París explicado — Transcript

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1. 0:01The majestic city of Paris is more than 2,000 years old, and its shape
2. 0:06has changed radically over the centuries.
3. 0:11Before being conquered by the Romans,
4. 0:13the city was limited to a small settlement on this small island in the middle of the Seine River,
5. 0:18later called Île de la Cité, the city island.
6. 0:24Once having conquered this settlement,
7. 0:27the Romans established the city of Lutetia Parisiorum, which in Latin
8. 0:32means “the swamp of the Parisians”, the tribe of the Gauls who inhabited the island.
9. 0:37Lutetia Parisiorum was essentially a settlement divided into two parts;
10. 0:42The original Gallic inhabitants inhabited the island — strategically a
11. 0:46key crossing of the Seine River — while the Romans preferred the higher
12. 0:50, drier terrain of the slopes and summit of St. Genevieve Mountain to the south.
13. 0:55The Cardo Maximus, the main street that crossed the Roman cities from north to south,
14. 1:00was the current Rue Saint Jacques,
15. 1:01which since then continued across the bridges of the arms of the Seine.
16. 1:05The precise urban layout of Lutetia is not known,
17. 1:08since it was not a very important city at that time and therefore it is not so easy
18. 1:13to find Roman remains in Paris, but you can still find some vestiges of the
19. 1:17amphitheater that now serve as foundations of buildings. modern.
20. 1:21Today French children play soccer where gladiators used to fight.
21. 1:27Nothing remains of the Roman forum, but you can still see remains of the baths.
22. 1:32The best preserved Roman construction in Paris is the frigidarium, the cold room of the thermal baths,
23. 1:38today part of the medieval abbey of Cluny.
24. 1:41On the island, the site now occupied by the Notre Dame Cathedral is the site of
25. 1:46the Temple of Jupiter, which already established a religious focal point for the Romans.
26. 1:51Roman Lutetia was invaded and destroyed by Gaul barbarians in the 3rd century,
27. 1:57and when the Romans reestablished the city in 360 AD. C., they moved it
28. 2:02to the island and built a wall around it to increase its defenses.
29. 2:06From this new nucleus, which has since been known as Paris,
30. 2:10the city continued to expand until the
31. 2:1220th century in concentric rings clearly defined by successive walls.
32. 2:20During the Middle Ages, the island remained the most important part of the city,
33. 2:24although the city continued to grow outside the island, the Cardo Maximus laid out by
34. 2:29the Romans remained the main street, but the rest of the
35. 2:33original urban layout was lost due to the organic growth of the city.
36. 2:37In medieval Paris there were no public urban spaces of great importance.
37. 2:41Generally, in medieval cities, public squares are a residual space,
38. 2:46an accidental result of the organic intersection of streets.
39. 2:49Notre Dame Cathedral was accessed by crossing a parvis, a small enclosure in front of the church.
40. 2:55And the only other public space of importance in the late Middle Ages
41. 2:59was the Place de Grève, today part of the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville north of the river.
42. 3:04There were three main bridges:
43. 3:05the Petit Pont from the south bank to the Île de la Cité, which continued towards the
44. 3:11north bank as the Pont Notre Dame, and the Pont au Change, which crossed only the northern arm.
45. 3:16The other two bridges were small, pedestrian, and made of wood,
46. 3:20which collapsed and rebuilt all the time, but the river was invisible
47. 3:24from the bridges, since they were continually flanked by buildings.
48. 3:29This arrangement was very common in the Middle Ages,
49. 3:32and can still be seen in some cities such as Florence in Italy, where the Ponte Vecchio,
50. 3:37the bridge over the Arno River, is flanked by buildings on both sides.
51. 3:43The banks of the Seine were also completely
52. 3:45built up and there was no relationship between the city and the river.
53. 3:50The Italian Renaissance focused on reviving ancient Rome, and applying the
54. 3:55knowledge and techniques of the ancient Romans in art and architecture,
55. 4:00until finally, the Renaissance came to monarchical France and just as each emperor
56. 4:06of Rome ordered to build his own forum in the Eternal City, each king of France
57. 4:11ordered the construction of his own square with an equestrian statue of himself in the center.
58. 4:17The purpose of most of these squares was to encourage
59. 4:21the city's growth into new areas while
60. 4:23glorifying the monarchy with an equestrian statue of the king as the centerpiece.
61. 4:28An equestrian statue is a statue of a man on horseback.
62. 4:33The word comes from the Latin "equus" which means horse.
63. 4:36In ancient Rome, equestrian statues often depicted
64. 4:40military leaders, particularly the emperor.
65. 4:43Most of them were cast during the
66. 4:46Middle Ages to reuse the bronze in coins and church bells.
67. 4:51The only equestrian statue remaining from Ancient Rome is that of Emperor Marcus
68. 4:55Aurelius in Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome. People in the Middle Ages
69. 4:59thought it was a statue of Constantine, and that's why they didn't destroy it.
