el 2 de diciembre de 1805, tres grandes ejércitos se encontraron frente a frente cerca de Austerlitz, en la actual República Checa. A un lado estaban las tropas de Napoleón Bonaparte, que ascendían a algo menos de 68.000 hombres; al otro, casi 90.000 soldados rusos y austríacos. La desproporción de fuerzas hacía pensar a los oficiales rusos y austríacos que contaban con una gran ventaja, pero Bonaparte suplió con la estrategia su inferioridad numérica y se alzó con la victoria.
La “batalla de los tres emperadores”, como también se la conoce, es considerada como una de las victorias militares más importantes de Napoleón y una demostración de su genio táctico, además de una de las más brillantes de la historia de la estrategia militar. Gracias a ella logró romper la coalición que se había formado contra él y abrir la puerta a casi una década de hegemonía francesa en Europa.
La batalla de Austerlitz es considerada como una de las victorias militares más importantes de Napoleón y una demostración de su genio táctico
Temerosos del creciente poder militar de Francia bajo el mando de Napoleón, en 1803 una serie de países habían formado una alianza conocida como la Tercera Coalición. Esta incluía al Reino Unido, el Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico bajo el liderazgo austríaco, Rusia, Nápoles, Sicilia y Suecia: de entre estos países, Austria y Rusia eran los que más sentían la amenaza francesa y los que podían suponer un problema mayor para Napoleón, por lo que en 1805 el emperador francés desplazó a decenas de miles de soldados hacia el corazón de Europa.
En enero de 2021 salió a subasta un manuscrito dictado por el propio Napoleón: sus 74 páginas son una prueba de cuánta planificación hubo destrás de la batalla y de los movimientos militares y diplomáticos que durante meses llevó a cabo el emperador para asegurarse de que sus enemigos actuarían como esperaba. En ello también influyó la suerte y tal vez una cierta improvisación, ya que si no caían en la trampa Napoleón se arriesgaba a encontrarse en inferioridad numérica en territorio austríaco.
El ejército combinado de austríacos y rusos les superaba en número, pero estaba poco cohesionado y carecía de suficientes oficiales preparados para dirigir una fuerza conjunta de tales dimensiones. Napoleón decidió aprovechar esas debilidades y valerse de la estrategia para anular la superioridad numérica, empezando por crear una falsa imagen de debilidad. Mantuvo a parte de sus contingentes separados del cuerpo principal del ejército para que su desventaja pareciera mayor y envió al general Savary a entregar un mensaje al cuartel general de la coalición, expresando su deseo de negociar la paz. Los oficiales rusos y austríacos interpretaron esto como una señal de debilidad inequívoca y propusieron a sus respectivos comandantes lanzar un ataque cuanto antes.
La última parte del plan de Napoleón consistía en atraer a sus enemigos a un terreno favorable. Eligió los Altos de Pratzen, una zona rodeada por colinas cerca de la ciudad de Austerlitz (actual Slavkov u Brna, en la República Checa) y atravesada por estanques que iban a jugar un papel importante en su táctica. El éxito de Bonaparte dependía de que el ejército de la coalición siguiera el plan de acción que había previsto, por lo que debía atraerlo a la vez que evitaba las pérdidas en sus filas.
Plano de la batalla: en azul las fuerzas francesas, en rojo la coalición austro-rusa.
Foto: The Department of History, United States Military Academy (CC)
Su primer movimiento fue lanzar un breve asalto seguido de una retirada para incitar a las fuerzas de la coalición a perseguirle, debilitando a propósito su flanco derecho para asegurarse de que las tropas enemigas avanzaran exactamente por donde a él le convenía. En aquella parte del campo de batalla se encontraban los estanques Satschan, que en aquella época del año estaban cubiertos por el hielo. Cuando las fuerzas aliadas los estaban atravesando, la artillería francesa abrió fuego y rompió el hielo, provocando que muchos soldados se ahogaran en las aguas heladas con sus caballos y hundiendo la artillería enemiga.
