page_title: Paris in the 17th century
section_title: Processions, carrousels and fireworks
hierarchical_section_title: Paris in the 17th century / Daily life / Processions, carrousels and fireworks
caption_attribution_description: Grafik aus dem Klebeband Nr. 15 der Fürstlich Waldeckschen Hofbibliothek Arolsen Motiv: "Dessin des pompes et magnificences du Carousel faict en la place royalle à Paris le V. VI. VII. d'Aprvil 1612" Festlichkeiten zur Einweihung der Place Royale (heute Place des Vosges), 5.–7. April 1612, anlässlich der Doppelhochzeit von König Ludwig XIII. mit Anna von Österreich (1601–1666) und der Schwester des Königs, Elisabeth, mit dem künftigen König Philipp IV. von Spanien Beschreibung: File:Arolsen Klebeband 15 363.jpg
context_page_description: Paris in the 17th century was the largest city in Europe, with a population of half a million, matched in size only by London. It was ruled in turn by three monarchs; Henry IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV, and saw the building of some of the city's most famous parks and monuments, including the Pont Neuf, the Palais Royal, the newly joined Louvre and Tuileries Palace, the Place des Vosges, and the Luxembourg Garden. It was also a flourishing center of French science and the arts; it saw the founding of the Paris Observatory, the French Academy of Sciences and the first botanical garden in Paris, which also became the first park in Paris open to the public. The first permanent theater opened, the Comédie-Française was founded, and the first French opera and French ballets had their premieres. Paris became the home of the new Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and of some of France's most famous writers, including Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, La Fontaine and Moliere. Urban innovations for the city included the first street lighting, the first public transport, the first building code, and the first new aqueduct since Roman times.
context_section_description: The life of Parisians in the 17th century was usually hard and short, and perhaps for this reason the calendar was filled with holidays and celebrations.  Religious processions were not as numerous as they had been in the Middle Ages, but they were colorful and impressive.  The most important was in honor of the patron saint of the city, Saint Geneviève, from the church on the left bank containing her tomb to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.   The procession was led by the archbishop of Paris and the Abbé of the monastery of Sainte-Geneviève, in their full regalia and barefoot, preceded by one hundred and fifty monks and nuns.  Behind them came the relics of the saint, carried by twenty men, also barefoot and dressed in white, carrying a  jeweled chasse, followed by the members of the Parlement of Paris in their ceremonial scarlet robes, and the leaders of the leading guilds of craftsmen and artisans.  There were processions for many different saints and holidays, which sometimes led to confrontations between the monks of different orders. According to Madame de Sevigné, in 1635 a procession of Benedictine monks refused to give way to a procession of Rogations, leading to a fight  in the street in which two monks were struck with crucifixes and knocked unconscious.
  A ceremony from pre-Christian times, the Fire of Saint-Jean, was avidly celebrated in Paris on June 23, to mark the summer solstice. It was an enormous bonfire or series of fires, with burning twenty meters high, in front of the Hôtel de Ville. From the 14th century onwards, the fire was traditionally lit by the King himself.  After the lighting, the crowd was offered wine and bread by the municipal government.  While Henry IV and Louis XIII  regularly took part, Louis XIV, discontented with the Parisians,  only lit the fire once, and it was never lit by Louis XV or Louis XVI. 
  For the nobility, the most important event at the beginning of the century was the carrousel,  a series of exercises and games on horseback.  These events were designed to replace the tournament, which had been banned after 1559 when King Henry II was killed in a jousting accident. In the new, less dangerous version, riders usually had to pass their lance through the interior of a ring, or strike mannequins with the heads of Medusa, Moors and Turks.   The first carrousel in Paris was held in 1605 in the grand hall of the Hôtel Petit-Bourbon, an annex of the Louvre used for ceremonies.  An elaborate  carrousel took place 5–7 April 1612 at the Place Royale (now the Place des Vosges) to celebrate its completion.  An even grander carrousel was held on June 5–6, 1662 to celebrate the birth of the Dauphin, the son of Louis XIV.  It was held on the square separating the Louvre from the Tuileries Palace, which afterwards became known as the Place du Carrousel.
  The ceremonial entry of the King into Paris also became an occasion for festivities.  The return of Louis XIV and Queen Marie-Thérèse to Paris after his coronation in 1660 was celebrated by a grand event on a fairground at the gates of the city, where large thrones were constructed for the new monarchs. After the ceremony the site became known as the Place du Trône, or place of the Throne, until it became the Place de la Nation in 1880.
  Another traditional Parisian form of celebration, the grand fireworks display, was born in the 17th century.  Fireworks were first mentioned in Paris in 1581, and Henry IV had put on a small display at the Hôtel de Ville in 1598 after lighting the Fire of Saint Jean, but the first large show was given on April 12, 1612 following the Carrousel to mark the opening of the place Royale and the proposed marriage of Louis XIII with Anne of Austria.  New innovations were introduced in 1615;  allegorical figures of Jupiter on an eagle and Hercules, representing the King,  were created with fireworks mounted on scaffolds next to the Seine and on a balcony of the Louvre.  In 1618, the show was even more spectacular;  rockets were launched into the sky which, according to one witness, the Abbot of Marolles, "burst into s
caption: The Carrousel in 1612 to celebrate the completion of  Place Royale, now Place des Vosges, (1612).  Carnavalet museum
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