Eiffel Tower: An enigmatic cultural icon
The Eiffel Tower represents the marriage within art and technology. The Eiffel Tower is a beautiful piece of architecture because it shows the sense of nationalism of French people. Also it displays the power and will of men; people can rise up after being defeated like them in the Franco Prussian War and the revolt of the Commune in 1871. I can’t believe that in the XIX century this piece was considered ordinary and now a days is the first thing that come to people’s mind when one mention’s Paris.
When the construction of the tower was authorized, Gustave Eiffel was to undertake the project with its own funds and the city government would allow the exploitation of the tower during the term of twenty years, after which the tower would become part of the heritage of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was built in two years, two months and five days (1887-1889) by 250 workers, who joined more than 18,000 pieces of iron with 2 bolts and a half million, was officially inaugurated on March 31, 1889.
Its 300 feet tall allowed carrying out the title of the tallest structure in the world in 1930 until the construction of the Chrysler building in New York. It also attracted some well known personalities and friend of Gustave Eiffel, as fellow American Tomas Edison.
Musée de Cluny
The Catholic Church is present in this museum. Religious icons served as an escape to everyday struggle. People would always have death in their minds due to plagues and also because that was the punishment for almost every single crime. So they needed to relay in something and that was Catholicism. Maybe not all of them were so faithful but they had no option because they were executed if they were not believers of God.
Also, the National Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris, more popularly known as the “Cluny Museum” was built in what is now the Latin Quarter in the fifth district of the city. The Cluny Museum building was once an abbey of the abbots of Cluny. It was bought by Alexandre du Sommerard in 1833. After Sommerard death, his son used the dramatic Gothic-Renaissance to show the extensive art collection of his father and, therefore, the museum's history began.
As well, the Cluny Museum collection is displayed on two floors and can enjoy a more relaxed and spacious than the Orsay or the Louvre. The accumulation of artifacts is composed predominantly medieval illuminated manuscripts, tapestries decorated, precious metals, ceramics, sculptures, furniture, paintings, jewelry and more.The most visited exhibitions of the collection are its medieval tapestries "The Lady and the Unicorn", a golden rose and the old Pope's original headers of the facade of Notre Dame. In late 2002, the Cluny Museum underwent change in lighting. Lighting specialists designed the lighting for different facades of Cluny, generating a great visual aesthetic impact both day and night.
Romanesque and Gothic Cathedrals in Paris
St. Germain des Prés
St. Germain des Prés used to be an abbey. It was built by Childebert. The church was dedicated to Saint Vincent and the holy cross. Its roof was painted in gold, which led to the name 'Saint-Germain-le-Doré' (gilded Saint Germain). It is one of the oldest Romanesque churches in Paris. It wasn’t only a religious center. It was an educational center as well; people could learn about art and science. Due to its heavy architecture, this cathedral has no windows. Romanesque cathedrals are characterized by semi-circular arches. These cathedrals are known by its thick walls, round arches, groin vaults and large towers.
The church was renovated in the 19th century by architect Victor Baltard and painter Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin. In the chapels of the church there are two remarkable tombs; the one of the philosopher René Descartes and John II Casimir Vasa, who was the King of Poland and then became abbot of the Abbey of SainT Germain des Prés. The first time I saw this church I wasn´t impressed until I knew how old it was. Knowing that the church has some parts of the 6th century is amazing. I had never been in a church that old. It made me wonder the countless prayers and pleadings that believers had done in that church.
The church was renovated in the 19th century by architect Victor Baltard and painter Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin. In the chapels of the church there are two remarkable tombs; the one of the philosopher René Descartes and John II Casimir Vasa, who was the King of Poland and then became abbot of the Abbey of SainT Germain des Prés. The first time I saw this church I wasn´t impressed until I knew how old it was. Knowing that the church has some parts of the 6th century is amazing. I had never been in a church that old. It made me wonder the countless prayers and pleadings that believers had done in that church.