Al mismo tiempo, la persecución había debilitado el centro del ejército austro-ruso. El ejército francés atacó con las tropas de reserva que habían permanecido escondidas, apoderándose de las posiciones de la coalición y separando sus dos flancos: el izquierdo se encontró rodeado por los franceses y el derecho, viéndose ahora en inferioridad, emprendió la retirada. En total, las fuerzas de la coalición contaron unas 15.000 bajas entre muertos y heridos.
Para la Tercera Coalición aquella fue una derrota muy importante y, sobre todo, inesperada. La peor parte se la llevó el emperador Francisco II del Sacro Imperio: era la segunda gran derrota que sufría en poco tiempo a manos de los franceses, que habían conseguido llegar hasta Viena poco antes del encuentro en Austerlitz. Tuvo que ceder territorios a Francia, a los estados alemanes aliados de Napoleón y al Reino de Italia, un estado satélite cuyo virrey era familiar del propio Bonaparte.
Napoleón dirige sus tropas desde su puesto de mando elevado durante la batalla de Austerlitz.
Ullstein / Cordon Press
Al año siguiente, tras casi mil años de existencia, el Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico se disolvió y en su lugar nació la Confederación del Rin, formada por 16 estados aliados de Bonaparte. El núcleo del poder imperial se reorganizó formando el Imperio Austríaco, a cuya cabeza estaba el propio emperador Francisco: así la dinastía de los Habsburgo-Lorena logró salvar su continuidad, aunque vio reducidos sus dominios, poder y prestigio. La batalla también tuvo un impacto en la credibilidad de Rusia como potencia imperial y en la del zar Alejando I, puesto que la mayoría de bajas fueron entre las tropas rusas.
Por el contrario, la victoria de Napoleón ayudó a reforzar su autoridad como emperador y a consolidar Francia como el gran poder imperial del momento. No obstante, esto también sería la semilla de algunos de los grandes problemas del Imperio Francés en los años venideros: en el norte de Italia los abusos de las tropas napoleónicas dieron inicio a un fuerte sentimiento antifrancés; en los territorios alemanes, Prusia se puso en guardia ante lo que consideraba un desafío directo a su posición dominante en el espacio germánico y se convirtió en el próximo gran enemigo de Francia.
Vista desde la perspectiva histórica, la importancia de Austerlitz no fue solo militar sino también psicológica. El hecho de que Napoleón hubiera vencido a una gran coalición que le superaba ampliamente en número y que lo hubiera hecho valiéndose de la estrategia y aferrándose a un plan tan arriesgado alimentó el mito de su invencibilidad, disuadendo a sus enemigos de intentar oponérsele a corto plazo. Seguramente el propio emperador era consciente de ello, ya que alimentó el relato épico de aquella victoria. Se había cumplido el vaticinio que había hecho al inicio de la batalla: “Un golpe fuerte y la guerra habrá terminado”. Al menos, por un tiempo.
