Samaritaine...Bofinger

We'd walked past the old Samartaine department store many times, between Rivoli and the Seine, a beautiful Belle Epoche construction, several years closed and disused, wondering when and if it might ever be renovated and re-opened. In 2005 it was bought by the LVMH group (Louis Vuitton, Moet/Chandon, and Hennessy) and proceeded, through many disputes and lawsuits, to a reopening only a few weeks ago. Just what the world needs, you might think: another Paris department store for the crazy rich. And not mistakenly. But most of it has been lovingly re-done, and the current re-opening is paying much marketing attention to the store's long history and prestige in Paris. It's so ironic...department stores initially brought mass-produced goods to the masses. Now they mostly bring mass-produced goods to the crazy rich. Oh well. We visited Samaritaine one morning recently. Interestingly, there were more people with cameras, like us, than actual customers. About the same time we visited, this interesting article appeared in Bloomberg. Part of Samaritaine's deal with the city is to have some 96 public housing apartments atop the building. Ninety-six public housing apartments in perhaps Paris' most prestigious locale. Where can we apply?!

A history of the Samaritaine greets you at the
entrance; nicely done, too; I like the attention
to history; but then I'm not a buyer...

Riding up to the top

Retro TVs playing old Samaritaine ads

Nice champagne display

In the ladies' shoes department, looking out the window to the
church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois...true artseau-fartseau

More of the gorgeously restored department store

More champagne...not even Moet Chandon...to personalize

The adjacent, Rivoli building, not as successfully
restored...Parisians refer to it as the "shower curtain"

But it has a nice atrium

And patisserie

The revolving cake automaton; certainly a big deal in 1895

Our next stop was the BHV, the Bazaar de Hotel de Ville, our
favorite among the grands magasins (big stores); above, en route,
is the Hotel de Ville (city hall), with a huge white tent, just visible
on the left, for COVID tests and vaccinations; our visit to the BHV
was of a practical nature, no pix, and too much of it devoted to 
searching for my lost transit pass card, which turned out to be
waiting for me at the store's objet trouve (lost and found)

We proceed on, through more difficulties, but ended finally
with a pleasant late lunch at Bofinger, near the Place de la
Bastille, familiar ground, and a great Art Nouveau restaurant

Her squab and potatoes

My moules et frites; last time I had this many moules, it did 
not end well; but I had been in training in London, and it was
fine

At Bofinger, reminding me of a Dali parody on Las Meninas,
a portrait of Gala originally designed to use 1,000 mirrors

Basilica of Saint-Denis: The Royal Necropolis

Forty-two kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses, and 10 great men [sic] were buried at Saint-Denis. Limitations of space...[hails of derisive laughter]...prevent me from posting pix of each and every one of the their tombs, cenotaphs, memorials, etc. And so I have labored once more to reduce a vast number of photos down to the few that are of the utterly greatest interest and importance. Vicki, who actually looks at all the tombs, memorials, and what have you, reads all the descriptions, knows a bit about funereal art, and even asks questions of the docents, says definitely no more than a dozen. 

PS. In the Revolution, all the tombs were broken into, plundered, the royal remains all put in a mass grave, and all the monuments were taken apart and removed for display in museums. Pretty soon, the Revolution was over, Napoleon was gone, and another Bourbon king was back, briefly, and everything was put back together, as you see it today. Except the bones. But we're sure DNA analysis eventually will get everybody's bones back where they belong.

Helpful map of who's monument is where

Everything you need to know about funeral art at Saint-Denis

Can't tell the players unless you know their dynasties

Unfortunately I ran out of film after the third dynasty

King Saint Louis, in the 12th, ordered that recumbent statues be
made for 16 of his predecessors; here are some of the 14 that
remain

Including biggies like Clovis, Childebert, Carloman, Pepin le
Bref, Philip le Bold, Frederique le Phinque, et al. 

Personal favorite: Francois Premier; note upper and lower
depictions

Artsy-fartsy shot of his feet

Henry II and Catherine de Medici

Vicki asking a question by the tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Bretagne;
again, note the figures on top of the tomb; these are Louis and Anne in
majesty, so to speak; resurrected

Peering in at Louis and Anne; the custom in those days,
for certain people (kings and queens, for example) was
to depict them up high in majesty, resurrected, etc., in all
their finery, worshipping, groveling, whatever; and then
below in their mortal (dead) state; the Italians took
this pretty far, the mortal state being pretty emaciated,
if not merely a skeleton; the French thought the Italian
approach was demeaning to the royalty, so sculpted
them in pretty good shape, although dead; so here are
Louis and Anne, dead; clear enough now? 