Notre Dame de Paris
Entering to the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral was impressive. It is extremely majestic and beautiful. While the architecture of Romanesque Cathedrals is not impressive, the one of Gothic Cathedrals is outstanding. It is characterized by the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.
The thing that I most enjoyed of this cathedral was the gargoyles. According to the dictionary gargoyle is a carved stone, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down the walls. This “creatures” are disturbing and frightening. It seems like if they are spying people around the cathedral. In my personal opinion, they represent power; the power of the Catholic Church. There is a superstition that says that gargoyles are there to maintain evil spirits away.
Speaking about religion, the relationship between beauty and religion is basically beauty itself. The Catholic Church portrays Jesus Christ as a good-looking, strong and attractive man. The angels and cherubs are so sweet and divine; with their golden curls and blue eyes. According with Christian’s beauty is towards you if you believe in God. Christians declare that when one Christian dyes, there is party in heaven because the soul is with Jesus Christ. In the other hand the modern concept of beauty is being magnificence and “perfect” as the cherubs.
The thing that I most enjoyed of this cathedral was the gargoyles. According to the dictionary gargoyle is a carved stone, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down the walls. This “creatures” are disturbing and frightening. It seems like if they are spying people around the cathedral. In my personal opinion, they represent power; the power of the Catholic Church. There is a superstition that says that gargoyles are there to maintain evil spirits away.
Speaking about religion, the relationship between beauty and religion is basically beauty itself. The Catholic Church portrays Jesus Christ as a good-looking, strong and attractive man. The angels and cherubs are so sweet and divine; with their golden curls and blue eyes. According with Christian’s beauty is towards you if you believe in God. Christians declare that when one Christian dyes, there is party in heaven because the soul is with Jesus Christ. In the other hand the modern concept of beauty is being magnificence and “perfect” as the cherubs.
The Louvre
From Castle to Palace to Museum
The Louvre museum is one of the largest museums in the world. This museum is house in the Louvre Palace which originally was a fortress built by Philip II. The museum has a giant collection with more than one million works of art. The museum contains art and artifacts from 9,000 years old to the mid 19th century. This collection in display is spread in three wings of the palace.
When tourists enter to the museum, their purpose is to see and take a picture with the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. This painting is the most visited the best known and the most popular piece of art in the world. According to tourists, the must seen pieces of art in this museum are: Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People, Psyche Revived By the Kiss of Love, Oedipus and the Sphinx, The Raft of the Medusa, Milon de Crotone, Louis XIV, Death of the Virgin.
Also, I enjoyed seeing the pieces of art of Leonardo da Vinci. He was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, engineer, writer, anatomist, architect, musician and mathematician. I liked his painting Virgin of the Rocks. In this painting Virgin Mary slightly portrays a normal lady. She does not look that holy.
When tourists enter to the museum, their purpose is to see and take a picture with the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. This painting is the most visited the best known and the most popular piece of art in the world. According to tourists, the must seen pieces of art in this museum are: Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People, Psyche Revived By the Kiss of Love, Oedipus and the Sphinx, The Raft of the Medusa, Milon de Crotone, Louis XIV, Death of the Virgin.
Also, I enjoyed seeing the pieces of art of Leonardo da Vinci. He was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, engineer, writer, anatomist, architect, musician and mathematician. I liked his painting Virgin of the Rocks. In this painting Virgin Mary slightly portrays a normal lady. She does not look that holy.
Palace of Versailles
Royal château
The palace of Versailles is ridiculously extravagant and flamboyant. It constitutes the most important monarch architectural complex in Europe.
At first the palace of Versailles was a modest country house built by Louis XIII. In this place the king used to hunt and rest. When his son Louis XIV ascended the throne, he started looking for a place where to live. He left Paris and decided to built Versailles. He determined to built Versailles as a small town far from everybody else. However, he invited his enemies to live as his neighbors. His well-bred enemies were dazzled by the amazing paintings, sculptures, gardens and all the luxury of this château.
