Philippe Arnoux

Paris exudes an indefinable, bewitching fragrance that touches and moves us to the very depths of our being. Many books analyse Parisian monuments in terms of their aesthetics, their architecture or their symbolism. But these monuments are the product of a long history, which has forged them and with which they are imbued. This short essay takes an original approach. It leaves it to each of these witnesses to our past, sometimes very distant, sometimes closer, or even recent, to tell us, as simply as possible, how and why it came into being, and why, at a given time, it was natural for it to come into being, in a given form or under a given influence.
So let's grasp this thread of history, and take a few moments to gain a deeper understanding of our ancient city.