The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-25
BURNING PARIS.

=
piled to the Foreign Embassies-Descrip-
tiOn and History OF the Destroyed Build
ings.
Our cable kilograms this morning state that the
infamous insurgents OF Paris still ensaged in he
task Of reducing the nobest public structures of the
city to ashes, as they retire before the triumphant
troops of the Assembly.
The Palace of the Luxembourg
has been partially destroyed by an explosion. The
Luxembourg situated south of the Louvre, on the
other side Of the river Seine. 1t built by Marie
de Medicis and it was bequeathed by her to her
second son, the Duke Of Orleans, from whom it was
called the Palas dOrleans. It subsequently passed
into the hands of number of lordly owners, and at
the breaking out of the revolution OF 1871
pied by the brother Of the king, who afterwards
became Louis XVIII. The Directory held its sttings
there, and 1t was afterwards occupied by the Consul
and the Senate. In is4s 1t was tenanted by Louis
Blanc, who held his socialist meetings in it. The
palace is in the form OF regular square. In the
centre OF the facade OF the Rue de Tournon is a
pavilion, capped by cupola and emeellished with
statues. The front towards the gardens presents
three principal buildings connected by two galleries.
one Of which was used as museum for the exhibit
tion of the works Of living artists.
The Senate Of the late empire held its sessions in
the Sale du Senat semicrcular hall of ninety feet
in diameter, the ceilings OF which are decorated
with allegorical pictures Of Patriotism, Wisdom,
| Justice, and Law. The Sale du Trone is magnif-
| cent saloon, covered with sculptures and gliding.
The most important pictures in this hall are 'Nspo
leon at the Invades Napoleon inspecting the
Forty Flags taken at Austerlitz," 1.-THE Return Of
| the Pope to Rome in 1s49," Napoleon III visiting
! the new Louvre" and "The Distribution OF the
Eagles in the Champ de Mars in 1882" These paint
| ings' are by Hesse. The Cabinet de lEmpereur,
which adjoined the Sale du Trone contains several
good paintings, the principal of which portraits
| OF the ex-Emperor and Empress, "Napoleon l sign.
ing the Peace OF Campo Formo," and Napoleon
III returning from st. Cloud"
The library Of the palace, which is very complete,
contains about 40 900 volumes. The bedchamber of
| Marie de Medicis, a splendidly-furnished apart
ment contains some valuable works by Rubens,
| Poussin and Philippe de Champagne, The chapel
OF the palace is small but richly decorated, and
| tains some fine paintings, conspicuous among which
| is an altar piece by an American artist Mr.. Simon
White, the subject being the "Adoration OF the
| Shepherds" The Museum Gallery of Modern
| Art was founded by Marie de Medcis, and for
| merly contained twenty-five pictures by Rubens,
| which have been removed to the Louvre. These
| were allegorical representations Of the history
| Of that queen. This gallery now contains
| number of the best works of living French
| artists which were purchased by the Govern.
| ment, after each annual exhibition, under the
selection of a Jury of the members of the Institute
The ceiling Of the grand gallery is ornamented with
| thirteen paintings, the centre one, entitled "Tbe
| Dawn OF Day" being the work OF Antoine Francois
| Calet. The others were executed by Jordaens, the
|
zodiac. This gallery contains many great paintings
by Horace Vernet, lie Suis, Granet, Devera, Eugene
Delacroix, G. L. Muller, Rosa Bonheur, Gudin,
Ingres, Gerome and other brilliant representatives
| OF the French school OF art.
This description of the Luxembourg palace and
its art treasures Of course represents 1t was
previous to the breaking out Of the recent war and
the downfall of the Empire. During the siege of
the city by the Prussians it reported that many
of the paintings had been removed to be of the
reach of the Prussian shells. But, even If the
movable art treasures have been saved the destruc-
ton Of the building, with its fine wall paintings and
other immovable decorations will prove almost
irreparable
| The Palais Royal
set on fire by the retiring insurgents and the
latest advices only the four walls were standing.
This palace was one OF the most frequented of all
the public edi1ces OF Paris 1t erected by Cardi-
nal Richelieu between the years 1920 and 1885, and
was then called the Palais Cardinal. Richelieu
| presented 1t to Louis XIII, who when he occu-
pied it changed its name to PaLatS Royal On
the death OF Louis XIII Anne OF Austris,
regent for the young king removed to
it. In 1892, Louis XIV gave it to his nephew, the
Duke OF Orleans, as part OF his marriage portion,
on the occasion OF his marriage with Mad1le de
Blos. 1t had theatre capable Of holding 5000
spectators, where the Cardinal took great pride in
having his own productions performed Louis XIV
was brought up in this palace, under the eye OF
Cardinal Mazarin, and so much was his education
neglected that he hardly knew how to read and
write at advanced age. In 1871 the debts OF its
owner, the Duke OF Orleans, were so enormous that
the buildings were turned into shops to augment
his revenue. After the death of the Duke OF Or.
leans, in 179s the palace connscated to the ma
ton, and was then called the Palais du Tribunal
Under the empire 1t resumed its orsgnal name
and the Prince Lucien resided there until 1881 In
1s4s it was completely devastated by mob, but in
1853 it underwent complete repair preparatory to
being occupied by Prince Napoleon and the Princess
Clotde. The garden OF the palace is 700 feet long
by 800 wide, with beautiful fountain In the centre
Before the siege this garden was planted with rows
of lime trees and contained many very fine statues
1t the resort at all hours OF politicians OF all
sorts, who eongregated there to compare notes and
to read the public journals There was an arcade
extending around the garden which contained some
OF the most elegant shops in Paris most OF them
being occupied by jewellers and watchmakers In
the evening it was the custom to brilliantly illum
nate the gardens and shops, which were the resort
of idlers and pleasure-seekers.
The Hotel de VILE,
| about the destruction OF which there were some
doubts yesterday, is now represented blazing with
petroleum, and will share the fate Of the other great
| public edidces.
The Hotel de VilLe is situated on the Place de
lHotel de Vile, formerly the Place de Greve 1t was
erected for the accommodation of the municipality
of Paris at a cost OF over sSO0OOOO. 1t was CON-
menced In 1888, and was completed In 1905. The
Hotel de vale was magnificent building in the Re-
najssance style OF architecture 1t was two stories
in height and enclosed a large court It had its
west front towards the Place de Greve, and was
nanked upon its northern and southern extremities
by handsome pavilions and square towers.
There were three courts two lateral ones OF Co.
rinthian ana Composite architecture, and the GEN.
tral one, which comprised the original edihce. The