Recently (November 16-20) Louisa and I went to Paris. Well, of course it was virtual....but it was great fun and very Parisian. We did it through Road Scholar with Nettah Yoeli-Remmer as our guide. It was very different from actually being there, but we could do things in historical sequence instead of geographical so it made a lot of sense. We missed stopping for pastries, though...and sketching in the streets of Paris or by the Eiffel Tower. When we were actually in Paris a few years ago so we revisited some good memories.
We covered a lot and Nettah had a variety of slide decks, videos, handouts (we got by email) and his own rich knowledge. He made the virtual experience seem very relevant.
Day 1 covered origins of Paris, Ile de la Cite, Sainte-Chappelle and Notre Dame. The first thing we learned was that the name Paris does not come from the Greek god Paris, but instead from a Gaul tribe, the Parisii who were brought under Roman control in 52 BC. We saw pictures of a Roman arena (part of Arenes de Lutece and built in the first century AD), which is still in Paris and can be visited once travel resumes. I had no idea it was there and that is one of the interesting revelations of this virtual tour.
Christianity came to the city in the 3rd Century and Saint Denis became the first Bishop. He was eventually decapitated and the picture above is of a statue at the Notre Dame that shows him carrying his own head. The story is that he continued his sermons carrying his head after the decapitation and that is why he became a Saint.
Germanic tribes sacked Paris in 270 AD and so it became under Frankish rule. Clovis I became ruler in 481 AD at the age of 16 when his father died. He united the Frankish tribes throughout the region. He increased his authority with Rome by marrying a Christian wife and then he himself converted to Catholicism in 496 AD. He became the first Bishop of Paris.
We went to Notre Dame (through a video narrated by Nettah) and saw pictures of it post fire. A decision has been made to rebuild it as it was at the time of the fire. Nettah led a great discussion of it as classic Gothic architecture (construction began in AD 1163) and how the flying buttresses stabilize the walls and allow for open spaces in the interior.
We "toured" another church that is physically nearby--Sainte-Chapelle. Sainte Chappelle is not a cathedral and was privately built by King Louis IX as a chapel and a place for relics he had acquired, such as the purported crown of thorns worn by Jesus and a fragment of the cross. By the way, these relics were transferred to Notre Dame a few years ago and were saved from the 2019 fire at Notre Dame. Louisa and I visited Sainte-Chappelle when we were in Paris a few years ago. It is amazing with soaring panels of stained glass. It was built in the 13th century. This picture doesn't do it justice.
There was more, but this is pretty long already for a blog post. This was only day one of five, so I hope to do four more.
