A Stroll By Second Empire Paris

When guests consider historic Paris, their minds typically soar to the Center Ages or the Belle Époque.

However a lot of what defines Paris as we speak — the large boulevards and uniform façades, the beautiful prepare stations and splendidly cool parks — comes straight from the reign of Napoleon III.

A nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, or Napoleon I, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte seized energy in a coup d’état in 1851 and, after a plebiscite, declared himself Emperor the next 12 months.

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And now, your Second Empire itinerary

• Begin: Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris
• Stroll 10 minutes: Opéra Garnier, Paris
• Stroll 10 minutes: Avenue de l’Opéra, Paris
• Metro Line 9 (from Chaussée d’Antin–La Fayette to Monceau): Parc Monceau, Paris
• Bus 84 or Metro Line 10 (from Monceau to Sèvres-Babylone): Le Bon Marché, Paris
• Metro Line 10 to Jussieu, then Line 7bis to Buttes-Chaumont: Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
• Metro Line 7 (to Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre): Tuileries Backyard, Paris

Non-compulsory Extensions:

• Galeries Lafayette
• Bois de Boulogne
• Bois de Vincennes
• Musée d’Orsay
• Gare du Nord

1. Gare Saint-Lazare

Saint-Lazare station as painted by Monet (the portray is within the Musée d’Orsay)

Begin your day on the Gare Saint-Lazare, one of many oldest railway stations in Paris and a serious image of the Second Empire’s efforts to modernize.

Napoleon III believed {that a} robust railway community would remodel France by bringing individuals and items into the capital extra shortly. This could unify distant areas and assist what had develop into a fast-growing financial system.

As Saint-Lazare linked Paris to Normandy and the Atlantic, new commerce routes have been opened and journey turned simpler for on a regular basis individuals.

The constructing’s monumental new façade mirrored the empire’s perception in progress and order, to not point out grand design.

The world across the station additionally modified dramatically, from a chaotic, crowded district to a way more fashionable area. Baron Haussmann, the emperor’s chief planner, reduce new boulevards by means of the outdated neighborhood to ease visitors. Later, Claude Monet would paint the station many instances…

2. Opéra Garnier

The monumental staircase of the Opéra Garnier

This unbelievable constructing was commissioned by Napoleon III and designed by Charles Garnier, and would showcase for the empire’s love of drama (theatrical, after all, but additionally political).

Building started in 1861, proper in the course of the Second Empire. Napoleon III wished a brand new opera home not only for leisure, however as a result of he additionally wished to point out off his regime’s power (and impress the world). 

Napoleon III by no means noticed the completed Opéra Garnier. He died in exile in 1873, three years after the empire fell, however his imaginative and prescient lives on in each sculpted column and chandelier. 

There are excursions of the Opera (this is a non-public one which is good if there are a number of of you) however if you happen to’re not up for a tour, not less than get an entry ticket to spend time wandering up and down the grand staircase.

3. Avenue de l’Opéra

Avenue de l’Opéra, straight as an arrow

Stroll down Avenue de l’Opéra, one of the vital seen outcomes of Haussmann’s redesign. The boulevard was created particularly to attach the Louvre to the brand new Opéra in a straight line, sensible for visitors, after all, but additionally simple to police and patrol by troopers if there was unrest.

Earlier than the 1850s, this space was a maze of medieval alleyways, excellent for constructing barricades throughout protests and revolutions. However Napoleon had had his share of uprisings and wished no extra.

In his new Paris, rebellions could be tougher to prepare (and simpler to quell). He gave Haussmann the job of clearing and rebuilding complete districts, and this avenue was a part of that mission. 

The usual top and uniform façades alongside the avenue, by the best way, are options which Haussmann imposed along with his strict constructing codes. These have been designed to supply order and hygiene, whereas guaranteeing imperial management.

4. Parc Monceau

Parc Monceau is likely one of the most elegant and strange parks in Paris.

Napoleon III wished it to replicate English panorama design, which he got here to admire throughout his exile in London. In contrast to older French gardens, which adopted strict, geometric strains, the brand new Parc Monceau was meant to really feel extra pure and romantic, with its winding paths and curved lawns. 

It was additionally one of many first public parks open to all social lessons, not simply the rich or well-connected. 

As you wander round, search for Corinthian columns, a miniature pyramid and fake Roman ruins, all of them whimsical touches to remind us of the theatrical aspect of the Second Empire. And why not convey a picnic?

5. Au Bon Marché

Au Bon Marché opened in 1852, one of many world’s first true department shops. It modified the best way Parisians shopped by providing mounted costs and loads of alternative, and made it simpler to return undesirable items – a complete new retail expertise.

It grew (it was massively expanded within the 1860s) in tandem with Napoleon III’s efforts to modernize the financial system and encourage a client tradition – this was his imaginative and prescient for an energized and dynamic city France.

Additionally, the constructing’s use of forged iron and glass mirrored the period’s fascination with industrial class, simply when the whole lot was altering shortly. We will see the embrace of commercial magnificence and cutting-edge supplies, all a part of the brand new, progressive (however well-ordered) Paris.

6. Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Within the mid-Nineteenth century, this website was a polluted quarry and dumping floor. Napoleon III, decided to show Paris right into a more healthy and extra stunning metropolis, ordered it reworked right into a public park.

It was designed by engineer Jean-Charles Alphand and when it opened in 1867 for the Exposition Universelle, it created awe and delight, with its steep cliffs, a suspension bridge, waterfalls, and even a miniature Roman temple perched excessive above a artifical lake.

The outcome might really feel a bit theatrical, however that was the purpose. The Second Empire liked a superb spectacle, and parks like this gave working Parisians a way of surprise about their very own metropolis. Gustave Eiffel, nonetheless early in his profession, designed the park’s iron bridge many years earlier than he turned well-known for the tower that bears his title.

7. Jardin des Tuileries

Finish your day within the Tuileries Backyard, as soon as the entrance yard of the imperial Tuileries Palace. This was Napoleon III’s predominant residence in Paris till it was burned down throughout the violence of the Paris Commune in 1871, shortly after the autumn of the Second Empire.

Although the palace is gone, the backyard structure remains to be just about the identical. It was initially designed by André Le Nôtre within the seventeenth century however Napoleon III turned it right into a promenade, opening up its inexperienced areas to everybody as a part of his city reforms.

The backyard was an emblem of Second Empire Paris. Bodily, it stands between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde, and symbolically, it occupies the area between the outdated monarchy and the brand new imperial order.