Yes, the Eiffel Tower is a famous landmark in its own right, a must-see tourist destination. But the 1889 structure is also a critical moment in the history of architecture and engineering, fitting in nicely with our very own Eads Bridge and Wainwright Building. First of all, the Eiffel Tower is actually most likely iron,…
Category: Europe
Posts about European cities
Public Space in Paris
One thing I’ve noticed about the great cities of the world, particularly Europe, is their lack of wide open spaces. Isn’t that counterintuitive? Aren’t American cities constantly building more plazas for free concerts and festivals? We need to bring more life to our cities with special events! In reality, life is brought to European (and…
Neoclassicism and Beyond, Paris
Moving along now so we can get back to St. Louis, here is a smorgasbord of Paris buildings that have broader implications on world architectural history, including here in the Gateway City. First up is the Madeleine, which was originally built by Napoleon to glorify his reign, but was then converted into a church. It’s…
Beauty and Terror: Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie
As I’ve mentioned before, the center of ancient Gallic and Roman Paris was the island in the middle of the Seine River known as the Île de la Cité, and not surprisingly for symbolic and practical reasons when the city became the capital of the kingdom of France, the royal palace was located there. The…
The Pantheon, Paris
The Pantheon in Paris, named after the one in Rome, has gone through so many identity changes over the centuries that it’s hard to keep track. You can read about that elsewhere. However, it’s the perfect domed church-like structure to examine in the history of architecture right after the domed chapel of the Invalides, which…
Les Invalides
I caught this view of the dome of the Invalides through the trees of the gardens of the Rodin Museum, which is a must-see when you’re visiting Paris. Designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the structure serves as a critical step in the development of domes in Western architecture. The domed church was part of a larger…
Cathedral of St. Louis, Blois
Heading back to the town of Blois for a bit, we look at the Cathedral of St. Louis, an interesting mix of old and newer additions. Portions date from Gothic style all the way up to the Seventeenth Century and the Baroque. Which brings me to an interesting revelation; after the Gothic, French ecclesiastic architecture…
Notre Dame of Chartres, Interior
Well then, they’ve been doing a bit of interior decorating on the inside of Chartres Cathedral, and generating quite a bit of controversy in the process. Needless to say, the newly cleaned and painted walls are a dramatic change to what generations of particularly older art historians were accustomed. Of course, it has not been…
Notre Dame of Chartres, Exterior
Heading out early in the morning from Paris, I took the train out into the southwest reaches of what is known as the Île-de-France, my destination the Cathedral of Chartres. Heavy fog blanketed the countryside and was just starting to lift when I reached the town of the same name. As I exited the train…
Notre Dame of Reims, Interior
The interior of Reims Cathedral is breathtaking, with long vistas viewed from the front doors towards the high altar far in the distance in the choir. The groin vaulting high overhead is uniform and rhythmic, with finely cut stone giving the sense of an almost perfect work of masonry. The high altar, like many in…