A full and exact century after it first hosted the Olympic Games, Paris is once again welcoming athletes the world over to rival each other in prowess. France’s capital has not missed a beat in showcasing its exciting history, as told in its dazzling art and architecture.
Thomas Jolly’s Opening Ceremonies played true to this vision. Highlights included a majestic Marianne singing the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, wrapped in the tricolor flag. Incarnating that allegorical figure of the République, the Guadeloupienne mezzo-soprano Axelle St. Cirel announced, for all to see and hear, through the strength and purity of her voice as well as the dignity of her poise, that France celebrates its multicultural populace.
Floats bore statues of female figures who brought France into its present. Among their effigies stood women of many colors and creeds, reaffirming France’s pride in its diversity (Paulette Nardale, Gisèle Halimi and Simone Weil). But these heroines of recent history joined a long line of those of from the past: The Paris Commune’s “Red Virgin” Louise Michel; the author of the Rights of Woman, Olympe de Gouges; as well as the medieval writer Christine de Pizan, first woman to have earned her living by her pen, all passed by, heads held high.
On another note, Dionysian revelry may have ruffled a few feathers but the god of wine’s presence hewed close to the spirit of the Games’ Greek origins. The painterly evocation might have walked straight out of a gilded Louvre frame, France’s artistic history and heritage remaining the real star of the show. Nor was Dionysios the only deity invited: there came spouting out the Seine the river’s horseback goddess Sequana, in from Lutetia, as Paris was called when France was merely Gaul. Yet striding a futuristic metallic mount, she seemed to say, “Voilà! Everything old is new again”.
Not to be outdone, Gojira, a hard-hitting French metal band, gave us a raucous rendition of “Ca ira,” a song revolutionary patriots sang to taunt the aristocrats. And the decapitated head of Marie-Antoinette even joined in: all this to the backdrop of the Conciergerie, medieval royal palace turned holding prison for those condemned to the guillotine, the doomed queen among them.
Finally, as if to say that Love conquers all, Céline Dion made Hymne à L’Amour, Edith Piaf’s iconic anthem, all her own. This and so much more passed by on the Seine, river upon which rests the city’s symbol: a boat declaring Fluctuat nec mergitur: “I float, I do not sink.”
Meanwhile the Olympic flame passed from hand to hand. It had been circling Paris and its environs for days and keeps going. From one grasp, it met another, in front of the St Denis Basilica where the kings of France were buried; a nearly-restored Notre Dame; Montmartre’s Sacré Coeur; in the Bastille neighborhood where the famous prison stood before it was toppled by the people’s will at the start of the Revolution. Dancers lead it through the Louvre past a smile from the Mona Lisa and rendered homage to Liberty leading the People.
Perhaps the most moving moment was when centenarian Olympian, Charles Coste – born precisely in the year of the last Paris Olympics, 1924-- handed the torch to today’s luminaries of the French sports scene, Teddy Riner and Marie-José Perec. In turn, they lit an Olympic cauldron that doubled as the basket of a hot-air balloon, reminding us that France, with its aerostat flying experiments of the 1780s, has also always been at the forefront of science and experimentation.
All in all, the breadth and breathtaking depth of the Opening Ceremonies thrilled audiences around the world. The games individual venues were chosen with no less care and attention to Paris’s glorious past and present. Learn all about these incredible settings as we explore the historic sites of the Paris Olympics.
Château de Versailles
Going for the Gold takes on an entirely new meaning when it happens at the Palace of Versailles, in all its brilliant, gilded magnificence. The Sun King’s lavish outlay for the building was, in reality, a successful bid to cow his rebellious nobles through pure architectural splendor. It also stood as a symbol of the extravagance that meant his descendants’ downfall in the Revolution, between Marie Antoinette’s notorious spending and the luxury bubble she and all the court lived in. Now the royalty of the sports world will give their all to gain glory in equestrian sports, in a specially built arena in its celebrated formal gardens.
You can also let us whisk you away and take you by the hand, back through time, through those glorious, golden chambers and corridors. In our care you can skip the long lines. You can see and even explore corners of the gardens the mass of tourists miss.
