PARIS: THE INCREDIBLE HAUSSMANN CONSTRUCTION

PARIS: THE INCREDIBLE HAUSSMANN CONSTRUCTION

Since the Revolution, Paris has been a medieval city that does not have the size of a capital and does not reflect Napoleon III’s aspirations for modernity. The emperor then entrusted the task of transforming it to Baron Hausmann. For several decades, he undertook this titanic project and mobilized thousands of workers and hundreds of architects such as Belgrand and Baltard to bring Paris into this new century. A testament to the genius of its designers, it is in this Paris imagined by Napoleon III and forged by Haussmann that we still live today. As a visionary, he improved the daily lives of Parisians by building bridges, fountains and canals that allow drinking water to flow. It also shapes large arteries that encourage traffic, such as the Champs Elysées. This new urban planning highlights unparalleled monuments such as l´Opéra Garnier and the Théâtre du Châtelet, built at the time, and the “Haussmanian” buildings, which have established themselves as a reference model. The great transformation of Paris was a real epic that required significant technical, human and financial resources. One of l´Histoire’s most symbolic projects was also one of the most controversial of the century. Hausmann had to fight hard against his critics to give the capital its postcard face and inscribe it in the French and foreign popular representation.