I Love Touring Paris - The Fifth Arrondissement
By TDF. Filed in Travel & Living |
The 5th arrondissement is on the Left Bank of the Seine River in
central Paris. It is often known as the Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter)
although it’s been a long time since many have spoken Latin there. Its
population is slightly under sixty thousand and the district provides
almost fifty thousand jobs. It is fairly small; less than a square mile
(about two and a half square kilometers). This is one of the oldest
districts in all Paris and offers some attractions dating back to the
time of the Romans who never called it the Latin Quarter. The Roman
town Lutetia was built in the First Century BC.
The Arenes de Lutece (Lutetia Arena) once held at least fifteen
thousand spectators and considerably fewer gladiators. It was built in
the First Century AD and included the longest Roman amphitheater. The
135 foot (over 40 meter) long stage hosted both plays and gladiator
fights. There were probably animal cages as well, surely not for the
plays. The upper level held the poor, the slaves, and women while the
lower level was reserved for the big shots. Just in case the spectators
got bored they did have a great view of the Seine River.
The city was sacked by barbarians in the year 280 and some of its
stone was removed to build up the defenses. The arena was subsequently
transformed into a cemetery, and then filled with the construction of
city walls in the early Thirteenth Century. The arena was more or less
forgotten; nobody knew where it was but neighborhood kept its name. The
arena was accidentally rediscovered in the 1860s during the
construction of a streetcar depot on the site. The famous Nineteenth
Century writer Victor Hugo played a major role in preserving these
ruins. The area became a public square in 1896 and is open to the
public daily and evenings in the summer.
The Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) was established
in 1980 by eighteen Arab countries and France. This Institute provides
extensive information about the Arab world and promotes its cultural
and spiritual values. The Institute also supports cooperation and
cultural exchanges between France and the Arab world, especially in
science and technology. In 1989 it won the Aga Khan Award for
Architecture.
The Jardin des Plantes is France’s main botanical garden. It
includes an aquarium, and a small zoo founded with animals from the
royal menagerie at Versailles (not the two-legged variety). Its gardens
include a rose garden, an alpine garden, an Art Deco winter garden,
Australian and Mexican hothouses, and a maze.
The Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of
Natural History) was founded during the French Revolution. It was quite
a center of scientific research. One of the winners of the 1903 Nobel
Prize for Physics, Henri Becquerel, held its chair for Applied Physics
when he accidentally discovered uranium’s radioactivity. Four
generations of Becquerels held this chair from 1838 until 1948, which
must be some sort of record.
The Musee de Cluny, officially known as Musee National du Moyen Age
(National Museum of the Middle Ages) is perhaps the most outstanding
medieval building in Paris. It was the town house of the Abbots of
Cluny, dating back to 1334 but was rebuilt in both Gothic and
Renaissance style starting near the end of the Fifteenth Century. The
Musee de Cluny has a fine collection of important medieval artifacts,
in particular tapestries, Gothic sculptures, and illuminated
manuscripts. Herman Melville mentioned this museum in his famous novel
Moby Dick.
The Thermes de Cluny are what remains of Third Century Gallo-Roman
baths. Its best-preserved section is the frigidarium, the cold-water
pool in which bathers dipped to close their pores after enjoyed the
hot-water sections. Some of the original decorative wall painting and
mosaics remain intact. These baths were poorly defended and probably
destroyed by barbarians, those dirty barbarians, towards the end of the
Third Century.
The Pantheon (from a Greek word meaning all the Gods) was
originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, the patron
saint of Paris. It sits on top of Montagne Sainte-Genevieve and
overlooks all Paris. While this is a great-looking building the
architect died before its completion, and not all his plans were
followed. The building was intended to be a church in honor of King
Louis XV’s recovery, but the French Revolution intervened and the
Pantheon was transformed into a mausoleum. In alphabetical order, some
of the great buried here include Braille, Dumas, Hugo, Marat (French
Revolution leader disinterred after little more than a year), Moulin
(French Resistance leader), Sklodowska-Curie, Soufflot (Pantheon’s
architect), Voltaire, and Zola.
The Latin Quarter is home to many universities and other centers of
higher education, and naturally scads of bars, bistros, restaurants,
and nightclubs. Some schools have relocated to more spacious quarters
in other parts of the city or region, surely to the regret of their
student population.
Of course you don’t want to tour Paris without sampling fine French
wine and food. My article I Love French Wine and Food - A Maconnais
(Burgundy) Chardonnay reviewed such a wine and suggested a sample menu:
Start with Pate en Croute de Grenouilles au Bleu de Bresse (Frog and
Bresse Blue-Cheese Pie). For your second course savor Poulet de Bresse
a la Creme-Trompettes de la Mort (Free-Range Bresse Chicken in Creamy
Sauce with Horns of Plenty Mushrooms). And as dessert indulge yourself
with Ile Flottante (Floating Island, a Meringue Island in a Custard
Sea.) Your Parisian sommelier (wine steward) will be happy to suggest
appropriate wines to accompany each course.
