It was on this day 313 years ago, 17 October 1705, that the remarkable courtesan, salon hostess, and letter writer Ninon de l’Enclos died in Paris.

Born in 1620 to an impecunious lutenist and his wife, Ninon decided early on never to marry and to live as independently as she could — not an easy task for a woman in 17th-century Paris. From her teens to her forties, she conducted a highly successful career as a courtesan, racking up an impressive number of titled lovers and at least one illegitimate child. In the late 1660s, she retired to a mansion in the Rue des Tournelles, where she hosted a salon for the rest of her life. It seems that her great beauty never quite left her; that, combined with her charm and legendary wit, had men falling in love with her to the very end of her life.

As a writer, she is best known for her letters. In one of them, she asserted that “when one is truly in love, one shrinks from marriage as from an abyss.”

Ninon de l’Enclos also had a great eye for talent. After meeting the 11-year-old François Arouet (the future Voltaire) shortly before her death, she left him 2,000 livres with which to buy books.

Have you read her letters?

2018 is here!

It’s going to be a busy year at Versailles Century headquarters.

The most exciting news for me, and hopefully you, dear reader, is that I’m going to spend Easter in France.  I haven’t yet decided how to divide my time between Paris and Versailles — 50-50? 60-40? 70-30? — but I do know that I will have to spend at least 2 days in Versailles.  As you may have realized, I try as much as possible to use my own photographs to illustrate this blog, and I use ONLY my own photographs for the Instagram gallery (@versailles_century).  I’ve already used more than 80% of the photo archive from my 2016 visit to Versailles, so it’s high time to go and take more.

Gardens of Versailles from the roof.  Credit: Wikipedia.

I’d like to spend several days in Paris, where I’ve never actually stayed for more than 2 nights in a row.  My particular focus for this will be on places and things from the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI.  Already on the itinerary: the Musée Cognacq-Jay, the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Bagatelle, the École Militaire, the Palais Royal, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and the Place Vendôme.  What else should I see?

The Place des Vosges does not strictly speaking fall within the Versailles Century time period (1682-1789), as it was built between 1605 and 1612.  In other words, construction started in the reign of Henri IV and finished early in the reign of Louis XIII.  The connection to the latter king, however, is enough of a justification to write about it here, I feel, since Louis XIII actually built the original chateau at Versailles.

In fact, according to French Wikipedia (from which I get most of my information for posts of this type), the square was inaugurated with a carrousel (ie. a large-scale equestrian performance) in honour of Louis XIII’s wedding to Anne of Austria, who, despite her name, was a Spanish princess.  In 1639, a statue of Louis XIII was put up in the centre of the square.  It was pulled down during the Revolution, but a new one by the sculptors Dupaty and Cortot was erected in 1825.  It’s still there.

Monument to Louis XIII in the Place des Vosges.

The Rue du Bac is a narrow but fascinating street in Paris to wander along.  Lined with antique shops, boutiques, restaurants, and cafes, it stretches from the quai opposite the Louvre deep into the heart of the Left Bank.

Rue du Bac in Paris.

It’s also home to the Paris Foreign Missions Society, usually abbreviated as MEP using the French initials (Missions Étrangères de Paris).  The unassuming street entrance to the MEP complex is shown below.

The entrance to the MEP complex at 128 Rue du Bac.

This venerable organization, still active today, was responsible for the Catholic evangelization of North America and much of East and Southeast Asia.

In the wake of this week’s closing of the Carnavalet Museum for a 3-year program of renovations, I’ve decided to devote this and the next several posts to highlights of the museum’s collections.  Today we inspect the Escalier de Luynes, or the Luynes staircase, which was once in the now-disappeared Hôtel de Luynes, townhouse of the dukes of Luynes.*

Marble steps of the Escalier de Luynes in the Carnavalet Museum.

One of the things that makes the Carnavalet Museum so special is that it showcases complete rooms and architectural elements from buildings that no longer exist, or whose interiors have been completely altered.  In other words, the minds behind the museum were farsighted early preservationists who already in the late 19th century were salvaging priceless treasures of Paris’s built heritage that would otherwise have been lost forever.

It’s a sad day for museum lovers and Versailles Century enthusiasts.  As of today, 3 October, 2016, the Carnavalet Museum in Paris is closed for a massive 3-year program of renovations.  If all goes well, it should re-open in the autumn of 2019.

A facade in the main courtyard of the Carnavalet Museum.