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Group Clovis Final

In a very Parisian way to finish the 2022 Art History May Term, our final exam involved navigating the streets of Paris in groups of three students.  After being handed the sites to visit, our group formed a route based on arrondissements and distance between each site. Starting at Jardin des Tuileries, we first hopped on the nearest metro and landed in the 5th arrondissement, where we found our first point of interest.  “L’arbre des Rues” was a diamond in the rough, as the unassuming wall made the poem and the massive mural easy to miss (especially for our group at first).  Though the poem was in French, the mural depicting a tree gave us insight into the overall message.  After finding digital works of artist Pierre Alachinsky through the Centre Pompidou, we discovered that he seems to show a vested interest in mixing nature and civilization through his work. Though Alachinsky was well known for his Painting inspired by Central Park, seeing the mural reminded us of just how unique Paris is in terms of widespread urban parks and natural areas.

Our second stop took the group to our namesake, Rue Clovis.  Perpendicular to the mural, Rue Clovis is in the heart of the 5ème arrondissement.  The group immediately observed the status of the area as a student district, as institutions such as the Sorbonne and the City University of Paris seemed to own many of the buildings in the area.

Our third point of interest in the nearby 6ème arrondissement was within walking distance, taking the group by Luxembourg Gardens and various upscale restaurants and shops.  Saint Sulpice church was a puzzling sight from the outside, as the construction nearly led us to believe it was closed; however, the Delacroix murals inside challenged us to realize the church’s significance in Paris, despite its relatively unknown origins.  The murals Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and Heliodorus Driven from the Temple were directly across from each other on walls.  Considering that the murals were painted by an incredibly well known artist, it was surprising that they were relatively tucked away and hidden from the entrance.  The murals were incredibly significant in terms of Eugene Delacroix’s artistic legacy, as the National Delacroix Museum noted that the murals were one of his last works.

The next point of interest was Église Saint Germain des Près, and it was also walking distance as it is in the 6ème as well.  This church seemed to be much more well known than the Saint Sulpice, and it was a familiar name after frequenting the metro in these past few weeks.  Seeing the church on the outside raised questions about the age, as we had no clue considering the architectural detail.  After reading that it was built in 543 AD (making it the oldest church in Paris), there was a sense of collective shock that the church withstood over a thousand years of wars and development. 

Our next location, Pont Alexandre III, is probably one of the most visually dramatic bridges. At each end there are two bright golden statues of Alexander III, the man who laid the foundation stone for the bridge. It serves as a guide to Les Invalides, now an Army Museum and the final resting place for Napoleon. The bridge was built in 1900 and shows off France’s power and wealth.

Once the place of execution by guillotine during the French Revolution, our next stop, the Place de la Concorde, is now a busy roundabout with an obelisk in the center. There are eight statues that surround this obelisk, each representing a different city in France. We visited the Brest statue, which was a woman holding an object that seemed to look like a harp of some sort.

Our next stop was Musee de l’Homme, which translates pretty directly to the museum of mankind, an anthropology museum in the 16th district. The first thing we noticed when we got out of our metro station was the cool view of the Eiffel Tower just to the left of the building. The museum looked relatively small in comparison to some of the massive ones we have visited thus far, but we all agreed that the content looked quite interesting and something to check out either before we leave or the next time we are back.

After this, we took a pretty hefty metro ride to get to the Pont tournament de la Grange aux Belles, also known as the turning bridge. We weren’t all too certain of what to expect, especially given that most of the bridges we have walked along thus far have been large and ornate, some containing locks all over the sides. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised at how small and unassuming the bridge was. We found it to be a lot more personal than some of the other bridges we have walked on the trip. It also had a pretty cool view of the neighborhood it was surrounded by, which we agreed is an aspect of Paris we have really enjoyed.

It was no easy trek to get to our next stop, the Temple of the Sibyl. The park surrounding this temple is large and beautiful, but also very hilly, and the temple was at the very top; we definitely got a good workout. Unfortunately, due to erosion and safety issues, the temple was closed off, but we were still able to see the lovely view of the trees in the area and the city in the distance. The temple was designed based off of a Roman temple. The Sibyl was a figure in Greek and Roman mythology (usually female) who told prophecies. Although this was a bit of a hike to get to, the views were amazing and it was an excellent spot to finish off our final expedition!

