time in military uniform. Napoleon III (Bonaparte’s nephew), when he came to power, substituted a replica of the original statue of Napoleon as Caesar.
The toppled statue of Napoleon with the Communards who pulled down the column.
But, there’s never a lack of excitement at Place Vendôme. During the Commune of 1871 — a period that managed to match the French Revolution in destruction, and do it in only a few months — the column was pulled down by a mob led by painter Gustave Courbet. After the Communards were suppressed and civic order was restored, Courbet was convicted of the destruction and ordered to pay the cost of rebuilding the column — 10,000 francs a year for thirty-three years. The painter fled to Switzerland and died there two years later, thereby saving himself 310,000 francs by our calculation. The column was restored in any case and Napoleon has been on top ever since.
- In the earlier part of the 20th century the place was actually used an an automobile parking lot. (We suspect for the convenience of civil servants working at the Ministry of Justice.) Luckily an underground parking lot and city ordinances have eliminated the unsightly car lot.
- On the front of the Ministry of Justice building, just below the window to the left of the entry is the original marble plaque displaying the length of a standard metre, mounted here in 1795 to help Parisians become familiar with the new unit of measure.
Discover the History of Place Vendôme in Paris
Place Vendôme | A Royal Square In Paris | Paris Insiders Guide