- Île de la Cité
The Île de la Cité is one of two natural
island s in theSeine within the city ofParis (the other beingÎle Saint-Louis , theÎle des Cygnes being artificial). It is the centre of Paris and the location where the medieval city was refounded.The western end has held a palace since
Merovingian times, and its eastern end since the same period has been consecrated to religion, especially after the 10th century construction of a cathedral preceding today's Notre Dame. The land between the two was, until the 1850s, largely residential and commercial, but since has been filled by the city'sPrefecture de Police , Palais de Justice, Hôtel-Dieu hospital andTribunal de Commerce . Only the westernmost and northeastern extremities of the island remain residential today, and the latter preserves some vestiges of its 16th century canon`s houses.History
Most scholars believe that in 52 BC, at the time of
Vercingetorix 's struggle withJulius Caesar , a smallGallic tribe, theParisii , were living on the island. It has also been said that a Roman by the name of Lutece founded the Île de la Cité which started as a fortress. At that time, the island was a low-lying area subject to flooding that offered a convenient place to cross the Seine and was also a refuge in times of invasion. However, some modern historians believe the Parisii were based on another, now sunken island. After the conquest of the Celts, the Roman Labienus created a temporary camp on the island, but further Roman settlement developed in the healthier air on the slopes above theLeft Bank , at the RomanLutetia .Later Romans under
Saint Genevieve escaped to the island when their city was attacked byHuns . Clovis established aMerovingian palace on the island, which became the capital of MerovingianNeustria . The island remained an important military and political center throughout theMiddle Ages .Eudes used the island as a defensive position to fend offViking attacks in 885, and in the tenth century, a cathedral (the predecessor of Notre-Dame) was built on the island.From early times wooden bridges linked the island to the riverbanks on either side, the Grand Pont (the Pont au Change) spanning the wider reach to the Right Bank, and the Petit Pont spanning the narrower crossing to the Left Bank. The first bridge rebuilt in stone (in 1378) was at the site of the present Pont Saint-Michel, but ice floes carried it away with the houses that had been built on it in 1408. [ Floods destroyed the bridge at intervals, the last houses being removed in 1809, and the present bridge was constructed in 1857. ( [http://lefildutemps.free.fr/paris/pont_saint_michel.htm Photos et historique: Le pont Saint-Michel] ).] The Grand Pont or Pont Notre-Dame, also swept away at intervals by floodwaters, and the Petit Pont were rebuilt by Fra
Giovanni Giocondo at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The six arches of the Pont Notre-Dame supported gabled houses, some of half-timbered construction, until all were demolished in 1786. [ The present bridge dates from 1853, with the central arches replaced by an iron span in 1919. ( [http://lefildutemps.free.fr/paris/pont_notre_dame.htm Photos et historique: Le pont Notre Dame] ).]The Île de la Cité remains the heart of Paris. All road distances in France are calculated from the "zero kilometer" point located in the "Place du Parvis de Notre-Dame", the square facing Notre-Dame's west end-towers.
The Pont Neuf
The Pont Neuf, the "new bridge" that is now the oldest bridge in Paris, was completed by Henri IV, who inaugurated it in 1607. The bronze
equestrian statue of Henri IV was commissioned fromGiambologna under the orders ofMarie de Medici , Henri’s widow and Regent of France, in 1614. After his death, Giambologna's assistantPietro Tacca completed the statue, which was erected on its pedestal byPietro Francavilla in 1618. It was destroyed in 1792 during theFrench Revolution , but was remade from surviving casts in 1818. The sculpture originally rose from the river on its own foundations, abutting the bridge; since then, the natural sandbar building of a mid-river island, aided by stone-faced embankments called "quai s", has extended the island, which is planted as the teardrop-shaped Parc Vert Galant in honour of Henri IV, the "Green Gallant" King.The Place Dauphine
The Place Dauphine, laid out in 1609 while
Place des Vosges was still under construction and named for Louis XIII as Dauphin, ["Place" is feminine, not "dauphin"] was among the earliest city-planning projects of Henri IV. The space, a rectangle with two canted ends, was made over to Achille du Harlay to construct thirty-two houses of regular plan. It is approached through a kind of gateway centred on the "downstream" end, formed by paired pavilions facing the equestrian statue of Henri IV on the far side of thePont Neuf . They are built of brick with limestone quoins supported on arcaded stone ground floors and capped by steep slate roofs with dormers, very like the contemporaneous facades of Place des Vosges. Few visitors penetrate Place Dauphine, which lies behind them, and where all the other buildings have been raised in height, given new facades, rebuilt, or replaced with a heightened pastiches of the originals. The former enclosing east side was swept away to open the view to the monumental white marble Second Empire "Palais de Justice" (built 1857-68), like a glazed colonnade [The architects were Joseph-Louis Duc and Honoré Daumet. [http://france.archiseek.com/ile_de_france/paris/palais_de_justice.html Palais de Justice] ] centered on the Place Dauphine, the remains of which now form a kind of forecourt to it. [ [http://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/paris01/places/place_dauphine.htm La Place Dauphine] .]ights
Three medieval buildings remain on the Île de la Cité (east to west):
* The Cathedral ofNotre Dame de Paris , built from 1163 on the site of a church dedicated to Saint Étienne, which in turn occupied a sacred pagan site of Roman times. During theFrench Revolution the cathedral was badly damaged, then restored byViollet-le-Duc .
* Louis IX'sSainte-Chapelle (1245), built as a reliquary to house theCrown of Thorns and a piece of theTrue Cross , enclosed within the Palais de Justice.
* TheConciergerie prison, whereMarie Antoinette awaited execution in 1793.The oldest remaining residential quarter is the Ancien Cloître.
Baron Haussmann demolished some of the network of narrow streets, but was dismissed in 1869 before the entire quarter was lost.Old engraved maps of Paris show how, when the
Pont Neuf was built, it grazed the downstream tip – the "stern" of the island-ship. Since then, the natural sandbar building of a mid-river island, aided by stone-faced embankments called "quai s", has extended the island, which is planted as the small Vert Galant park, named forHenri IV of France , the "Green Gallant" king. It retains the original low-lying riverside level of the island. Nearby, a discreet plaque ("illustration below") commemorates the spot whereJacques de Molay , Grand Master of theKnights Templar , was burnt at the stake,March 18 ,1314 .The upstream tip of the island is home to the "Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation," a memorial to the 200,000 French citizens who were deported to German labour camps during theSecond World War .Transportation
The Île de la Cité is connected to the rest of Paris by bridges to both banks of the river and to the
Île Saint-Louis . The oldest surviving bridge is thePont Neuf ('New Bridge'), which lies at the western end of the island.The island has one
Paris Métro station, Cité; and theRER station Saint-Michel-Notre-Dame on theLeft Bank has an exit in the square in front of the Cathedral.Notes
External links
* [http://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/paris00/l_ile_de_la_cite.htm L’Île de la Cité] - current photographs and of the years 1900.
References
*de Brunhoff, Jacques. 1987. "La place Dauphine et l'île de la Cité" (Lyon) ISBN 2-904638-99-7
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