Tea at Trianon: Ten Churches in Paris

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, November 22, 2019

Ten Churches in Paris

From Fodor's Travel:

Come here for the magnificent medieval stained glass, all 1,113 panes depicting stories from both the New and Old Testaments. An example of Rayonnant Gothic architecture, La Sainte-Chapelle was built between 1242 and 1248 to accommodate the Passion relics, including Jesus Christ’s Crown of Thorns, that were purchased by King Louis IX in 1239. In addition to the stained glass, paintings and carvings of Christian symbolism abound with sculptures of the 12 apostles and sculptural reliefs of angels holding royal crowns. Admission is €10, or €15 if you buy a joint ticket to visit the neighboring Conciergerie, a revolutionary tribunal and prison where Marie-Antoinette was held. This church is so historically meaningful, there’s even a free app called Sainte-Chapelle Window that zooms in on the fifteen 50-foot tall windows to explain their stories. (Read more.)