Not everyone wants a facelift – especially La Comedie Italienne theatre

Not everyone wants a facelift – especially La Comedie Italienne theatre.

The “Comédie Italienne” (Italian Comedy) theatre in Rue de la Gaîté, Paris, in the 14th arrondissement is about to have an unwanted facelift – or, in this case, a façade-lift.

The Comédie Italienne is the only Italian theatre in France. It has a distinctive, eye-catching, cyan-blue baroque façade. It has previously been painted red, and also in the Harlequin colours of the famous character, but now it’s bright blue. The brilliant blue façade has a busy collection of paintings on it – from angels and antique Italian columns to sparkling gold borders – as well as a “Romeo and Juliet” balcony. 

Italian director Attilio Maggiulli, a former student of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan and assistant at the Comédie Française, founded the theatre with his wife Hélène Lestrade in 1974. Their aim, that they have maintained throughout the years, is to only show plays by classical and contemporary Italian authors, although all works are performed in the French language.

The Comédie Italienne started its life in 1974 around the corner at 15 Rue du Maine, before relocating to its current site at 17 Rue de la Gaîté in 1980 – and this is why “since 1974” is displayed on the façade. It moved to Rue de la Gaîté because it is well-known as the “street of theatres” in Paris. 

Building number 17 Rue de la Gaîté was a former police station and number 19 was a sex shop. In 1980, Attilio Maggiulli renovated the police station as a 100-seat theatre, turning it into the Comédie Italienne. He painted the façade in 1993 and extended the theatre by including building number 19 after buying out the lease in 1991. 

Another sign on the façade says “cadtigat ridendo mores” which is Italian for “he corrects morality by ridicule.” Ridicule, in this case, is humour, comedy, farce, and satire. 

But farce has come to the façade. The building manager, Nexity, aims to renovate the façade – to give it a mighty facelift. The renovation was expected to begin in November 2021, but has not yet started due to petitions to stop the facelift.

Attilio Maggiulli never imagined that anyone would want to change the façade.

“When I created this decoration in 1993, the inhabitants of the building were delighted because I erased the trace of the sex shop.” 

Not only were the tenants on the upper floors delighted with the façade, so too was the City of Paris. In 1995, the City of Paris awarded the façade a diploma and prize in the “Competition for the most beautiful storefronts of shops and illuminated signs of Paris” in the “other category” section.   

Attilio Maggiulli says the building co-owners are “indifferent to originality.” Nexity and the building’s owners say that the unauthorised façade will be painted “in harmony with the rest of the floors” which are a “milky tone” and the first-floor windows will be re-opened.

On 15 November 2021, Attilio Maggiulli published a petition calling for support to stop the facelift. Five days after it went online, it had nearly 19,000 signatures. To prevent the construction of the scaffolding, he commissioned a lawyer.

“She has filed an official request with the Ministry of Culture to protect us as a cultural place.”

The ABF (Architectes des bâtiments de France), an organization that ensures the protection, maintenance, and restoration of heritage buildings, is considering the case.

Hotel de Sens, Paris – not as it seems

Hotel de Sens, Paris – not as it seems.

The Hotel de Sens in the 4th arrondissement of Marais in Paris, France, is not as it seems. It is not a hotel. 

The Hotel de Sens is a medieval mansion that now holds the Forney Art Library.

It was built as a hotel in 1345 for the archbishops of Sens. It was later called the Hotel Saint-Pol, the royal residence of Charles V, King of France. Subsequently, the kings of France lived in the newly-built Louvre Palace, and the Hotel Saint-Pol was destroyed. 

Tristian de Salazar built the current hotel on the same site between 1475-1519 for the archbishops of Sens again. 

At 1 rue du Figuier – The Fig Tree Road – it is said that one of the owners of the building, Margaret of Valois cut a fig tree in 1605 or 1606 in front of her home, giving the street its name.

In 1797, it was sold and privately owned as a home, shop, workshop, and factory over the years. It became a heritage site in 1862, when the city of Paris bought it. It was restored in 1930 and the Forney Art Library was established in the building in 1961. It continues to keep the name, Hotel de Sens. 

La Rotonde renovations, June 2020 – still a sign of the times

La Rotonde renovations, June 2020 – still a sign of the times.

There is no direct mention of James Joyce visiting La Rotonde brasserie on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, nor is it mentioned in any of his books. It is on the edge of the 6th arrondissement, where the 14th arrondissement begins. Facing La Rotonde is La Coupole, where James Joyce definitely visited, rather frequently. Lucia certainly danced there. And so, it is likely that James Joyce, along with other creatives and artists dined and drank at La Rotonde.

La Rotonde is distinctive with it red canopy, large gold sign, and street tables. People dining there, on the corner of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Boulevard Raspail, gain more than a glimpse of the traffic because it is a busy intersection with the Metro Vavin providing a steady flow of pedestrians too. 

Victor Libion founded La Rotonde on Montparnasse in 1911, so it pre-dates La Coupole of 1927, but not Le Dome restaurant, on the corner, which opened in 1898. All three restaurants fed many notable artists during the interwar period – between the first and second world wars – and continue to do so.  

La Rotonde closed for an extended period during the 2020-2021 pandemic, but made use of the government enforced closure by renovating it. Interior and exterior renovations took place in June 2020, resulting in the red awning looking redder and the gold sign looking golder – well, I mean more more golden. 