Sources:

Central Park - Centre Pompidou

Pierre Alechinsky

Saint-Sulpice, one of the largest churches in Paris, was built in the 18th century and listed an historical monument in 1915. During the 19t

Sibyls The sibyls were female prophets of Greek and Roman mythology. Their prophecies, which emerged as riddles to be interpreted by priests

https://www.hotel-de-la-marine.paris/en/The-Hotel-de-la-Marine/Place-de-la-Concorde/history-place-concorde

Michelin Green Guide Paris

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Religious Diversity

For me, religious diversity is something that I have always been very passionate to pursue. Especially at a college like Hope, it is very easy (and oftentimes almost encouraged from the institution itself) to hunker down with those who believe and partake in the same religion as you, thus possibly reducing your ability to be religiously inquisitive. Coming from a religiously diverse household, I now consider my ability to question my own beliefs and hold them with humility to be relatively strong, but it was a long journey that is still yet to be complete.

I grew up going to Catholic school within a community that did not support doubt and questions. Being inquisitive was shunned and looked down upon, and students would even receive worse grades if their views on a religious topic differed from what our Catholic parish tended to believe. I specifically remember a time in high school where I asked my professor a question about religious doubt. He laughed, called me a ‘dummy’ facetiously, and moved on with our class. Rather than cementing my views with these reactions, they rather led me to question and pursue intellectual support even further. Doing so made me realize the importance of viewing other’s beliefs with not only humility, but validity. Religious diversity isn’t just something to go experience for a day and admire the prettiness of a building, but rather understanding that the religious beliefs of another are just as valid as your own.

This being said, participating in mass and touring a mosque were quite enjoyable experiences for me, specifically to continue to pursue a greater understanding for the different ways in which people celebrate their own religious beliefs. While the Catholic mass was a lot more common to me as I grew up going every week, it was nice to return to a Catholic service for the first time in a while, especially at a place that stimulates the senses in a much more powerful way than I am used to. As for the mosque, this was my first time touring the inside of a mosque and learning directly about the practice of Muslim people outside the setting of a classroom. While I did appreciate the beauty of the mosaics and architecture of the building, my takeaway from the tour comes in the form of more curiosity. Reflecting upon the fact that this is my first time touring or even entering a mosque, I realize that even with the inquisitive nature by which I try to hold my religious beliefs, I have not nearly made a great enough attempt to understand many religions that I proclaim are just as valid as the ones I am most comfortable with. I hope to make a greater attempt in the future, prioritizing a quest for understanding and empathy over comfort. 

As for the city of Paris being a very religiously diverse city, I don’t think this factor has had quite as great of an impact on my viewpoints. Given that I do not actively participate in the religious communities that exist in the areas I live, the religious diversity (or lack there of) in a place like Holland, Michigan or Wheaton, Illinois have not occupied as much head space as they may for other students. If I actively participated in a religious community in my area each week, the religious diversity of Paris may have jarred me a bit more, but this factor was not something that sparked as great of a reaction in me. 

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Musée Méliès

Upon arriving to Paris, one of the museums I was most excited to see was definitely Musée Méliès. Obviously I was quite thrilled to go to the Louvre, Orsay, etc., but Musée Méliès felt deeply personal to me. Film has been one of my greatest passions and interests for quite a long time--ever since I took a film class early in high school. Even before studying film, it was always something I loved to partake in with friends and family. While America of course has amazing opportunities to consume film, there doesn't exist a museum near me that specifically focuses on film, just small sections here and there at different museums in Chicago. Especially being on a term with so many knowledgeable art students who are clearly in their element at a place like the Louvre or Orsay, I felt in my element at Musée Méliès.

Upon doing some research, I found that the organization was created in 1936 in order to preserve film history and heritage, and the Cinémathèque Française (the accompanying movie theater that plays important retrospective films each week) was opened in 2005. The building opened up its permanent museum exhibit of George Méliès just a couple years ago in 2020.

As a whole, I experienced the museum very fondly. It was a relatively small museum, especially in comparison to the Louvre and Orsay. It weaved in and out of two floors in a very unique way that made it feel a bit bigger than at actually was, which I thought was a cool design. Even with this weaving back and forth, the direction of the museum was very intuitive and it was pretty tough to get lost or overwhelmed, which I was a big fan of. Something I enjoyed about the museum being a bit smaller was the amount of depth we could view each individual aspect in. This comes with the fact that the museum is not about film or film history as a whole, but rather focused around George Méliès and his contributions to what would become cinema.