La batalla de Austerlitz, también conocida como la batalla de los Tres Emperadores, enfrentó el 2 de diciembre de 1805 a un ejército francés encabezado por el emperador Napoleón I contra las fuerzas combinadas ruso-austríacas del zar ruso Alejandro I y el emperador austríaco Francisco I en el contexto de las Guerras Napoleónicas. Fue una de las mayores victorias de Napoleón, pues el Primer Imperio francés aplastó definitivamente a la Tercera Coalición tras casi nueve horas de difícil combate. La batalla tuvo lugar cerca de Austerlitz, actual Slavkov u Brna, a unos 10 km al sureste de Brno, en Moravia, entonces parte del Imperio austríaco y hoy en la República Checa. Austerlitz puso fin rápido a la guerra de la Tercera Coalición y pocas semanas después se firmó el Tratado de Presburgo. La batalla es considerada una obra maestra táctica de Napoleón, a la altura de Cannas o Gaugamela.23
Después de eliminar a un ejército austríaco en la batalla de Ulm, las fuerzas francesas lograron tomar Viena en noviembre de 1805. Los austríacos evitaron otro choque hasta que la llegada de los rusos les otorgó ventaja numérica. Napoleón envió a su ejército al norte en persecución de los aliados, pero después les ordenó retroceder para así fingir debilidad. Desesperado por entablar combate contra las fuerzas aliadas, Napoleón trató de demostrar, en los días previos al gran enfrentamiento, que su ejército no estaba en condiciones de combate, llegando para ello a abandonar una estratégica posición en la colina Pratzen cerca de Austerlitz. Desplegó al ejército francés al pie de Pratzen y debilitó de manera premeditada su flanco derecho para incitar a los aliados a atacarlo allí para después rodearlos con el resto de sus fuerzas. El III Cuerpo del ejército francés dirigido por el mariscal Davout tuvo que realizar una marcha forzada desde Viena para cubrir a tiempo la brecha dejada por Napoleón. Mientras tanto, el contundente ataque ruso-austríaco contra el ala derecha francesa desguarneció su centro en Pratzen, algo que aprovechó el mariscal Soult para atacar con fiereza con el IV Cuerpo del ejército francés. Con el centro de los aliados totalmente aniquilado, los franceses barrieron los dos flancos del enemigo, obligaron a sus tropas a huir en total caos y capturaron miles de prisioneros.
El desastre de los aliados golpeó profundamente la confianza del emperador Francisco en el esfuerzo de guerra encabezado por los británicos. Francia y Austria acordaron inmediatamente un armisticio y poco después, el 26 de diciembre, se firmó el Tratado de Presburgo, por el cual Austria quedaba fuera tanto de la guerra como de la Coalición, al tiempo que se reforzaban los términos acordados en los anteriores tratados de Campo Formio y Lunéville entre ambas naciones. Este tratado también confirmó la pérdida de posesiones austríacas en Italia y Baviera en favor de Francia, así como en Alemania en favor de los aliados alemanes de Napoleón. También se les impuso una indemnización de cuarenta millones de francos a los derrotados Habsburgo y se permitió a los rusos que huían el paso libre por territorio hostil de camino a su patria. Por otra parte, la victoria francesa en Austerlitz permitió la creación de la Confederación del Rin, compuesta por varios estados alemanes que debían actuar como zona de amortiguación entre Francia y Europa Central. La Confederación hizo prácticamente inútil el Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico, de modo que éste se derrumbó en 1806 después de que Francisco abdicara del trono imperial y mantuviera el título de Francisco I de Austria como el único oficial. Estos cambios, sin embargo, no supusieron una paz duradera para Europa. La preocupación de Prusia ante la creciente influencia francesa en el continente acabaría provocando el estallido de la guerra de la Cuarta Coalición en 1806.
La batalla de las Pirámides tuvo lugar el 21 de julio de 1798 entre el ejército francés en Egipto bajo las órdenes de Napoleón Bonaparte y las fuerzas locales mamelucas.
En julio de 1798, Napoleón iba dirección El Cairo, después de invadir y capturar Alejandría. En el camino se encontró a dos fuerzas de mamelucos a 15 kilómetros de las pirámides, y a solo 6 de El Cairo. Los mamelucos estaban comandados por Murad Bey e Ibrahim Bey y tenían una poderosa caballería. Los mamelucos, a pesar de ser superiores en número, estaban equipados con una tecnología primitiva, tan solo tenían espadas, arcos y flechas; además, sus fuerzas quedaron divididas por el Nilo, con Murad atrincherado en Embabeh e Ibrahim a campo abierto.
Napoleón se dio cuenta de que la única tropa egipcia de cierto valor era la caballería. Él tenía poca caballería a su cargo y era superado en número por el doble o el triple. Se vio pues forzado a ir a la defensiva, y formó su ejército en cuadrados huecos con artillería, caballería y equipajes en el centro de cada uno, dispersando con fuego de artillería de apoyo el ataque de la caballería mameluca, que intentaba aprovechar los espacios entre los cuadros franceses. Entonces atacó el campamento egipcio de Embebeh, provocando la huida del ejército egipcio.