70. 5:05The construction of these squares was
71. 5:07successful in activating traffic in various parts of the city:
72. 5:11The first to achieve this was Place Dauphine, on the western side of the island.
73. 5:17From its beginnings, Paris had only one crossing over the Seine:
74. 5:21the two separate bridges that linked the central section of the Cité with the north and south banks.
75. 5:27As Paris prospered, traffic on the bridges increased,
76. 5:31so that by the mid-16th century they could no longer support the volume of traffic,
77. 5:36and under the reign of Henry III, work began in 1578 on a second crossing:
78. 5:43the two arms of the Pont Neuf (new bridge) - to connect the end of
79. 5:47the Île de la Cité with the north and south banks.
80. 5:50The Pont Neuf was built according to the designs of Androuet du Cerceau and today contradicts its name
81. 5:55by being the oldest bridge in Paris, with the original structure still intact.
82. 6:00To provide access to the bridge from the south bank,
83. 6:02a new street - Rue Dauphine - 10 meters wide was opened.
84. 6:06This exemplifies the totalitarian regime of the monarchy at the time;
85. 6:10If the king decreed the opening of a street, the buildings were demolished to make this happen.
86. 6:16After the bridge was completed in 1604, a new residential square was built next to it,
87. 6:22the Place Dauphine, or Dauphine Square, in honor of the future 6-year-old Louis XIII, the Dauphin.
88. 6:27Place Dauphine was the first of many residential squares built
89. 6:31in Paris during the Renaissance, but this one was planned in a unique way.
90. 6:36The essential difference between this square and the later ones is not only its shape,
91. 6:41which narrows with the shores of the island,
92. 6:43but the fact that the statue of the king is located outside the closed area.
93. 6:48It is in its central axis, but it is located on
94. 6:50the other side of the street that joins the two arms of the Pont Neuf.
95. 6:55However, the statue undoubtedly belonged to the square and not to the city; for although it occupied a
96. 7:01prominent place at the end of the island, the king looked towards the square and not towards the river.
97. 7:08You can see in old engravings that from the beginning,
98. 7:11this area of ​​the island was planned to have a panoramic view of the river.
99. 7:15Instead of following the medieval practice of placing buildings along the edge of the island,
100. 7:21space was deliberately left at the edges to accommodate streets.
101. 7:26Originally, the statue was visible from the plaza and actually dominated the view of it,
102. 7:31but the later addition of trees meant that the statue could no longer be seen from here.
103. 7:40The Place Royale, or "Royal Square", is of great importance in
104. 7:45European urban history as a prototype of the residential square.
105. 7:50Unlike the traditional approach of houses facing noisy, mixed-use streets,
106. 7:56the residential plaza is designed to enclose a
107. 7:59space where unwanted external traffic is excluded.
108. 8:05Taking this revolutionary concept even further, the royal planner decreed that all buildings
109. 8:11facing the square must adhere to the same façade design,
110. 8:15emphasizing the importance of aesthetic unity within the space.
111. 8:20The square is made up of thirty-eight houses with facades of uniform design.
112. 8:24In the center of the north and south sides, taller and more dominant bodies contained
113. 8:29the only two arched entrances to the plaza.
114. 8:33Later, a street was added on the north side to facilitate vehicle access.
115. 8:40An arcaded ground floor gave a protected entrance to the houses
116. 8:44and provided a continuous covered connection.
117. 8:47Above were two upper floors surmounted by mansards or
118. 8:51individual pitched roofs with a row of dormer windows.
119. 8:55The construction of the Place Royale may also have had great social importance.
120. 9:00Previously, the nobility had lived in
121. 9:03rural castles or in palaces located in different parts of the city.
122. 9:07The Place Royale represented a deliberate effort to centralize the aristocracy around
123. 9:12a unifying concept: to serve as a backdrop for the monarchy.
124. 9:16Instead of a fragmented group of petty princes often in opposition to the king,
125. 9:21they were now becoming part of the court spectacle.
126. 9:25In 1639 ,
127. 9:29an equestrian statue
128. 9:33of Louis
129. 9:38The square was renamed Place des Vosges or Vosges Square after the French Revolution.
130. 9:46The Place des Victoires, "square of victories", was designed by Jules-Hardouin Mansart,
131. 9:51one of the most influential baroque architects in France in the 17th century.
132. 10:00The best thing about this square is that, although it is a traffic space,
133. 10:03its circular shape clarifies and opens the space contrasting with the compact streets of the neighborhood,
134. 10:09with the main purpose of focusing attention on the statue of Louis XIV in the center.
135. 10:23The famous Place Vendôme, designed by the same architect,
136. 10:26was
137. 10:32originally known as Place
138. 10:38Louis the corners
139. 10:43cut, thus creating an octagonal effect.
