The enduring significance of the Louvre and Versailles on the Ancien Régime

The old saying ‘Paris will always be Paris’ might require reexamination. Paris to this day, continues to reinvent itself to such an extent that the enduring significance of the city is hard to pinpoint. Where might we look to get a sense of the real Paris? To its origins in the ancien régime, to its radical reinvention during the Revolution, or to its existence today as a true global city (Sassen, 2002), and a world centre for art and culture?

We might begin by investigating Paris’ buildings and vistas themselves. Indeed, Paris’ political history can be traced in the very topography of the city in the mould of the various grand monuments that make up the capital’s centre. The history of belle époque France still pervades Paris in the form of myriad Classical landmarks, and yet, the creative/destructive dynamic (Harvey, 2003) born of the Revolution that has since reshaped and remodelled the city’s urban landscape cannot be overlooked. Indeed, monuments such as the Bastille and the Place de la Concorde, to name two, have as a result undergone complete transformations. Against such a backdrop of tumultuous urban change however, the Louvre and the Palace de Versailles still stand. Both products of the ancien régime, their conservation against all odds within the Parisian cityscape clearly highlights this era’s enduring significance and the imprint of the ancien regime and its monarchical ideology on Paris’ urban interface today. And yet, whilst never denying their affiliation with France’s monarchical past, arguably both landmarks have since refashioned themselves; no longer mere symbols and strongholds of monarchy but successful showcases for art and culture in their own right.

This blog entry will therefore address how the Louvre and the Palais de Versailles, as France’s most iconic representations of monarchy, have sustained their relationship with French history, but also how they have moved on to become more than just empty vessels for a defunct political regime. In both cases the impact on Paris’s urban milieu will be closely addressed. The research will be tackled with literal accounts of the history and developments of the selected sites with an observational approach taken from when I visited Paris from the 1st-5th of November 2010. Ultimately, Paris will always be Paris, but the city is moving on, and its monuments can only catch up.