Lawn ornament of the royals of the House of Bourbon and Napoleon, this marble lion, a copy of an 18th century Italian statue (installed in September 1872), gaurds the Château de Compiègne. The original château structure was built on this site in the late 1300s to capitalize on the good hunting opportunities in the nearby Compiègne forest. In its current state it mostly reflects Bonaparte's restoration done after the French Revolution when the building was gutted and its contents were removed. The current grounds contain beautiful statues and serene gardens.
Tags: Château de Compiègne Compiègne France Napolean marble statue France dang the lion got the futbol
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A walkway at the Château de Pierrefonds, a French castle near Campiegne. The castle was largely rebuilt in the 1850s to resemble a 16th century castle. The architect had a thing for fanciful creatures, including the eagle with a human head and chain mail shown here.
Tags: Château de Pierrefonds chimeras France castle hallway walkway Compiègne
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head of a pelican, wings of a bat, legs of a frog, and teats of a dog... definitively proves that psilocybin mushroom use was rampant in France in the 19th century.
Château de Pierrefonds- French castle near Campiegne
Tags: Château de Pierrefonds chimera creepy France
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Part of the building ornamentation at the Château de Pierrefonds- French castle near Campiegne. The original castle was built in the 12th century, but was destroyed and abandoned during the reign of Louis XIII (lucky Louis??). The castle ruins were a tourist attraction in the early 19th century, and in 1857 Napoleon III hired the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc to rebuild it. Viollet-le-Duc decided it should look like an idealized 16th century medieval castle rather than the original thing.
Tags: Château de Pierrefonds building ornamentation France lizard downspout
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One of the lovely bridges crossing the Seine River in Paris, the Pont Alexandre III is adorned by Art Nouveau statues and ornaments. The north side ("Right Bank" to those in the know) seen here, has two pillars with gilded statues of Pegasus being restrained by Phemes, the daughter of the Greek God Gaia. The bridge was completed in 1900 and named for the Russian Czar of the time, Alexandre III. Behind the Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, an exhibition hall and museum built for the Universal Exposition of 1900.
Tags: Paris Pont Alexandre III Seine River Universal Exposition of 1900 Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées Renommée des Sciences Renommée des Arts France
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