Loterie des enfants trouvés, 1674 - the theme of a swaddled Jesus to remember the life of the population was common in religious and artistic circles who offered charity in Paris in the middle of the 17th century. It is opposed to the sensual depiction of Jesus as a child in the more official classical art, inspired by the Renaissance.

Bibliothèque royale de Bruxelles, Belgique

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In 1633 Vincent de Paul founded in Paris the Companie des Filles de la Charité, whose nuns dedicated themselves to the poors and lost children. In 1640 they received the royal charge to take care of any child found in the streets of Paris. Each year, 500 children were abandoned

Cover page of Le Petit Journal, 10 May 1897. “Incendie du Bazar de la Charité. Le sinistre.”

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The Bazar de la Charité was an annual charity event organized by the French Catholic aristocracy in Paris from 1885 onwards. It is best known for the fire at the 1897 bazaar that claimed 126 lives, many of them aristocratic women, the most eminent of whom was Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Alençon, née Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria, sister of Empress Sisi.

The Bazar de la Charité was held annually in a variety of locations, by a consortium of charitable organizations that joined to share renting fees, reducing costs and grouping potential buyers.

In 1897 the Bazar was held in a large wooden shed, 80 by 13 metres, at Rue Jean-Goujon 17, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Within this shed a fantasy medieval street was built with wood, cardboard, cloth and papier-mache. Exits were not properly marked. These incidences would contribute considerably to the disaster.A novel attraction at this Bazar was a room where the new spectacle of the time could be admired, moving images projected by the Lumière brothers’ technology.

On the afternoon of 4 May, the second of the planned four days of the bazaar, the projectionist’s equipment (using a system of ether and oxygen rather than electricity) caught fire. The resulting blaze, and the panic of the crowd, claimed the lives of 126 people, mostly aristocratic women. Over 200 people were additionally injured from the fire. The disaster was reported nationally and internationally.

Some of the visitors fleeing through the courtyard were saved by the cook and manageress of the Hôtel du Palais, M. Gauméry and Mme Roche-Sautier (respectively), who helped them escape the fire through the kitchen windows to the adjoining building. The identification of charred remains by the use of dental records was a landmark in the early history of forensic dentistry.

Marriage of Tobias and Sara

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This roundel originally came from the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. This was built by Louis IX of France to house the Crown of Thorns, which Jesus Christ had worn at the time of his Crucifixion. The king acquired part of this priceless relic in 1238. The Sainte-Chapelle was begun in 1241 and dedicated in 1248. It has been described as a huge reliquary in stone. Architecture, sculpture and stained glass combine to produce an effect of astonishing richness. The vast glazing programme has suffered, however. During the first half of the 19th century much glass was removed and many panels were sold to private collectors. Fortunately, some have come into museum collections.

Originally, this medallion belonged to the window devoted to the Story of Tobias, on the south side. It shows Tobias and Sara being joined in marriage by Sara’s father, Raguel, who stands behind her. Taking his daughter’s right hand and putting it into the right hand of Tobias, he gives the couple his blessing.

The Book of Tobias recounts how Tobias’s son, also called Tobias, with the aid of the Archangel Raphael, was able to restore his father’s health and wealth. Raphael, in disguise, leads Tobias to the lands of his kinsman Raguel. Raguel gives his daughter Sara in marriage to Tobias, but warns him that Sara’s seven previous husbands had all been devoured by demons on the wedding night. With Raphael’s aid, Tobias prepares a potion, the smell of which drives out the demons. He and Sara are then able to consummate their marriage successfully.

The Catholic church considers the Book of Tobias (or Tobit) to be a canonical book of the Old Testament. The Protestant reformers in the first half of the 16th century considered it to be non-historical and thus non-authoritative. They removed it from their official new bibles and labelled it ‘Apocryphal’.

Théatre des Champs Elysées, Paris, France

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The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris.

Opened in 1913, it was designed by French architect Auguste Perret and founded by journalist and impresario Gabriel Astruc to provide a venue suitable for contemporary music, dance and opera, in contrast to traditional, more conservative, institutions like the Paris Opera. It hosted the Ballets Russes for its first season, staging the world première of the Rite of Spring on Thursday May 29, 1913, thus becoming the celebrated location of one of the most famous of all classical music riots.

hominisaevum:

Founding of the Jesuit order

On 15 August 1534, Ignatius of Loyola and six other students at the University of Paris met in Montmartre outside Paris, in a crypt beneath the church of Saint Denis, now Saint Pierre de Montmartre (image).

They called themselves the Company of Jesus, and also Amigos en El Señor or “Friends in the Lord”, because they felt “they were placed together by Christ”. The name had echoes of the military (as in an infantry “company”), as well as of discipleship (the “companions” of Jesus).

The word “company” comes ultimately from Latin, cum + pane = “with bread”, or a group that shares meals.

La “Mort Saint-Innocent” 
Provenant du cimetière des Innocents à Paris
Albâtre
H. : 1,20 m. ; L. : 0,55 m. ; Pr. : 0,27 m.

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The emaciated image of Death was standing in the middle of the cimetière des Innocents. On its shield, this poem:

“Il n’est vivant tant soit plein d’art
Ne de force pour resistance
Que je ne frappe de mon dard
Pour bailler aux vers leur pitance
Priez Dieu pour les trepasses.”

When the cemetery closed, the statue was transfered to Saint Gervais, then to Notre Dame where the artist Deseine restored the arm, and finally to the Louvre. 

La fête Nationale de Jeanne d’Arc : place des Pyramides, les officiels pendant le discours de Mr Marraud, ministre de l’intérieur : [photographie de presse] / Agence Meurisse

Auteur : Agence de presse Meurisse. Agence photographique

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Plan de l’aqueduc Médicis à la fin du XVIIe siècle. Document conservé aux Archives nationales, Paris (AN, N/III/Seine/626)

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This aqueduct was built on Marie de’ Medici’s order to bring water from Rungis to Paris. It is still working nowadays and will turn 400 years old this year. 

Fête sportive à la Commune libre de Montmartre : les deux bibendum : [photographie de presse] / Agence Meurisse

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