Tras la batalla, Francia obtuvo El Cairo y el bajo Egipto. Después de oír las noticias de la derrota de su legendaria caballería, el ejército mameluco de El Cairo se dispersó a Siria para reorganizarse. La batalla también puso fin a 700 años de mandato mameluco en Egipto. A pesar de este gran comienzo, la victoria del almirante Horatio Nelson diez días después en la batalla del Nilo acabó con las esperanzas de Bonaparte de conquistar Oriente Medio.
The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under General Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces of the local Mamluk rulers. General Bonaparte named the battle after the Egyptian pyramids, because they were faintly visible on the horizon when the battle took place. The battle occurred during France’s 1798-1801 Egyptian Campaign and was the battle where General Bonaparte put into use one of his contributions to tactics, the massive divisional square. Actually a rectangle, the first and second demi-brigades of the division formed the front and rear faces, while the third demi-brigade formed the two sides.
General Egyptian campaign map for 1798-1799.
In mid July of 1798, General Bonaparte was marching from Alexandria toward Cairo after invading and capturing the former. On July 13th, the first important battle took place at Shubra Khit, where the outnumbered Mameluke forces were easily defeated and General Bonaparte continued his advance towards the capital.
French army crossing the desert to Cairo. Doubtful that “all terrain buggy” got far outside of Alexandria and the heavy wool coats caused great suffering in the ranks.
French campaign movements from naval landing near Alexandria, quick siege and storming of Alexandria then march across desert towards Cairo. (Wikipedia)
On July 21st, eighteen miles northwest of Cairo, at the fortified village of Embabeh, the main Mameluke army under Murad Bey had assembled waiting for the infidels on the left bank of the Nile. The size of Murad’s army is estimated at about 4,000 to 6,000 mounted Mamelukes, supported by 40 cannons and a small but professional Turkish contingent, mainly tough Albanian troops. To the right of the cavalrymen, closer to the Nile near Embabeh village, were some 15,000 fellaheen–peasant levies armed mostly with clubs and spears or long-barreled old muskets, who were essentially an ineffectual mob. On the Nile east bank, constituting no danger to the French until they crossed the Nile, was Ibrahim Bey’s force, composed of several thousand more Mamelukes and about 18,000 fellaheen-peasant infantry while on the Nile itself there was a small Mameluke flotilla manned by Greek mercenary sailors.
Typical Mamluk cavalry (Osprey). Note the young page aka “discarded weapon collector”.
On the other hand, the French deployed about 25,000 men in 5 divisions supported by artillery and a few cavalry troopers. It is almost certain that the combined Mameluke forces enjoyed numerical superiority but the army of Ibrahim Bey did not engage while the Bedouins and most of the infantry, except the Turkish Albanians, were virtually worthless against trained european troops. Furthermore, Murad had made a great mistake by placing his troops on the left bank of the Nile, saving the French from having to cross the river under fire in order to attack him. Ibrahim Bey would have to cross the Nile river in order to help if something went wrong for Murad Bey. When General Bonaparte was informed about the enemy position and the advantage that the two beys had given to him, he decided to engage in a decisive battle. After giving his troops just one hour to rest, Bonaparte was ready to proceed into battle at 3 p.m. At 2 p.m. he sent out orders for advance on Murad’s army with each of the five divisions of his army.
Battle of the Pyramids 1798 by Rousseau showing initial dispositions and movements during the battle.
He exhorted his troops, saying, “Forward! Remember that from those monuments yonder forty centuries look down upon you.” After 12 hours of marching under the hot Egyptian sun, the tired, hungry and thirsty French soldiers saw the army of the Mamelukes in the positions that Bonaparte wanted it to be, and the Great Pyramids ten miles behind it.
“Forward! Remember that from those monuments yonder forty centuries look down upon you.” Painting by Gros.