The “Salon of Hercules” portrays the idea that virtue elevates man above himself. It also represents the moment when Olympus is being present in the arrival of Hercules. Also, the pieces in this salon are seen as a metaphorical allusion to the merits of the French king. This painting was a stressful task for the young painter François Lemoine. He committed suicide shortly after completing it in 1736.
When I was walking through the hall of mirrors inside the castle, I was so disgusted of witnessing how Marie Antoinette and her husband, the king Louis XVI lived with too many frills while people who did not belong to aristocracy, did not even have bread.
Not only the palace is extravagant and imposing, the gardens are extremely beautiful and symmetrically well organized. Even in the gardens Louis XVI showed his power. The garden of Versailles is classicist. With all the sculptures and fonts, the garden extols the monarchy. Having so many ponds and fountains in the gardens gives an idea of the great work that was done at that time. It must have been difficult to carry so much water to that place.
At first the palace of Versailles was a modest country house built by Louis XIII. In this place the king used to hunt and rest. When his son Louis XIV ascended the throne, he started looking for a place where to live. He left Paris and decided to built Versailles. He determined to built Versailles as a small town far from everybody else. However, he invited his enemies to live as his neighbors. His well-bred enemies were dazzled by the amazing paintings, sculptures, gardens and all the luxury of this château.
The “Salon of Hercules” portrays the idea that virtue elevates man above himself. It also represents the moment when Olympus is being present in the arrival of Hercules. Also, the pieces in this salon are seen as a metaphorical allusion to the merits of the French king. This painting was a stressful task for the young painter François Lemoine. He committed suicide shortly after completing it in 1736.
When I was walking through the hall of mirrors inside the castle, I was so disgusted of witnessing how Marie Antoinette and her husband, the king Louis XVI lived with too many frills while people who did not belong to aristocracy, did not even have bread.
Not only the palace is extravagant and imposing, the gardens are extremely beautiful and symmetrically well organized. Even in the gardens Louis XVI showed his power. The garden of Versailles is classicist. With all the sculptures and fonts, the garden extols the monarchy. Having so many ponds and fountains in the gardens gives an idea of the great work that was done at that time. It must have been difficult to carry so much water to that place.
The Panthéon
The Enlightment & the Rise of the Individual
While Versailles is about extravagance and Monarchy, The Panthéon is about the heroes of the French Republic. This place was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve but after many changes, now serves as a mausoleum. The Pantheon has a crypt in which important French people rest, to cite some of them: Marie Curie, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, and Rousseau. The purpose of a Panthéon is to commemorate the gods or and heroes and heroines of a nation. In this case, the Panthéon of Paris serves to make strong the French nation. So their citizens have in mind all the knowledge that their ancestors had contributed to science and the world.
According with the dictionary, enlightenment is a philosophical movement of the 18th century that emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted doctrines and traditions and that brought about many humanitarian reforms. Science replaced philosophy during the 17th and 18th century. During that period scientific revolution emerged. Scientific method with observation and experimentation and peer review was put in practice. The last one is very important to see the advancements of one person and to check how procedures can be improved.
I liked the Pantheon because in there, the French commemorate the death of important people. By important people, I don’t mean kings and saints. By this I mean people that contributed with their knowledge like the physicist Jean Léon Foucault with his invention the Focault pendulum. This is a device that demonstrates the effect of the rotation of the earth.
Musée de Rodin
It is impressive the boom of feelings that came out of my body when seeing Rodin’s sculptures. The sculptures in this museum emphasize motion and emotion. The sculpture “The Kiss” made of marble is extremely smooth. When I was in front of it, it looked so real. It seemed like the couple that was portrayed in that piece was about to change of position while kissing in that passionately manner. The Kiss symbolizes the kind of art that Rodin depicts.