For more information, click here:
https://memories-france.travel/tours/versailles-palace-half-day-tour-with-skip-the-line-gardens/
Pont Alexandre III
The Olympics may be about competition, but they are also about building bonds between nations. What better than a bridge to symbolize friendship among peoples? This bridge -- christened for the Tsar Alexander III -- in fact marked an alliance between France and Russia. Its architects finished it just in time for another event to foster relationships – the Universal Exposition, a sort of world’s fair in 1900 celebrating peace and progress. The structure’s elegance is a byword in a city built on elegance itself. It seems to leap over the river in a triumph over gravity, deserving a gold medal in that sport alone. The games’ organizers call it a kind of hyphen linking two other venues Grand Palais and Invalides. It will itself be the proud site of several Olympic games: bicycle, marathon triathlon and para triathlon and will even see swimmers competing underneath.
Les Invalides
The Sun King built more than Versailles. Though a museum now, Les Invalides was originally destined to house the wounded veterans of that monarch’s manifold wars, wars that eventually bankrupted the country and led to the Revolution, almost exactly a hundred years later. No one imagined in 1687 -- the year it saw the light of day -- that such things might ever come to pass. Yet this is where Napoleon finally returned to France – at his death only, to a sarcophagus as grandiose as anything he could have dreamt up himself. Hard by the Military school where the young soldiers, Napoleon among them, learned strategy and a stone’s throw from the Champ de Mars where they drilled, Les Invalides will appropriately host the old martial skill of archery.
From armored knights to armored tanks, let us tell you all about the strategies and campaigns, the high points and the low, defeat, resistance and victory that have marked the history of France for the ages.
For more information, click here:
https://memories-france.travel/tours/the-invalides-and-napoleons-tomb-semi-private-tour/
Grand Palais
On the other side of the Alexander III bridge stands another testimonial to the 1900 fair. Beauty and sheer engineering genius come to the fore in the Grand Palais, delicacy of glass and strength of steel seem to symbolize both the grace and power of Paris. Housing an art collection of world renown, it also stars an Art Nouveau staircase, all the rage at the time of its building. This will serve as a backdrop for the ancient martial arts -- European and Asian – of fencing and taekwondo. Be sure to watch the matches as it will be the only chance to glimpse it during its long period of closing for restoration before it reopens in 2025.
Place de la Concorde
New to the Olympic repertory, the urban sports of breaking, skateboarding (street and park), sport climbing, 3x3 basketball, and BMX freestyle will find a worthy setting in the Alexandre III bridge’s other nearby neighbor: The largest square in Paris. The Place de la Concorde also contains Paris’s oldest structure, an Egyptian obelisk dating from the 13th century BCE, although that has been in place only since 1836. The square itself was dredged up from swamps to become a centerpiece of eighteenth century Paris urbanism under Louis XV, who famously said of his spending “After me, the Flood.” His successor, Louis XVI, was guillotined here in January 1793 and the hapless Marie-Antoinette followed in his wake months later.
The Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars
After its 1889 construction, writer Maupassant famously quipped that he loved going to the Eiffel Tower, for it was the only place in Paris from where he could not see it! And yet in 1925 a generation or two later, a conman tried to sell it at top price– twice! In 2024, however, only those skilled enough to carry the day in their individual sport will ill be able to carry off a piece off Paris’s most iconic emblem, as some of the tower has been melted down into the medals’ composition. The Tower itself and its green will host judo, wrestling freestyle and Greco-Roman), volleyball and blind football.
Interested in a semi-private tour through to the tower’s very top? Come with us and we’ll sweep past those pesky lines. You’ll even get a look into Eiffel’s own rooms at the summit.
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If you liked these tidbits -- you’ll love our tours! Experience Paris’s historic art, culture and heritage with the benefit of a guided tour with Memories France. We provide an insider’s knowledge to make these places come to life, and a magic wand that the skips the lines cutting into your hard earned vacation time, making every moment count.
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