My all-time favorite church in Paris is La Madeleine, hands down. I don't know why. It's not that different than the other churches here in the city. It's not prettier or bigger or older. I just like it a lot. It's in the 8th arrondissement which is a nice area. I wouldn't say it's a fancy area, just a very nice area. When you walk out the front of La Madeleine you have an outstanding view of Place Concorde and the French National Assembly. One thing that I really like about Paris is the architecture. I'm taking an architecture class while I'm here in Paris and I really enjoy it. We learn both the architecture and the history of the city of Paris, in order to put the architecture into perspective. The teacher is Swedish but has lived in Paris for 15 years.
As a side note, our most recent class trip in the architecture class was to the Crypt at Notre Dame. The Crypt is really interesting. In the 1960s, the city of Paris was going to build underground parking in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. When they started to dig, they found enormous archealogical finds. Now they have a small museum with the remains still in place. What I mean is that they kept the remains where they are and built the museum around them. It's really, reall
y cool. These remains range from the 4th century after Christ until the 19th century after Haussmann re-constructed France. Haussmann is the architect that came into Paris and demolished areas in order to widen the streets and rebuilt houses to look like they do today. So the facade that is typical of Paris, the very 19th century look with buildings only about 5 floors high can be credited to Haussman. The pictures in this post are: upper left: view to Place Concorde and National Assembly, lower right: inside La Madeleine, lower left: Notre Dame.
As a side note, our most recent class trip in the architecture class was to the Crypt at Notre Dame. The Crypt is really interesting. In the 1960s, the city of Paris was going to build underground parking in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. When they started to dig, they found enormous archealogical finds. Now they have a small museum with the remains still in place. What I mean is that they kept the remains where they are and built the museum around them. It's really, reall
y cool. These remains range from the 4th century after Christ until the 19th century after Haussmann re-constructed France. Haussmann is the architect that came into Paris and demolished areas in order to widen the streets and rebuilt houses to look like they do today. So the facade that is typical of Paris, the very 19th century look with buildings only about 5 floors high can be credited to Haussman. The pictures in this post are: upper left: view to Place Concorde and National Assembly, lower right: inside La Madeleine, lower left: Notre Dame. 