Another interesting aspect of this museum is its crossover between art and history. Surely, every art museum or history museum has its fair share of the other, as we will discussed art history in the Louvre or even architecture in Carnavalet. However, this museum was unique in the sense that it was structured like a history museum with sections of full art intertwined within. Most of the items at the exhibit had a plaque with an explanation (only about a third in English), but every once and a while there would be full portions of films from the early 1900s.

The essential story being told throughout the entirety of the museum was how film actually came to be, centered around the man most consider to be the first real filmmaker, George Méliès. Méliès was originally a magician and illusionist, and began his pursuit of filmmaking as a means of illusion. Some of the items demonstrated this, with the superimposition of objects or removal of objects from film reels, leading to the illusion of something appearing or disappearing. In one of my film classes years ago, I was taught that this foundation of magic and illusion is where the term 'movie magic' comes from. Further, a later part of the museum that was interactive showed many of the different techniques that Méliès invented persisting in film today, in terms of superimposing backgrounds, characters, special effects, etc. I interacted with this exhibit the most, finding it fascinating how many films would cover up parts of the frame and shoot background, then cover up the opposite parts of the frame to shoot foreground, blending them together for one coherent image. While some of the examples from before 1950 seem dated, this technique when done well still looks quite amazing. Interacting with this section of the exhibit, and the exhibit as a whole, was a blast for me because I would frequently see examples or homages from some of my favorite films, which would get me pretty excited. Again, interacting with the exhibit was also made quite fun with some of the pieces that you could actually engage with, such as spinning a reel of film.

Another aspect of the museum that I found quite interesting was how it dealt with the public acceptance that is the art of film. Film is a medium of art that even with its popularity can often be shunned or rejected by those with traditional views. As far back as Méliès and the Lumière brothers, artists were being doubted for their passion and belief in the medium.

One last way I hope to interact with the museum as a whole is by attending a film at the theater that is attached to the exhibit. The theater does retrospective months in which they commemorate an important and/or historical filmmaker, and this month is dedicated to the films of Stanley Kubrick. It's pretty fortunate that we are here for his month, given that many of the filmmakers that are commemorated have films in languages that aren't English, and I don't think I'd do great with French subtitles. Regardless, I'll likely also want to stop by the museum one more time before or after seeing the film, I really loved the exhibit.

Sources:

“The Méliès Museum.” Reciproque, https://www.reciproque.com/en/project/melies-museum. 

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Pere Lachaise Cemetery

I have somewhat of an interesting relationship with cemeteries. It has been quite a while since I have gone to a funeral or lost a loved one and had to enter a cemetery (the last time I did was before I was even in high school). I consider myself pretty lucky for this fact, but it made my visit to Pere Lachaise Cemetery a bit more jarring than I had expected. Being in the cemetery really reminded me of the ticking clock that is existence on Earth, and really made me consider my own mortality quite a bit, an exercise that is usually reserved for anxious nights while tossing and turning. Seeing the range of time periods that commemorated people lived in while walking the cemetery really made me think about my own death, and what it really means to have a funeral, choose a cemetery to be buried in, or be commemorated in general.

Considering this on a personal level helped me to also consider the cemetery as a whole. The space is beautiful and is right in the middle of a city with cafes and restaurants, and it almost feels weird to be in a place of death and memory in the midst of such a lively city. I think this fact drew me to the idea of celebration of life rather than grief of death, which is always a pretty difficult topic to fully get on board with. The beauty of the park and intricacies of some of the gravestones demonstrate this celebration of life over sadness upon death. However, no matter how beautiful and celebratory a cemetery can be, the grief of death can never truly be washed away.

Something else I found interesting was just how different many of the gravestones and tombs were. Some people had just a small remembrance all by themselves, while other families had massive areas dedicated to them. It brought up the interesting thought of the human desire to leave something behind on Earth to be remembered for. The idea of one's existence eventually ending can be pretty terrifying to deal with, and it honestly seems as though a way of dealing with this is leaving a large commemoration for yourself or your family to somehow 'leave a piece of you behind'. Whether or not this is an effective coping mechanism is beyond me, but I found it to be an interesting thought.

The tomb I was most eager to look at was Jim Morrison of the Doors. I'm not necessarily a superfan of the Doors, but he was the one who I knew was buried here, and I was curious to take a look at the tomb and also research why he was there, given that Morrison was an American singer. In my research I found that Morrison died in Paris and was buried there for that reason. While this tomb was not quite as ornate or large as some of the other families that were buried in the cemetery, it certainly was interesting and unique in the objects placed all around and the amount of people who were there to visit it. It was fenced off so we couldn't get too close to the exact spot, but I still interact with the space in an interesting way. Seeing all these people gather around to take pictures of his tomb, I wonder about what the dead would think about how they are remembered. We put up these great commemorations that people come visit and take pictures with, but I wonder how Jim Morrison would feel about this way of being remembered, or if there is a perfect way to remember anyone who has passed.