The golden sign was always huge and always easy to read – easier than the cursive La Coupole, Le Dome, and Le Select signs. Large, looming, letters that led the Art Deco designs of the Paris 1920s and 1930s. Art Deco fonts were geometric, and usually only available in capital letters, but they have endured the test of time.

Paris Left Breathless – The Beatles and Club Castel in 1965

Paris Left Breathless – The Beatles and Club Castel in 1965.

The famous Club Castel on rue Princesse (Princess Street) in Paris continues its nightclub tradition – but nowadays there is more emphasis on the bar and restaurant.

Jean Castel established Castel in 1961 as a private nightclub for the rich and famous. It was in a private hotel in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which became known as the ‘embassy of Parisian nightlife.’ It was most famous in the 1960s and 1970s. This private club has been frequented by people such as Pierre Bergé, Serge Gainsbourg, Sacha Distel, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Jean Dujardin, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger, and Salvador Dali.  

The Beatles were also at the Castel. Their final European tour opened with two concerts at the Palais des Sports in Paris on 20 June 1965. Also on the bill were The Yardbirds. The Beatles left London Airport and arrived at the Paris-Orly Airport at 9.55am, and were taken to the George V Hotel. Their first concert was at 3pm and their second concert was at 9pm on the same day, playing to about 6,000 fans. 

They played 12 songs: Twist and Shout; She’s a Woman; I’m a Loser; Can’t Buy Me Love; Baby’s in Black; I Wanna be your Man; A Hard Day’s Night; Everybody’s Trying to be my Baby; Rock and Roll Music; I Feel Fine; Ticket to Ride; and Long Tall Sally.

One Parisian newspaper announced “Paris Left Breathless” after the two concerts.

After the concert, George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and Paul McCartney went to the Castel until the early hours of the next day. The Beatles had a rest day before travelling to Lyon for their next engagement, so the Fab Four Beatles returned to the Castel nightclub. Their tour ended on 3 July 1965 in Barcelona, Spain, after 15 concerts over nine dates.

Castel sold the nightclub in 1997. It re-opened in 2010. It still exists as a club, bar and restaurant, after a collective of 16 personalities renovated and redesigned the club. The renovations were completed by 2014. The “Wall of Fame” is still there, but now, it also has a library and a winter garden.

Liberty Leading the People – Delacroix’s famous painting

Liberty Leading the People – Delacroix’s famous painting.

“Liberty Leading the People” is certainly Eugène Delacroix’s most well-known painting, and perhaps of any French artist. It is housed in The Louvre in Paris. Painted in 1830, it depicts the French people, particularly Parisians, marching under the tricolour French flag, representing liberty, equality, and fraternity. It’s my favourite French painting. I like it for the looming female figure, symbolic of liberty, lit against the background of smoke and battle and revolution. 

It depicts a true event, of course. From 27-29 July 1830, Parisians demonstrated against the new laws affecting freedom of the press, which marked the end of the Bourbons on the throne of France. Subsequently, Louis-Philippe, the Duke of Orléans, became king.

My other favourite Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) artworks include, “Woman with a Parrot” (1827) at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, and the pieces held at The Louvre: “A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother (1839), “The Duke of Morny’s Apartment (1831-1833), and “The Women of Algiers” (1834).

The youngest of four children, Delacroix’s father died when Eugène was six years old, and his mother died ten years later in 1814, when he was sixteen. From 1815, at the age of seventeen, his artist uncle, Henri-Francois Riesener, supported him through art studies.

At the 1855 World Exposition in Paris, Eugène Delacroix was recognized as one of the greatest French painters of his time.

For admirers of Eugène Delacroix, his home and museum, the Musée National Eugène-Delacroix, is a place to visit. He moved into the home at 6 Rue de Furstemberg in the 6tharrondissement in 1857. It was transformed into a museum in 1932, became the national museum in 1971, and was listed as a Historical Monument in 1991. 

He moved into the apartment to be closer to the work he was painting at the time – of the Saint-Sulpice church that was a short walk away. It also had a courtyard garden that he loved.

The Musée National Eugène-Delacroix shows how he lived and worked. It holds his artworks, except those now housed in art galleries. Periodically, there are special exhibitions or archived works, works around special themes, and other interesting displays.

There is a new exhibition at the Musée National Eugène-Delacroix, from 11 September 2021 to 28 February 2022, presenting his collection of artworks from the later period of his life – the last 30 years.

The exhibition, “The Secrets behind Eugène-Delacroix’s Monumental Decoration” includes the mural paintings of the Saint-Sulpice church as well as the National Assembly and the Senate, close to his apartment. There are also the paintings for the Salon de la Paix of the Paris Hôtel de Ville, as well as his lesser-known works. 

In the Jardin du Luxembourg, a water fountain pays tribute to Eugène-Delacroix. Sculptor Jules Dalou designed the bust in the 1800s, and it was installed in the garden in 1890. The bronze bust, with Delacroix wearing a coat and scarf, sits on top of a pedestal. There are six water jets below, and three bronze statues known as the allegories: Time, Glory, and Genius of Arts. Time is lifting Glory so that she can place flowers next to Delacroix, and Genius of Arts is applauding. The inscription on the fountain reads: A Eugène Delacroix, 1798-1863, Ses Admirateurs (His Admirers).