Down in the crypt: Louis XIV and Marie de Medici

The Bourbon crypt: final resting place for Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette; also Louis XVIII, last king to be buried here

Spare parts

Back upstairs: statues of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette,
ordered by Louis XVIII in 1816

PPS. Entry to the church was free, as is the case in all French churches; entry to the collection of funereal things required a modest admission fee. Just FYI.

PPS. The cathedral fronts on a large pretty square, presided over by the local Hotel de Ville and hordes of skate-boarders and futbol enthusiasts. Beyond that is a huge outdoor market (Sunday; everything), and beyond that a huge indoor market (daily; food). The markets were closing and folding up as we got out of the church, but we may go back to the Saint-Denis market some future Sunday. 

Basilica Of Saint-Denis: The Church

The next day, Sunday, September 19th, we still had sufficient energy for another major visit, and so took the long Metro ride out to the former village of Saint-Denis (it's just a suburb now) to see the former abbey church there, now the Basilica of Saint-Denis. We'd visited Saint-Denis in 2014, but its historical importance, architecturally and otherwise, warrant another look. Saint-Denis is where its abbot, Suger, in the 12th century, put together all the elements that define the Gothic, and, importantly, wrote about it all too, giving it a theological as well as architectural basis. Within a century, Gothic architecture had covered the Ile de France and was spreading rapidly, even beyond France. Suger, BTW, was no mere abbot. A schoolboy chum of the next king, he was Regent of France while said king was off crusading, and was a close advisor to the next king. No wonder the thing spread like wildfire. Anyhow, we leisurely toured the cathedral, paying rather more attention to tombs and memorials than we did in 2014. Saint-Denis has been the official burial site for French royalty from nearly the beginning, although the tombs were ransacked and vandalized during the Revolution. As I have observed elsewhere, the Church was hated nearly as much as the monarchy in the late 18th century. Then, after three more revolutions (1830, 1848, 1870), they stopped having a monarchy. Anyhow, I'll have to do two posts for Saint-Denis, one the church, the other, the royal necropolis.

It used to have two towers, but alterations and high winds, over
the centuries, necessitated removing the north tower; there is
talk of adding it back

Helpful floor plan; Suger's original Gothic 
included just the top and bottom parts, chancel
and west end and narthex; he left the Carolingian
nave alone for the time; it was rebuilt to Rayonnant
Gothic standards in the 13th, which is more or less
what we see now

West tympanum; the usual judgement; such a sculpture common
to all Gothics; before, not so

The west rose window now turned into a clock (very un-Gothic);
was covered up inside by the organ anyway

Still the west entrance...some beautiful sculpture;
perhaps not original (!)

Suger in the Judgement, praying; we'll see him again

Now inside; the north rose window

Closer up

Now in an adjacent education center (headed outside for the
Medieval garden), looking at the helpful model of what the
village and the abbey looked like in 1600; the good old days

Spare parts

Medieval garden tour (not in English, too)

Looking up at the flying buttresses around the chancel area;
themselves buttressed by probably 20th century iron rods

Outside on the north side now; the various cathedral repair and'
renovation shops are functioning today in an educational mode,
allowing the kiddies and adults to try their hand at stone
cutting, sculpture, blacksmithing, glass and tracery, etc.

South tympanum: beheading of Saint Denis; the Bishop of Paris
reputedly picked up his severed head and carried it five miles
up the road (past our apartment) to the spot where he wanted his
abbey to be located; " just a flesh wound!"

South rose window 

Now in the crypt, admiring the Romanesque capitals

Green man

Tomb of Suger

Still praying

From one of the windows in the chancel; still praying

View from near the altar

Looking up; this is the original Suger Gothic, 
mid-12th; some bits of the chancel windows are
original; they've been through a lot

Ditto

Way abaft the beam, west end, the organ

Chancel ceiling

Half the miniscule choir; I seem to remember the Revolution
used the original for firewood

Exiting the gift store, looking back at the grand
old church, grand-daddy of Gothics

The gift store; nearly the smallest we've seen in a cathedral