At the Musée Carnaval, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. I knew the museum would feature information about the city of Paris. That was it. I had little to no knowledge of Parisian history before coming to Paris. I knew about Napolean and the Guillotine, and “Let Them Eat Cake!” Walking up to the museum, we walked under a brick underpass and were immediately greeted by a large statue of King Louis XIV. I could tell this was Louis XIV purely from his distinctly long, curled hair. Once I entered, I first noticed a room full of street signs from various places in Paris. This area invokes a historical perspective of what it would look like as a Parisian in the past. The beauty and artistic elements of these signs make me believe that these were particularly made to draw in customers, similar to the bright lights from billboards in the United States today. Walking up the stairs, various French historical artifacts lined the walls. The museum was set up to walk through the history of Paris and its uprisings, starting from the French Revolution in 1789 and going until current Parisian artwork and revolutionary theory.
A particular aspect of the museum that interested me was King Louis XVI and his time as King of France. When going through the French Revolution exhibits, I kept thinking: “Where did this guy go wrong?” The main reasons I came up with to answer this question were fairly simple: Parisian inequality in their unalienable rights and King Louis’ stubbornness. Paris had many problems during his rule. People were starving and poverty-stricken from the lack of resources, there was massive economic inequality within the populace, and the low-class people of Paris were not being governed by any representatives who spoke in the legislature for them. The National Assembly was fed up. They created a new constitution, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and took down the monarchy, arresting King Louis XVI and eventually executing him with the guillotine. Although the French people were very passionate about revolution, King Louis did not help his case by any means. He fled Paris when he was dissatisfied with the course of the revolution and his unwillingness to cede any power to the revolutionaries. His stubbornness and inability to give up any of his monarchical powers were a large reason why he ended up being executed.
Overall, the museum itself was fascinating. I enjoyed reading about Parisian history, looking at the paintings and artifacts, as well as conversing with my classmates about the exhibit. This experience helped me understand more about the French Revolution, answering many of my wandering questions from the “One Nation, One King.” Visiting the Musée Carnaval was an amazing experience and widely expanded my knowledge of Parisian history and its revolutionary acts over time.
Revolutionary Cities 