The French divisions advanced south in echelon, with the right flank leading and the left flank protected by the Nile. From right to left, Napoleon posted the divisions of Desaix, Reynier, Dugua, Vial and Bon. In addition, Desaix sent a small detachment to occupy the nearby village of Bechtil, just to the west. Murad anchored his right flank on the Nile at the village of Embabeh, which was fortified and held with infantry and some ancient cannons. His Mamluk cavalry deployed on the desert flank. Ibrahim, with a second army, watched helplessly from the east bank of the Nile, unable to intervene.
General Bonaparte realized that the only Egyptian troops of any worth on the battlefield were the cavalry. French soldiers could see before them the splendid horses of the Mamelukes, prancing magnificently and snorting in the heat of the day. Each rider was armed with a musket, a pair of pistols, several javelins of sharpened palm branch, whatever battle axes, maces and daggers he could attach to himself or his saddle, and a short, curved sword made of black Damascus steel. Riding into battle, a Mameluke could discharge his musket, fire his pistols–dropping them to the ground for his attendants to pick up–and then select an edged weapon as he approached the enemy.Since a Mameluke saw battle as his moment of glory, he carried with him valuable earthly possessions. Jewels, gold and silver coins were attached or hidden in his layers of bright silk vests and baggy silk trousers, which were covered with a full-length, long-sleeved, loose-fitting tunic called a caftan. A turban completed his ensemble.
Later French era Mameluke styled light cavalry charging in all their finery. The Mamelukes of Egypt worn cloaks, fine patterned cotton robes and individually armed to personal taste.
Typical Mamluk cavalry. Compare to the French Imperial Guard version of the Mamelukes.
The Mamelukes had one tactic, a cavalry charge. General Bonaparte had seen that tactic at Shubra Khit and devised a way to counter it. Placing his troops in square divisions, which may actually have been rectangular rather than perfectly square, he was able to withstand the charging hordes of Mamelukes from any direction.
At 3:00 p.m. the French divisions, commanded by generals Desaix, Dugua, Reynier, Vial and Bon, formed squares and having their field artillery at the corners and the cavalry along with the baggage in the center. Desaix and Reynier were ordered to penetrate the canter of Murad’s line and cut off his retreat while Dugua had to cut off the Mamelukes from the fortifications of Embabeh; Bon and Vial would reinforce according to the needs of the moment. Murad though had decided to attack first, believing that the French infantry was no match for his cavalry, and the Mamelukes launched a furious cavalry charge mostly against the squares of Desaix and Reynier.
Battle of the Pyramids 1798 showing the French squares and the action near the fortified village of Embabeh. Classic painting by Lejeune which can be enlarged.
The most important thing for the French was to keep their solid square formations. If the square was broken in one side things would be very difficult for them and hand to hand combat favored the Mamelukes. The French held their fire until the screaming Mamelukes approached in a distance of a few meters, so that not a single cartridge would be wasted. Dead and wounded men and horses started piling up around the French squares but the Mamelukes continued to attack all over for about an hour despite their heavy losses. Although the Mamelukes’ cavalry charge was highly unsuccessful against Bonaparte’s division squares, they repeated the tactic again and again, as if sheer determination could overcome French firepower. At times during the furious onslaught, some Mamelukes would penetrate the square, only to be finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. Greek-Mameluke, Hussein, charged into a square and sliced with his scimitar the barrels of the French rifles. He received several wounds but survived and joined the French army later. This suicidal bravery of the Mamelukes, though, could not help them against the continuous volley fire and shelling of experienced european troops.
Mameluke cavalry charging into the French infantry lines (squares) as General Bonaparte looks on. Painting by Pomeroy.
While the Mamelukes were engaging the two squares on Bonaparte’s right, Dugua’s square in the middle was using howitzers to shell the warriors in the area between Embabeh and the squares. A detachment of cavalry and grenadiers, sent by Desaix into the Bechtil village on the French right, climbed onto the flat roofs of the houses and began firing on the Mamelukes. Dugua managed to cut off the Mamelukes from Embabeh while Bon and Vial, fighting and advancing, were ready to storm the fortifications. Realizing that the battle was lost, Murad decided to retreat towards Giza and later withdrew to Middle Egypt.
Mameluke light cavalry charging the steady French squares. Painting by Kossak.