Rodin is the father of modern sculpture. He modeled his works after ordinary people. During the XVIII century, sculptures were static but Rodin’s sculptures are alive. He gave birth to sculptures with motion. Plus, it is ironic that his pieces were made with materials like bronze and marble and still had motion and emotion.
His master piece Gates of Hell made me wonder about death. As a Mexican, that is common as we already have a festivity to commemorate the souls of the ones that are gone. In hence, I started to think about God and how Christians proclaim that one should be in the path of God in order to go to heaven. It made me taught about how faithful my family is to religion and how they actually believe in hell. By the way, the singing trees were dreadful. I could almost experience the suffering of “sinners” before they enter through the Gates of Hell.
In the other hand, the ornamental garden in the museum is simply beautiful and relaxing. I felt at peace with myself and with the ones around me while I was walking through that garden. That garden must have been really inspiring for Rodin while doing his pieces of art. I could say that Rodin’s garden is a piece of art because it made me feel, think and admire it.
The Orsay Museum: From Train Station to Museum of Impressionism
An old train station built at the end of the XIX century now houses the most exquisite and vast collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces including paintings, sculptures and architectonic art pieces. The building was repurposed several times until it became the missing link between the Louvre and the National Museum of Modern Art. The Orsay Museum was to be demolished to build a hotel in its place but instead now a day is a magnificent museum. Just by entering the museum I was bombarded by lot emotions because the works exposed in there are very detailed including the tiniest detail. I was impressed when I saw the painting “Romains de la decadence” from Thomas Couture. This piece of art depicts the decadence of humanity in colorful and bodies realistic detail; naked engulfed in the carnal pleasures showing the decay of one of the most advanced societies of its time. No matter how we advance, we always fall prey to lust. Society corrupts their principles just for a few moments of pleasure even though it conveys a huge amount of consequences. This painting portrays a very vivid image with a marvelous palette of colors that makes the scene come to life.
Another painting the caught my attention and also disturbed me a little was “Dante et Virgile” from William Bouguereau. This painting displays a very cruel sight of hell in which Dante and Vergil look to all the horrific tortures of the abyss. The fear and sadness filled my heart. Even after death the sinners most endure an endless path of sorrow and punishment based on their sins. The demon is making sure that everyone gets what they deserve. This piece of art depicts desperation and hopelessness. It reminds me perfectly of that phrase of the divine comedy that says “All hope abandon, ye who enter here”. It seems that the author was very familiar with the text. The most interesting part of the piece is the 2 men fighting. One of them is on his knees suffering the most gruesome bite on the neck while he tries to drive him away by pulling his hair. I can´t imagine how painful that could be. I could almost feel his frustration and desperation but there’s nothing he can do about it. He is at his mercy like a little child at the reach of a wolf.
Another painting the caught my attention and also disturbed me a little was “Dante et Virgile” from William Bouguereau. This painting displays a very cruel sight of hell in which Dante and Vergil look to all the horrific tortures of the abyss. The fear and sadness filled my heart. Even after death the sinners most endure an endless path of sorrow and punishment based on their sins. The demon is making sure that everyone gets what they deserve. This piece of art depicts desperation and hopelessness. It reminds me perfectly of that phrase of the divine comedy that says “All hope abandon, ye who enter here”. It seems that the author was very familiar with the text. The most interesting part of the piece is the 2 men fighting. One of them is on his knees suffering the most gruesome bite on the neck while he tries to drive him away by pulling his hair. I can´t imagine how painful that could be. I could almost feel his frustration and desperation but there’s nothing he can do about it. He is at his mercy like a little child at the reach of a wolf.
Museum of Modern Art and the Pompidou Museum: Modernism, Pos-Modernism, & Post-Post-Modernism
The Pompidou Museum is basically about modernity. It makes one think, is the past better than the future? Maybe progress is the past. With technology, great part of society is privileged with medicine buy in the other hand there are nuclear bombs and endless threats. Modernity is about the recognition of our vulnerability as individuals and as masses. Four themes addicted the artist of the 20th century: self identity, art, philosophical disgust and the techniques of art.
