Mundo-Uno como sustrato del acto de memoria

the time of François I ( 1 5 1 5 - 1 5 4 7 ), 19 large scale construction of Parisian hôtels particuliers for

the nobility and the clergy2o began only under the Bourbon monarchy, after Henri IV had conquered Paris and turned it into the major royal residence and the seat of power. The monarchy and the State became increasingly centralised. This concentration of power was personified in the figure of Louis XIV, in whose time it was at its greatest.

The Office of Grand Voyer de France, which regulated and policed town-planning in Paris and

incorporated such issues as roads and their paving {p a v é ), buildings standing along roads and

so on, was established by Henri IV, in May 1599. The royal pronouncement read: “...Nos

prédécesseurs rois, considèrent ies entrepises et usurpations qui se font sur ies voyes et ruës

pubiiques des viiies, au grand préjudice du pubiic, et incommodité des passans; pour faire

cesser teiies voyes, avaient fait piusieurs édits contestans le règlement qu’ils avalent connu

estre nécessaire pour observation d ’iceux, estabiy dans notre viiie de Paris, capitaie de ce

royaume, un voyer, ayant entFautres choses, ie pouvoir d’avoir l’oeü susdites voyes et passages,

ies conserver en ieurs espaces, grandeurs et largeurs; visiter les bastimens estans sur les ruës

et voyes; alligner les bastimens nouveaux, et toutes autres fonctions qu’en d ép en den t...”.2^

The streets of Paris, according to Isambert et al., began to be paved in 1184. Paving became part of the responsibility of the grand voyer from 16 0 0 ,2 2 but his Office was suspended in 1626,

when its powers were passed on to the Trésoriers de France by an edict of Louis X III.23

Throughout the period, declarations were issued concerning this authority, including the cleaning of streets, and the removal of all obstructions from them. This last was addressed not for reasons of hygiene, but as a measure of safety for citizens in the ease of passage through

the streets.24

The Office of Intendant de Justice et Police in the He de France was first held by Geoffroy Luillier

in 1 6 3 3, under Louis X III.25 The Ordonnance du Lieutenent civii sur ia poiice générai de Paris

was issued in 1635.26 The Lettre Patente that established the post of Intendant des fontaines

pubiiques appeared in 1623.27 Royal Declarations on public lighting in the streets of Paris

appeared from the second half of the seventeenth century onwards, and were on occasion tied to the cleaning of streets.28 This again, could be regarded as a measure for the security of those using the streets.

Axonometric plans of Paris drawn between 1575 {Plan de François de Belleforest) and 1734-9

{Plan de Louis Bretez known as Plan de Turgot)29 provide bird’s eye, or partial views of a city

whose appearance was evolving gradually, and had changed completely by the end of the period. In the earlier plans one can still see a mediaeval city with Gothic features. The majority of the buildings were still oblong, with pitched roofs, some with their gable-ends facing the road, others with their eaves. At ground level all buildings terminated directly at the road boundary (i.e. there were no pavements or gardens along the public thoroughfare). The alignment of houses and their upper floors oversailling into the public way were contentious issues addressed by numerous edicts of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.so D’Aviler, in his Dictionnaire (1691 & later), referred to this matter “Les saillies sur les Voyes

publiques, sont réglées par les Ordonnances"^^ In the later axonometric views of Paris, a new

city can be seen gradually emerging with an increased number of buildings incorporating Classical features.

The town plans, whether axonometric or not, also show the change of Paris which started as a small walled city and underwent increased building works, expansion and urban sprawl. J-F. Blondel (1752-56) noted that at the beginning of the reign of Henri IV large areas within the walls of Paris were cultivated fields, meadows, gardens and marshes. During this king’s reign extensive building works were undertaken on land that had never been built on previously.32 in his posthumous publication. Histoire de la Ville de Paris (1725), the French historian Michel

Félibien (1666-1719) described the state of Paris when Henri IV entered it: “II y estolt resté,

depuis rencelnte faite cinq cent ans auparavant par ordre de Philippe Auguste, plusieurs places

vagues & Inhabituées. On y voyolt encore les moulins à vent, des prez, des vignes, & des

terres labourables. La butte de S. Roch, qui n’estolt autre chose qu’un amas de gravois & de

terres tirées des anciens fossez, estoit couverte de moulins. L ’Ile Notre Dame n ’estolt encore

q ’une prairie...".33 He attributed the subsequent splendour of Paris to the interest in the arts of

Henri IV and his two successors, to their zeal for their capital, to the good policing established