#saint-denis

[kropotkindersurprise]

September 22, 2025 - The Palestinian flag was raised in dozens of French municipalities, like here in Saint-Denis, despite threats of fines by the federal government, ahead of the official French recognition of the state of Palestine. [video]

[divinum-pacis]

September 2005: Sri Maha Kalakambal Temple in Saint-Denis, Réunion.

Photo by Thierry Caro

[sprint95]

saint-denis 2024

[postcard-from-the-past]

Street scene in Saint-Denis, northern suburbs of Paris

French vintage postcard

[philoursmars]

Au Louvre-Lens, il y a une nouvelle expo, fort intéressante, « Gothiques » consacrée au gothique, au néo-gothique et à leurs influences.

- Sainte Madeleine dite « la Châtelaine » (fac-simile) - Génicourt, Meuse, 1524

- buste de Marie Salomé, mise au tombeau (fac-simile) - Tonnerre (Yonne), 1454

- femme nue  chevauchant une licorne (fac-simile) – Saint-Martin de Hal, Brabant Flamand, 1400

- dalle, griffons au cou enlacé – abbatiale de Saint-Denis (Île-de-France), 1275

- dragon de clocher – cathédrale Notre-Dame, Chartres, 1510

[steph-photographie]

Photo originale par Steph-Photo

La délivrance ...

Titre insolite pour cette statue de Saint-Denis, décapité, premier évêque de Paris.

[b-o-t-t]

[empirearchives]

Napoleon drinks poison and tries to commit suicide

The date was 12-13 April 1814

“It was four o’clock in the morning. The night had been calm, and probably the emperor had passed it, not in the torpor of sleep, but in the saddest of reflections… On his chest of drawers there were usually two glasses on a plate, covered with a napkin, a little teaspoon, a sugar bowl, and beside it a carafe full of water. But by chance the sugar bowl was not there, because, as the servant had delayed too long in having it refilled the day before, it was in the room where Hubert was... While Hubert was listening in order to answer the emperor, he heard water being poured into a glass and then the noise of the little spoon which was being stirred about in order to melt something. Knowing that there was no melted sugar in the glass, Hubert could not imagine what it was that the emperor was stirring, but after a moment’s consideration he thought that the emperor, not seeing the sugar bowl which was usually with the two glasses, had taken some sugar out of his dressing case. When the Emperor had stopped stirring the glass there was a moment of silence, after which the he came to the door and told Hubert to send for the Duke of Vicenza, the Duke of Bassano, the Grand Marshal, and Monsieur Fain. At that moment, Hubert told me, the emperor’s features were as calm as though he had just drunk a glass of water. When these gentlemen arrived he told them that, not being able to survive the dishonor of France, he had yielded to the weakness of taking poison... Mr. Yvan came at once and immediately gave the emperor a drink which quickly produced its effect. The Emperor vomited all the deleterious substance which he had swallowed, but not without violent efforts which fatigued him greatly.”

From Louis Etienne Saint-Denis, via Napoleon’s Mameluke: The Memoirs of Roustam Raza, translation Jonathan North