140. 10:48The buildings are three storeys with
141. 10:50an additional row of dormer windows in the mansards.
142. 10:53The overall height was specifically limited to be lower than the 16 meter tall statue.
143. 11:02In the center of its shorter sides, two streets give access to the square.
144. 11:06Originally, these streets were for minor traffic access only and each
145. 11:11ended at buildings near the plaza.
146. 11:14However, years later, both streets were extended through the
147. 11:19city's main network and connected the square to the Paris Opera to the north and the Tuileries Garden to the south.
148. 11:26The centers of the plaza's long sides are emphasized
149. 11:29by pediments and columns, as are the four corners.
150. 11:34The equestrian statue, perfectly scaled to fit the proportions of the square,
151. 11:39was destroyed during the Revolution.
152. 11:42Its replacement, the 44-meter-high Austerlitz Column,
153. 11:46erected in 1810 by Napoleon, is excessive and disproportionate.
154. 11:51However, this column was inspired by Trajan's column in Rome, located in Trajan's Forum.
155. 11:57Trajan's column contains marble reliefs depicting the wars against the Dacians.
156. 12:04Napoleon's column represents the war against the Austrians at Austerlitz.
157. 12:08The bronze used for the column was obtained from enemy cannons taken as spoils of war.
158. 12:14As you can see, the French monarchs try to exalt themselves by seeking
159. 12:19connections between themselves and the Roman emperors.
160. 12:22And this not only happens in France, but it happens
161. 12:25with all European monarchies of the modern era.
162. 12:29Renaissance architecture is characterized by its pure shapes and symmetry,
163. 12:34which is why the morphology of these squares were pure shapes such as a circle, a triangle or a square.
164. 12:41It is about designing the space and the edges of the space rather than
165. 12:46designing a freestanding mass like a building.
166. 12:48And the enclosed spaces of these Renaissance squares within the
167. 12:52medieval layout of Paris evoke the city of Rome in ancient times,
168. 12:56where you had this chaotic layout of compact streets and then you entered the Roman forum and
169. 13:02the space opened up to a closed area with a equestrian statue of the emperor in the center.
170. 13:12To the northwest of the Île de la Cité is the Louvre,
171. 13:15today one of the most important museums in the world, but in the 17th century it was
172. 13:20a palace of kings, built in several stages over the centuries.
173. 13:26The development of the Louvre palace played a crucial role in the subsequent development of the city.
174. 13:32Caterina de Medici, widow of King Henry II,
175. 13:35tired of living in the narrow and closed courtyards of the Louvre,
176. 13:39commissioned the architect Philibert Delorme in 1563 to build a new palace
177. 13:45outside the walls with a large Italian-style garden that extended towards West.
178. 13:52This was the Tuileries Palace, unfinished when Caterina died in 1568,
179. 13:58and completed by Henry IV, who also attached the new palace to the Louvre.
180. 14:03In the 19th century, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte,
181. 14:07the North Gallery was started on the Rue de Rivoli side, thus creating an immense courtyard.
182. 14:13This northern side was completed under Napoleon III in 1857, but in 1871 revolutionary communards
183. 14:20burned down the Tuileries Palace, leaving it in ruins.
184. 14:25The Louvre was lucky to escape unscathed; The damaged western ends of its
185. 14:30north and south wings were restored, giving the current open courtyard form.
186. 14:35The Tuileries Garden was the cause of major later developments to the west:
187. 14:40in 1616 the Cours-la-Reine, the queen's walk, was created along the bank of the Seine,
188. 14:47and in 1667, André Le Nôtre, the King's gardener who designed the Gardens of Versailles,
189. 14:53laid out the Avenue de Champs Élysées with its majestic perspective towards the Place de l'Etoile,
190. 14:59the square of the star, and the continuation towards the Neuilly bridge and beyond,
191. 15:06passing by the Bois de Boulogne, a large forest outside the city
192. 15:10that centuries later Napoleon III converted into a public park.
193. 15:14The aim was to transform the nature of the Tuileries garden design from static
194. 15:19to dynamic, with the axis generated within the garden extending outwards along the Avenue,
195. 15:26considered today the most beautiful avenue in the world.
196. 15:29The name Champs Élysées is French for "Elysian Fields",
197. 15:33which in Greek mythology is a place in the underworld reserved for dead heroes.
198. 15:38In 1660, the northern walls of Paris, which ran from the Bastille to the current
199. 15:44site of the Madeleine, were demolished and in their place were
200. 15:48wide tree-lined streets with two triumphal arches marking the ancient entrances to the city.
201. 15:56These tree-lined streets became known as "boulevard",
202. 15:59a term that originally meant stockade, a form of medieval defense
203. 16:04used before the use of actual walls, but after these streets were made,
204. 16:09the term boulevard remained and today the word simply means a wide tree-lined avenue.