Sources:

Inskeep, Steve. “The Doors' Jim Morrison Died in 1971, the Same Year NPR Debuted Original Programming.” NPR, NPR, 1 Sept. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1033170627/the-doors-jim-morrison-died-in-1971-the-same-year-npr-debuted-original-programmi?t=1653313373716. 

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Place des Vosges

For the place or square visit, Nate and I decided to head over to Place des Vosges a little early to grab some lunch in the area and hang around the park before our visit to Musée Carnavalet. We grabbed some pastries and sandwiches from a nearby café and sat down at a bench to eat and look around the square. My guidebook and Parks for Public Spaces indicate that the square was constructed around the beginning of the 17th century, and something we noticed is how it was surrounded by very nice apartments/living spaces, which Nate and I found out used to be the home of Victor Hugo at one point. Dr. Janes also talked to us about how places used to be designed to surround the King or royalty with nobility, and that's why the surrounding homes and apartments are so nice, since the rich that surrounded the royalty lived there. Royalty is even commemorated in the park with a statue of Louis XIII on a horse in the middle.

During lunch, we saw a group of what seemed to be students filming some sort of project, and other young Parisians lying in the grass reading or relaxing. After we finished eating, we decided to take a walk around the surrounding neighborhood a little more and each got a book from a local bookshop. Upon returning to the rendezvous with the class, we noticed a handful of people working out in the space, which was funny but also interesting to see it used that way. Dr. Janes pointed out the novelty of Paris being a place where locals engage in regular activities such as working out or doing a school project at these historical and important spots.

As for how I experienced the space, I first experienced it with lots of allergies. The park was filled with trees and grass, and it definitely made my allergies act up. As for how I enjoyed the space, I thought it was very cool how there was a small pocket in the middle of a cool neighborhood where people could sit and enjoy a calm park. Eating on one of the benches was quite peaceful, and the small square design was fun in the sense that we could look around the entire thing and the building surrounding it while hanging around. There is much less of an opportunity to bring lunch to, do schoolwork at, or exercise in a very important space in America, and I really appreciated that aspect of Place des Vosges and will likely return with lunch again soon.

Sources:

Michelin Paris: The Green Guide. Michelin, 2018. 

“Place Des Vosges: Parks.” Home - Project for Public Spaces, https://www.pps.org/places/place-des-vosges. 

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Parc du Champ-de-Mars

The first park I visited with a few classmates was Parc du Champ-de-Mars while going to see the Eiffel Tower at night. My guidebook notes that the park was officially opened in the late 1700s for fairs, world exhibitions, and even military parades. Given that the Eiffel Tower was not yet built upon the creation of Parc du Champ-de-Mars, the intended purpose and audience has clearly changed quite a bit. While there still may be exhibitions or fairs held in the park today, its purpose has now swung to being a much more popular tourist destination given its incredible view of the Eiffel Tower. With this, the main audience for the park now isn't necessarily exclusive to tourists from other countries, but isn't catered to the average Parisian citizen who has seen the Eiffel Tower a hundred times.

Admittedly, the park today serves us: the American tourists. We decided to visit the area as a way to see the Eiffel Tower at night, falling into the common demographic of people who tend to come to the area, especially at the specific time we went. This is also shown by the fact that all the pictures I took of the space were of the Eiffel Tower. Something we found very interesting was the way in which others used the space as a way to get the best pictures and angles of the Eiffel Tower or drink wine while waiting for the top of the hour for it to sparkle. We even saw dozens of people standing right in the middle of the street with cameras or preparing poses for the moment it began sparkling. We suspected that most of the people doing this were tourists from other countries, but it also could be possible that some French photographers take friends or clients to the spot frequently.

Other than using the space to look at and take pictures of the Eiffel Tower, we were also somewhat cautious or even on edge about people selling things or potentially scamming tourists. Perhaps it was the recency of our orientation with IES warning us about this aspect of the city, but since we were in such a massive tourist spot we wanted to be very careful with our belongings and the ways we interacted with those selling things. I would love to return to this space during the day and experience it on its own merit rather than with the intention of seeing the Eiffel Tower, as I'm sure I would have a different experience as well.

Sources:

Michelin Paris: The Green Guide. Michelin, 2018.