In the Pompidou Museum I saw a great deal of deconstructive art. The themes of the pieces of art were not about beauty or religion, instead they were about reality. It seemed that there was a dark history behind each painting. Also this kind of art gives voice to the minorities like disenfranchised women and women in general. As well, the art in this museum shows nihilism. Which is when someone does not believe in anything.
I was impressed of seeing displayed in the wall handcuffs, a chair and a ladder. This objects portrays how humanity is obsessed with "stuff". To cite an example, the great majority of young people is obsessed with their iPhone or iPad. They live in their little world of technology and they I do not think they really enjoy of life and its nature.
Natural History Museum
The Gap between Humans and Other Animals
This museum was of my favorites. It’s all about nature. In there, visitors can be delight with human remains, fetuses, human skeletons and skeletons of extinct animals like dinosaurs. In the Natural History Museum visitors can admire the beauty of art in nature like bone structures. Bone structures and fetuses are not created by man like the paintings and scultures that I saw in other museums. Nature has a lot to do with mathematics and patterns. This is shown in Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio. It is not a coincidence the mathematical patterns that flowers and plants follow.
Humans constantly think and want to prove that they are above other animals. Humans are the only thinking animals but this does not mean that we are superiors. How can one be superior of other animals when we are the one that are destroying the planet? Animals were in earth before us and due to our excessive felling of trees, contamination of the planet with toxic wastes and with our nerve of wearing exotic animals skins, we are destroying the planet.
According to us, since we are superior to other animals, we as humans have a responsibility toward the planet. We have to teach the new generations about preserving the planet and how we can help the earth; like recycling.
Humans constantly think and want to prove that they are above other animals. Humans are the only thinking animals but this does not mean that we are superiors. How can one be superior of other animals when we are the one that are destroying the planet? Animals were in earth before us and due to our excessive felling of trees, contamination of the planet with toxic wastes and with our nerve of wearing exotic animals skins, we are destroying the planet.
According to us, since we are superior to other animals, we as humans have a responsibility toward the planet. We have to teach the new generations about preserving the planet and how we can help the earth; like recycling.
Nature and Landscapes
An Excursion beyond Paris and the Museums
Claude Monet was the precursor of French impressionist painting. He liked to sit by a window and paint nature. In my personal opinion, nature is the best thing that an artist can represent because it is the natural world. For example landscapes are creations of nature and these are not manipulated by humans. In addition, his house, gardens and the lily pond were extremely stunning. That excursion was fantastic. I struggled to get there in the bicycle but it was worth it. The landscapes were so beautiful and relaxing.
Also, his house had a great deal of Japanese paintings and a beautiful kitchen. His landscape paintings have moment and it invites tourists to be there. The painting Monet’s Landscape with Thunderstorm portrays how he wants to escape from the world; it is very emotional.
The flora in Claude’s Monet Garden has a lot of variety and it is amazing to see so many colors and shapes in one garden. In Brownsville I do not have the privilege to witness something like that. Some of the plants and flowers that are found in this garden are the following: apple trees of Japan, ash trees, ginkos, yellow irises, tulips, stem roses, sweet pea and a lot more!
Also, his house had a great deal of Japanese paintings and a beautiful kitchen. His landscape paintings have moment and it invites tourists to be there. The painting Monet’s Landscape with Thunderstorm portrays how he wants to escape from the world; it is very emotional.
The flora in Claude’s Monet Garden has a lot of variety and it is amazing to see so many colors and shapes in one garden. In Brownsville I do not have the privilege to witness something like that. Some of the plants and flowers that are found in this garden are the following: apple trees of Japan, ash trees, ginkos, yellow irises, tulips, stem roses, sweet pea and a lot more!