205. 16:17In 1775, the enormous space between the Tuileries Garden and the Avenue de Champs Elysées was
206. 16:24transformed into a new square called Place Louis XV, with a statue of him in the center.
207. 16:30Unlike the other Renaissance squares we saw,
208. 16:33this square was planned as an open space, not contained by architecture
209. 16:38as in previous squares, but contained by nature.
210. 16:42The square reinforced the axis between the Tuileries and Champs Élysées,
211. 16:45and created a new north-south axis between the later Madeleine church,
212. 16:50built in the form of a Roman temple, and the Bourbon Palace on the other side of the river.
213. 16:56To reinforce this axis, Jacques-Ange Gabriel,
214. 16:59the architect of the square, built two identical buildings on each side of the axis.
215. 17:06The
216. 17:11statue
217. 17:18of Louis
218. 17:23After the Regime of Terror, a period of the French Revolution where numerous
219. 17:27public executions took place in this square, it was renamed Place de la Concorde.
220. 17:34The enormous obelisk in the center was brought from the Luxor temple in Egypt and erected in 1836.
221. 17:42The base of the obelisk is adorned with gold carvings that tell of the great
222. 17:46feat it was to transport the obelisk from Egypt and erect it in the center of the square.
223. 17:53The two fountains proposed in the original plan were added in 1854
224. 17:59to both sides of the obelisk, aligned with the axes of the square.
225. 18:08The Arc de Triomphe, located in the center of the Place de l'Étoile,
226. 18:12It was originally proposed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz.
227. 18:18In ancient Rome, triumphal arches were built for
228. 18:22the emperor to pass through when he won a battle, once again,
229. 18:29European monarchs like Napoleon saw themselves as Roman emperors.
230. 18:35Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor,
231. 18:39boasted that he left the city in marble that he received in brick, referring
232. 18:44to the fact that he demolished so many brick buildings in Rome and rebuilt them in marble.
233. 18:49And in 1842, Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, Napoleon III, wrote:
234. 18:55"I want to be a new Augustus, because Augustus made Rome a city of marble,"
235. 19:00and from 1850 to 1870, he rebuilt much of Paris and gave the city its current appearance.
236. 19:09When you visit Paris, you will notice that most of the buildings are beautiful,
237. 19:14built in a classical Roman style and have a very special character,
238. 19:18they are all built with a local stone known as Lutetian limestone.
239. 19:23Lutetian limestone has a kind of beige tone that gives the
240. 19:28city a special character, and it also has a similar tone to the travertine that
241. 19:33the Romans used in Italy, so it also has some connection with ancient Rome
242. 19:43, with Napoleon III . With the help of his prefect, Baron Haussmann,
243. 19:46he drew up a new city plan where he opened dozens of
244. 19:50wide and long avenues that connected important parts of the city.
245. 19:54This plan of straight primary avenues was inspired by the street system in Rome
246. 19:58created 300. years earlier by Pope Sixtus V, but on a much larger scale.
247. 20:04His ambition was to make Paris not only the most charming city that
248. 20:08had ever existed, but also the most charming that could exist.
249. 20:12This plan integrated more important sites such as the Hotel des Invalides, a residence
250. 20:18for veteran and disabled soldiers, whose chapel is now a shrine to some of
251. 20:23France's top military leaders, especially the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.
252. 20:29The Champ de Mars, which was used as a training ground by the French army
253. 20:34until it eventually became the site of the Eiffel Tower in 1889,
254. 20:39when it was built as the centerpiece of a
255. 20:41World's Fair commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution.
256. 20:46Other exhibition buildings were dismantled, but the Eiffel Tower was preserved.
257. 20:53Napoleon III's plan also incorporated the Pantheon, on Saint Genevieve Mountain, where
258. 20:58the most illustrious figures in French history are buried, and the Luxembourg Palace,
259. 21:05a royal residence converted into a legislative building after the revolution.
260. 21:13Two more walls were built around Paris in the 18th and 19th centuries,
261. 21:18but both were eventually replaced by boulevards.
262. 21:23Today, all the modern buildings and skyscrapers in Paris are concentrated at the end
263. 21:28of the Champs Élysées axis, in an area called La Défense, far from the historic core.
264. 21:35As you can see, urban design can take decades or even centuries to complete.
265. 21:41This part of Paris began with the palace and gardens of Caterina de Medici in the 16th century,
266. 21:47and developed over more than 250 years to its current form,
267. 21:51respecting the heritage of the past and contributing towards the realization of one of the
268. 21:57greatest urban achievements. magnificently organized in history, this intersection, the Place de la Concorde.
269. 22:14I hope you learned and enjoyed.
270. 22:16Please like this video, subscribe to my channel,
271. 22:18and we'll see you very soon in the next episode.
272. 22:21Bye bye!