Nevertheless, the battle was far from over. Those that had already retreated, under French pressure, towards Embabeh had to face Bon and Vial. As the battle continued, Bon’s and Vial’s divisions launched an assault from the French left into the village, under covering fire provided by their riverine flotilla. The French came under fire from cannons hidden in the village. But the cannons, which were mounted on fixed carriages that prevented them from traversing the field of battle, proved ineffective in stopping the attack. Facing desperate fighting, the French stormed the fortifications, massacred Mamelukes and Albanians and drove them into the Nile. With their escape routes blocked, the Mamelukes and their fellaheen plunged into the Nile in an effort to reach their forces on the opposite shore. Perhaps 1,000 drowned and hundreds more were shot. Some warriors were reportedly clubbed with oars by French boatmen trying to check their escape. During this portion of the battle Lieutenant Desernois went out of his square, in Bon’s division, and had a duel with a Mameluke which ended when the Lieutenant broke the head of his opponent after he dismounted him. An hour later, the French emerged victorious and started looting the corpses of the Mamelukes, finding many gold coins in their silken clothes.
Mameluke cavalry being repulsed by disciplined French musketry. Paint by Vincent.
The French troops would get additional support from a flotilla of 15 river boats, manned by 600 sailors and the contingent of scientists and scholars (“savants”), under the command of Captain Jean-Baptiste Perrée, which Bonaparte had assembled at Rosetta and sent up the Nile to assist his army. The flotilla and most of the French infantry had played an unimportant role in the early battle. Ibrahim’s army was unable to cross the Nile and reinforce Murad mainly because of a sandstorm. Most historians suggest that Ibrahim did not even try to help Murad. In any case, after the battle, Ibrahim left for Cairo at first and for the Sinai desert later on, along with his treasures and the Turkish pasha. The Mameluke army had been dispersed for ever.
Admiral Jean-Baptiste-Emmanuel Perrée. Naval officer who commanded the flotilla on the Nile.
Typical Nile river boat with single deck, a cabin area and lantern sail rigging.
The Mameluke losses are not accurately known. According to the official French report 2,000-3,000 Mamelukes were killed but this could probably be the total number of enemy casualties, including infantry and Bedouins. Other French military sources of the period reduce the number of dead Mamelukes to 800-1,200. As for the French, they had 29 dead and 260 severely wounded. During the night, panic prevailed in Cairo; many people left the city, others started looting while the remaining authorities decided to send a delegation to Bonaparte. After some negotiations, General Bonaparte entered Cairo on July 24. Lower Egypt was under complete French control for the moment.
Military print celebrating the French victory. Hot off the Parisian newspaper ink press.
General Bonaparte and his troops had defeated their opponents, despite the difficulties caused by the climate and the problems of logistic support. After all, the Mamelukes seem to have limited knowledge of strategy, lacked discipline and modern fighting methods. The times that individual bravery and medieval-type cavalry charges against infantry counted the most in the battlefield had passed forever long ago. With this battle General Bonaparte managed to destroy, disperse or demoralize the main enemy forces, occupy Cairo and secure his conquest of Egypt. The battle can be considered of having some importance if we see it as part of an action that enabled the French scientists to study and revive a lost civilization, to put the foundations of Egyptology which could not have been developed under the Mameluke regime. It was a collision of two different worlds, taking place near the mysterious monuments of a great ancient civilization. After all, not many soldiers throughout the history of warfare had the opportunity to fight while “forty centuries were looking down upon them.”
Battle of the Pyramids showing a different disposition of both armies. Note the Mameluke cavalry is positioned along the Nile river.
Peaceful Nile view of the Pyramids (Roberts).
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For the reader who may want to game out a scenario of Mameluke cavalry charging French squares, I have written up some basic scenario notes, an order of battle, a summary of our group’s square formation rules and some subjective victory conditions. In addition, I have added some internet links for information of interest.
Battle of the Pyramids 1798 scenario map.
Battle of the Pyramids 1798 scenario map with command counter start location.
