Tea at Trianon: The Storefronts of Lisbon

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

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The Storefronts of Lisbon

From The New York Times:

Lisbon has long been considered one of Europe’s loveliest capitals. “By day Lisbon has a naïve theatrical quality that enchants and captivates,” Erich Maria Remarque wrote in his 1962 novel “The Night in Lisbon,” “but by night it is a fairy-tale city, descending over lighted terraces to the sea, like a woman in festive garments going down to meet her dark lover.” Among its beauties are dozens of ornate storefronts, most of which date from the rebuilding that followed the catastrophic earthquake of 1755 to the neon days of the 1930s.

These facades have been protected since 2015, when the Lisbon City Council authorized the “Historic Shops” program in recognition of their historical, cultural and commercial importance. As a result, several of the city’s finest jewelry stores (joalharias, in Portuguese) as well as those also selling gold and silver objects (ourivesaria, or goldsmith), still look as beautiful outside as the pieces they sell inside....

This Spanish fine jewelry chain now has a store in the former Alianca jewelry store, which has been dazzling customers since 1914. The interior may be even more stunning than the beautiful exterior; imagine Marie Antoinette’s boudoir and you get the picture: Pudgy pastel putti look down from the ceiling on a frothy collection of sparkling glass vitrines, hung with gilded garlands and bows and displaying more glitter inside. (To combat a sugar high, head down the street to No. 38, where the scent of coffee beans at the beloved old cafe Casa Pereira will take the edge off.) (Read more.)