Today, Nicolas Flamel may be best known as the supposedly immortal philosopher who plays a key role in the Harry Potter franchise. In real life, his house at 51 rue de Montmorency – la maison de Nicolas Flamel – has gained an immortality of its own as the oldest still-standing house in Paris.
The façade of the building is made up of several doors and windows interspersed with beautifully carved columns. In 1407, when the house was first constructed, one would have been able to see a carving of Nicolas Flamel himself standing next to Jesus Christ. Today, this image has faded away. One can still see ornate images of saints and angels as well as the initials “N.F.”
As for why Nicolas Flamel built the house, the large Middle French inscription running the length of the building’s face provides an answer: We working men and women who live on the porch of this house constructed in the year of our lord 1407 are required by law to say each day one Our Father and one Hail Mary in prayer to our God whose grace pardons our trespasses. Deeply religious and with a bevy of wealth, Nicolas Flamel and his wife Pernelle constructed homes free for use by the city’s poor, with the only requirement being that these people pray to God each day.
The house has lived many lives in the centuries after. At the start of the 20th century, a restoration project was given blessing to repair the building and bring the surviving carvings on the outside walls back to life. The home was named a historical site in 1911. During World War 2, it briefly served as a brothel. In the 80s, it spent time as a disco. Today, one can visit the house of Nicolas Flamel for a delicious meal from the restaurant which operates out of its ground floor.
Beginning in the 17th century, rumors caused by faked manuscripts about Nicolas Flamel would give him a reputation as an alchemist who created the immortality-giving Elixir of Life and was able to create the philosopher’s stone which turns lead to gold. This is certainly the impression the great novelist Victor Hugo had of Flamel, as Hugo became convinced Flamel had visited him in a séance and described what life on Mercury looked like – he also incorporated the alchemist as a worldly detail in his monumental Notre Dame de Paris. This Flamel is unknowable and greedy, always lusting for more gold and more life, yet in the house of Nicolas Flamel, one sees a man of deep selflessness who found a better sort of immortality by reaching out and helping the poor of his city.
References
« La plus vieille maison de Paris » Paris ZigZag : n. pag. Web. 2 Mars 2020. https://www.pariszigzag.fr/secret/histoire–insolite–paris/la–plus–vieille–maison–de–paris
« Histoire de la plus vieille maison de Paris. » Vivre Paris 21 Février 2019 : n. pag. Web. 2 Mars 2020. https://vivreparis.fr/histoire-de-la-plus-vieille-maison-de-paris/
“Victor Huge and Nicolas Flamel.” Victor Hugo Central. n. pag. Web. 11 March 2020. http://www.gavroche.org/vhugo/flamel.shtml
Image Attribution
Guilhem Vellut from Paris, France / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0). 11 March 2020. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Auberge_Nicolas_Flamel,_Paris_11_February_2017.jpg
Taking its name from the powerful Medici family of Florence, Italy, la fontaine Médicis is a hidden gem nestled in the popular Luxembourg gardens in Paris. Marie de Medici (1575 – 1642), who was the widow of King Henri IV of France, found herself weary of living in the Louvre after her husband’s death. She decided to have her own palace, Palais des Médicis, constructed (~1623 – 30) on the left bank of the Seine. Feeling nostalgic for the style of the Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens in her hometown of Florence, she commissioned both her palace and its surrounding gardens to be modeled on this same Italian Renaissance style.
However, much of the original design has been changed or replaced in a number of reconstructions over the years. These include the change in form from grotto to fountain along with other modifications in 1799 by the celebrated Jean Chalgrin (1739 – 1811), architect of the Arc de Triomphe. The most notable changes took place later, between 1864 – 66, when the fountain was moved about 30 meters to its current location in the Luxembourg gardens due to the construction of la rue Médicis. There, the fountain was extensively rebuilt into the version we see today. This final construction was based on the designs of Alphonse de Gisors (1796 – 1861), with sculptures by Auguste Ottin (1811 – 90), and contains a number of decorative elements.
include a central niche featuring Ottin’s statue of Acis holding Galatea, the two lying together under a rock on top of which is perched Polyphemus, ready to launch the stone fated to kill his rival*. The side niches are decorated with a statue of a faun (probably Pan) and a huntress (probably Diana). Because the fountain no longer had a “back” once it was moved to its current location, a large bas-relief by Achille Valois (1785 – 1862), featuring Leda with Jupiter transformed into a swan**, was moved from another salvaged fountain (originally at the intersection of the rue du Regard and the rue de Vaugirard) and placed on the new back wall for the Medici fountain.
You’re strolling on a Sunday afternoon through the 14th arrondissement. As you pass by Pharmacie Didot-Pernety, you make a turn and enter another world. This stretch of plant-adorned, pastel-painted, bicycle-embellished cobblestone is so far from the grime-covered, metro-lined, Seine-smelling city you left behind. You have discovered the paysan within Paris. Welcome to the Rue des Thermopyles.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, a new art movement took the world by storm and situated itself within the prominent visual identity and culture of Europe and the United States. Although the movement originated in England, with artists like William Morris and Walter Crane, the most prominent and utilized title for the artistic era was the French phrase, l’Art Nouveau, literally translating to, “the new style.” Artists and craftsmen came together with the intentions of breaking away from the traditional and academic study of fine art in an attempt to redefine and redistribute art by imbuing everyday objects with beauty. Rather than referencing the classical and mythological subjects and styles of the past, artists looked to the forms found in nature as well as the various subjects and styles of Japanese woodblock prints. Works manifested as fine art with painting and sculpture, graphic art with drawings and prints, and in more uncommon mediums, such as jewelry, glasswork, and ceramics.
In spring 2020, my students and I embarked on an exploration of the City of Lights in our Unlocking Paris class. Each student investigated an aspect of Paris that might not be known to the typical tourist–artistic movements, architecture, and monuments. They then composed blog posts dedicated to their subject, went through peer editing, and finally revisions. Over the next month, I will feature their insightful, lively work on Creative Sanctuary. Our hope is to share beautiful Paris with our readers. I launch the series with my post on Paris’ Covered Passages. 
The joy of the creative process, minute by minute, hour after hour, day by day, is the sublime path to true happiness. –George Lois
Like many of you, I am beginning my sixth week of extreme social distancing. My work life, social life, and family life have all moved online. I am very happy to maintain my connections with students, friends and family. My advanced literature course has turned into a fabulous Zoom book club discussing Zola’s Le Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris). And raucous family happy hours (“cocktail hour” as Mom calls it) launch me into each weekend.
Language is evolving as we grasp for ways to express pandemic life. People are not only staying in, but hunkering down and practicing self-isolation. We’re actively engaged in social distancing so we can flatten the curve. Some are suggesting we crush the curve…
We often said that Grandma Mary Ellen was a “cookie grandma” rather than a “pie grandma.” She always sent us home from her house with a bag or two of cookies from the big freezer in the basement—chocolate chip, starburst, or cut-out cookies… We each had our favorites. One of the stars in her cookie repertoire was her ginger snap cookies. These crispy molasses cookies seem to please everyone—the ginger, cinnamon, and cloves are warming and serve to balance the molasses.
For the most part, I am maintaining the format and wording of this “vintage” recipe. I like how simply it reads and how easy it is to prepare. If you prefer a more “snappy” cookie, substitute vegetable shortening for the butter.