Scene from the Battle of the Pyramids 1798 scenario. Read the AAR linked account below in text.
A Battle of the Pyramids After Action Report (AAR) on this scenario is linked. It shows the scenario displayed in 25-28mm miniature and general play: Battle of the Pyramids AAR
Links to our National Characteristics for French Republican (.pdf) and Mamelukes (Ottoman Islamic states) (.pdf) required per the the Battle of the Pyramids 1798 scenario notes above.
Nafigzer lists: 798FAB June 1798, 798FAH June 1798, and 798HAA August 1798. WR don’t find an exact OOB for the battle so if any reader has a reference source please email.
Battle of the Pyramids, (July 21, 1798), military engagement in which Napoleon Bonaparte and his French troops captured Cairo. His victory was attributed to the implementation of his one significant tactical innovation, the massive divisional square.
Paris is known today as the City of Lights. Thousands of years ago it was called Midwater-Dwelling—which is how its Latin name, Lutetia, can be translated. This list covers just a few of the most notable structures built in Paris over all of these years.
Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited by Mark Irving (2016). Writers’ names appear in parentheses.
Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris has been the cathedral of the city of Paris since the Middle Ages. It is a Gothic exemplar of a radical change in the Romanesque tradition of construction, both in terms of naturalistic decoration and revolutionary engineering techniques. In particular, via a framework of flying buttresses, external arched struts receive the lateral thrust of high vaults and provide sufficient strength and rigidity to allow the use of relatively slender supports in the main arcade. The cathedral stands on the Île de la Cité, an island in the middle of the River Seine, on a site previously occupied by Paris’s first Christian church, the Basilica of Saint-Étienne, as well as an earlier Gallo-Roman temple to Jupiter, and the original Notre-Dame, built by Childebert I, the king of the Franks, in 528. Maurice de Sully, the bishop of Paris, began construction in 1163 during the reign of King Louis VII, and building continued until 1330. The spire was erected in the 1800s during a renovation by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, though it was destroyed by fire in 2019.
The western facade is the distinguishing feature of the cathedral. It comprises the Gallery of Kings, a horizontal row of stone sculptures; a rose window glorifying the Virgin, who also appears in statue form below; the Gallery of Chimeras; two unfinished square towers; and three portals, those of the Virgin, the Last Judgment, and St. Anne, with richly carved sculptures around the ornate doorways. The circular rose window in the west front and two more in the north and south transept crossings, created between 1250 and 1270, are masterpieces of Gothic engineering. The stained glass is supported by delicate radiating webs of carved stone tracery. (Jeremy Hunt)
Hôtel de Soubise
The Hôtel de Soubise is a city mansion built for the prince and princess de Soubise. In 1700 François de Rohan bought the Hôtel de Clisson, and in 1704 the architect Pierre-Alexis Delamair (1675–1745) was hired to renovate and remodel the building. Delamair designed the huge courtyard on the Rue des Francs-Bourgeois. On the far side of the courtyard is a facade with twin colonnades topped by a series of statues by Robert Le Lorrain representing the four seasons.
In 1708 Delamair was replaced by Germain Boffrand (1667–1754), who carried out all the interior decoration for the apartments for the prince’s son, Hercule-Mériadec de Rohan-Soubise, on the ground floor and for the princess on the piano nobile (principal floor), both of which featured oval salons looking into the garden.
The interiors are considered among the finest Rococo decorative interiors in France. In the prince’s salon, the wood paneling is painted a pale green and surmounted by plaster reliefs. The princess’s salon is painted white with delicate gilded moldings and features arched niches containing mirrors, windows, and panels. Above the panels are shallow arches containing cherubs and eight paintings by Charles Natoire depicting the history of Psyche. Plaster rocailles (shellwork) and a decorative band of medallions and shields complete the sweetly disordered effect. At the time of the French Revolution, the building was given to the National Archives. A Napoleonic decree of 1808 granted the residence to the state. (Jeremy Hunt)
Panthéon
The Panthéon is the quintessential Neoclassical monument in Paris and an outstanding example of Enlightenment architecture. Commissioned as the church of St. Geneviève by King Louis XV, the project has become known as a secular building and a prestigious tomb dedicated to great French political and artistic figures including Mirabeau, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, Zola, Curie, and Malraux, who have been honored and interred in the vaults following the ceremony of Panthéonization.
Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713–80) was a self-taught architect and tutor to the marquis de Marigny, general director of the king’s buildings, who had been influenced by the Pantheon in Rome. Soufflot claimed that his principal aim was to unite “the structural lightness of Gothic churches with the purity and magnificence of Greek architecture.” His Panthéon was revolutionary: built on the Greek cross plan of a central dome and four equal transepts, his innovation in construction was to use rational scientific and mathematical principles to determine structural formulas for the engineering of the building. This eliminated many of the supporting piers and walls with the result that the vaulting and interiors are slender and elegant. The Neoclassical interior contrasts with the solidity and austere geometry of the exterior. The initial scheme was considered too lacking in gravity and was replaced with a more funereal scheme, which involved blocking 40 windows and destroying the original sculptural decorations. The Panthéon was the location for Léon Foucault’s pendulum experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth in 1851. (Jeremy Hunt)
Arc de Triomphe
Arc de TriompheNighttime view of the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.
The Arc de Triomphe is one of the world’s largest triumphal arches. Inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome, it was commissioned by Napoleon I in 1806 after his victory at Austerlitz, to commemorate all the victories of the French army; it has since engendered a worldwide military taste for triumphal and nationalistic monuments.
The astylar design consists of a simple arch with a vaulted passageway topped by an attic. The monument’s iconography includes four main allegorical sculptural reliefs on the four pillars of the Arc. The Triumph of Napoleon, 1810, by Jean-Pierre Cortot, shows an imperial Napoleon, wearing a laurel wreath and toga, accepting the surrender of a city while Fame blows a trumpet. There are two reliefs by Antoine Etex: Resistance, depicting an equestrian figure and a naked soldier defending his family, protected by the spirit of the future, and Peace, in which a warrior protected by Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, is sheathing his sword surrounded by scenes of agricultural laborers. The Departure of the Volunteers of ’92, commonly called La Marseillaise, by François Rude, presents naked and patriotic figures, led by Bellona, goddess of war, against the enemies of France. In the vault of the Arc de Triomphe are engraved the names of 128 battles of the Republican and Napoleonic regimes. The attic is decorated with 30 shields, each inscribed with a military victory, and the inner walls list the names of 558 French generals, with those who died in battle underlined.
The arch has subsequently become a symbol of national unity and reconciliation as the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. He was interred here on Armistice Day, 1920; today there is an eternal flame commemorating the dead of two world wars. (Jeremy Hunt)
Church of St. Mary Magdalene
In 1806 Napoleon commissioned Pierre-Alexandre Vignon, inspector–general of buildings of the Republic, to build a Temple to the Glory of the Great Army and provide a monumental view to the north of Place de la Concorde. Known as ”The Madeleine,” this church was designed as a Neoclassical temple surrounded by a Corinthian colonnade, reflecting the predominant taste for Classical art and architecture. The proposal of the Arc de Triomphe, however, reduced the original commemorative intention for the temple, and, after the fall of Napoleon, King Louis XVIII ordered that the church be consecrated to St. Mary Magdalene in Paris in 1842.
The Madeleine has no steps at the sides but a grand entrance of 28 steps at each end. The church’s exterior is surrounded by 52 Corinthian columns, 66 feet (20 meters) high. The pediment sculpture of Mary Magdalene at the Last Judgment is by Philippe-Henri Lemaire; bronze relief designs in the church doors represent the Ten Commandments.
The 19th-century interior is lavishly gilded. Above the altar is a statue of the ascension of St. Mary Magdalene by Charles Marochetti and a fresco by Jules-Claude Ziegler, The History of Christianity, with Napoleon as the central figure surrounded by such luminaries as Michelangelo, Constantine, and Joan of Arc. (Jeremy Hunt)
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