Paris: The Birthday Trip - Day 8 (part 2)
St. Eustache: side chapels, shadows cast by stained-glass, aisle.
 Eglise Catholique de la Madeleine. |
Saturday, August 3, 2013 After the LaFayette Galeries, we set off to see a few more churches. The design of the Eglise de la Madeleine (photo left), intended to be a temple to the glory of Napoleon's army, took its inspiration from the Maison Carrée, Nîmes. The door panels (example, below left) depict the Ten Commandments. The present Saint-Eustache, L’église des Halles, was built on the site of a 13th century parish church. Construction took place from 1532 to 1637. During the French Revolution it was used as a barn! Primarily Gothic with Renaissance and classical ornamentation, it has an 18th century neclassic facade on its western side. The organ, with 8,000 pipes, is reputed to be the largest in France. I'm fascinated by the vaulting in these churches. Below, right, is a look at the vaulting 33.45 metres above our heads. |
| Door panel, Eglise Madeleine. | Looking up, St. Eustache. |
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We finished our day with a visit to the Musée des Arts et Métiers. I have to admit we were very tired at this point and couldn't really do the museum justice.
We did, however, spend some time watching Foucault's Pendulum. Like everyone else, we chose a spot and stood very still so that we could watch the pendulum's slow movement around the circumference of the table - keeping in mind that it was in fact ourselves who were rotating around the path of the pendulum. Once you start walking through the museum it is impossible to stop. The aircraft, the scientific instruments, the cameras, the models illustrating building methods, calculators (including the first mechanical calculator constructed by Blaise Pascal) and on and on. "Just a bit more" and then "Just a bit more" until we were thoroughly exhausted and we knew our day was done.
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 Denise watching Foucault's Pendulum at the Musée des Arts et Métiers |
Previously: Day 1, Day 2 (part 1), Day 2 (part 2), Day 2 (part 3), Day 3 (part 1) Day 3 (part 2), Day 4 (part 1), Day 4 (part 2),
Day 5 (part 1), Day 5 (part 2), Day 5 (part 3), Day 6, Day 7 (part1), Day 7 (part2), Day 8 (part1)
Next: Day 9 (part1)