The Ministry of Finance, rue de Rivoli, at the end of the Paris Commune. Albumen print of a photograph taken by Bruno Braquehais, in 1871. Irène Andréani, Paul Eluard Museum of Art and History, Saint-Denis
In May 1871, Bloody Week left the capital bloodless and partly devastated. However, the field of ruins is proving to be the breeding ground for urban and tourist renewal. An exhibition to discover until March 6 at the Paul Eluard museum in Saint-Denis.
An episode of revolt, freedom and violence. In May 1871, the bloody repression of the Paris Commune ended with summary executions, fires, heaps of corpses. The dust of the fighting falls on ravaged monuments and devastated streets. In the daze of this revolutionary epilogue, a movement of flight and exile pushes some of the survivors to find refuge abroad. But at the same time, a second impetus presses, on the contrary, another multitude within the precincts of the capital. They are tourists, lured by the spectacle of death and ruins.
This macabre tourism is one of the most curious phenomena highlighted by the exhibition Insurgents ! A look at those of the Paris Commune of 1871, presented until March 6 by the Paul Eluard museum. The rooms of the former Carmel of Saint-Denis have housed collections relating to the Commune since 1938. This winter, they are exhibiting works and documents dedicated to storytelling and memory…
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