Sam Solomon                                                                                                        3.11.00

Birth of Modern Europe

Paris Essay on Physical Evolution

            The history of physical improvements in Paris during the Bourbon dynasty (1589-1792) is one of glory for the aristocracy and squalor for the masses.  The city was originally founded c. 360 on the Ile de la Cité, an island in the Seine river, soon spreading onto the left and right banks of the river; from its foundation Paris’s drastic class divisions were illustrated clearly by the city’s structure and evolution.  The Bourbon monarchs, centered in Paris, made few to no efforts to improve the living conditions of the Parisian working class, instead creating grand public spaces in their honor and new aristocratic palaces as playgrounds.  The sanitation and transportation for the majority of Parisians was disgracefully inadequate, while the aristocracy and upper bourgeoisie enjoyed beautiful public spaces as well as huge palaces, gardens, and mansions.  The goal of urban improvements was clearly to glorify the power of the ruling class and disregarded the needs of the people.

            The living conditions in Paris prior to and during the Bourbon dynasty were deplorable.  The streets housed filth unimaginable to the modern urban citizen; “tout-a-la-rue”, or all in the street, was the rule for household as well as human waste(even fetuses!).^[1]  This naturally created a horrible stench which was a fact of life for Parisian citizens; it also was extremely unsanitary and helped to spread diseases such as the Plague.  The few existing sewers either emptied into the Seine, as did most chemicals from farms and carcasses from Butchers and Tanneries, or they carried the refuse aimlessly down the streets.^[2]

            The Bourbon monarchs did little to nothing to remedy the poor sanitary conditions of Paris.  On the contrary, many demonstrated indifference to the situation as long as it did not directly affect them.  The ordinances and decrees which they did enact were poorly reinforced and did not come close to meeting the need for new sewers and sufficient sanitation workers.  An example of the indifference of these kings to sanitary issues is Louis XIII, who went so far as to pocket the taxes on wine set aside for sewer repair.^[4]

            Although the Bourbon monarchs did not improve the sanitary conditions of Paris, they did significantly alter the physical appearance of the city.  They spent immense sums of money on palaces and country estates.  The most significant example of excessive spending by a Bourbon King on private accommodations is Versailles.  Located several miles south-west of Paris, this palace was originally created as a small brick building by Louis XIII.  Louis XIV(1643-1715) transformed it into a huge palace, over a quarter mile long.  In addition, he built an immense formal garden and park, creating an axis between Paris and the palace.  He even went so far as to construct a beautiful village to give Versailles  more appeal to the foreign nobility and to demonstrate further what a king could do if given absolute power.  This palace not only used up funds which might have benefited the working class, but also physically separated the monarchy from the people; this isolation intensified the absolute power of the Bourbon kings.

            In addition to Versailles, the Bourbon kings began a process of superficial improvements to Paris, exerting their absolute power to create majestic public spaces in their own honor. Prior to 1600, Paris had few public spaces of significance.  The aristocracy had always had huge, fancy palaces such as the Louvre, and other private spaces, but these were off limits to the average Parisian both legally and physically.  The new spaces included a few avenues and places.  The main avenue created was the Champs Élyseés, which extended westward from the new Tuileries palace and garden (the center of the monarchy before Versailles) and began a general western expansion using it as an axis.  Another change was the evolution of medieval city walls into the Grands Boulevards, planted walks surrounding the city and giving rise to cafés, restaurants, and theaters.^[5]   Perhaps the most significant change in the city was the creation of places.  These geometric spaces were usually surrounded by regular streets and had fancy residential buildings around their edges.  They also included equestrian statues or obelisks to symbolize the greatness of the monarchy.  The places were open to all but served primarily to serve as testaments to the power of the kings.   Some examples are the Place des Vosges (1605-12), Place Vendome (1670-1720), and Place de Victoires (1687).^[6]   In addition to these enclosed spaces was the Place de la Concorde (building begun in 1755), part of a number of extensions to the Champs Élyseés.  This space was constructed in honor of Louis XV, who held a contest for architects to design a place in his honor.  The sites suggested were all around the city in key locations, each of which would mean the destruction of existing structures and indicated the King’s desire to exert his power over the city.

            Although the creation of beautiful spaces was an improvement per se, it did practically nothing to improve the quality of life for the vast majority of Parisians and was a blatant abuse of the monarchy’s absolute power.  Versailles was, without doubt, an exercise of excessive power and a waste of funds which might have gone to sanitation or the modernization of roads.  The places are more difficult to qualify; some might argue that they had democratizing effects.  While it is true that they were open to the public, their original purpose of glorifying the monarchy is hardly democratic.  In addition, they could be fully enjoyed only by the aristocracy and upper bourgeoisie, who had leisure time to spend.  The working classes were not able to stroll when they pleased; they were laboring most of the day.  Even when had free time, the lower classes could not practically shop at the expensive new stores or enjoy the theatres by the boulevards and places.  And while the Bourbon kings spent huge sums of money on these spaces, the large part of the city was still as it had been in medieval times.  Simple, wide avenues were needed desperately within the existing parts of the city, not leading off to nowhere as did the Champs Élyseés , or bordering the city like the Grands Boulevards.  Perhaps less posh places or low income apartments would have allowed for the possibility of jobs and social mobility for the working classes instead of serving only to please the richest citizens and attest to the power of the kings.

            In conclusion, the Bourbon monarchs contributed to the superficial glory and beauty of Paris but neglected to successfully address the issues which would have affected the lives of its citizens.  Versailles, the places, and the boulevards and other avenues did help to make the city more outwardly attractive and attested to the divinity and absolute power of the kings, but not one helped to modernize Paris and improve its living conditions.  The streets were unnavigable, rank, and full of disease, there was no sewage system to speak of, and sanitary conditions were generally abominable.  The Bourbon kings’ disinterest in these practical issues illustrated perfectly the extent to which they were separated from the interests of their citizens and from the dire need for potentially life-saving reforms.  Their power was so absolute that they felt no need to represent the true needs of their constituents.  This unjust rule could not last forever without check; thus the physical state of Paris under the Bourbon kings may have in part spurred the Parisians to revolt in 1789.  The citizens were not blind to the injustice surrounding them, it was inbred with every moment of their existence and could be seen and smelled in the streets they walked on.   Overall the city had maintained its medieval nature and any map could still be read as an illustration of drastic class divisions.  Much work had yet to be done before Paris could begin to meet the needs of its citizens as a healthy and practical place to reside.

Bibliography:

1) Allen, Dinerman, & Hu, Paris Sanitation before the 20th                                                 Century.         (1999)

2) Krupa, Frederique.  Paris: Urban Sanitation Before the 20th                                                 Century. (1991)

3) Morris, A.E.G. History of Urban Form. (1979)

4) Olsen,Donald J. The City as a Work of Art. (1986)

5) World Book Encyclopedia, Paris. (1988)