While the Palace of Versailles stands today as an iconic garden and museum representing the opulence of a specific moment in history, the National Assembly serves as the cradle of French democracy in the modern age, and visiting both monuments enabled me to feel and recognize their differences through the context of the French Revolution. … Continue reading The National Assembly in Context to Revolution
I have always learned of the French Revolution as a story of the reclamation of popular sovereignty over Monarchy. Rule of the people over everything else. However, through our readings and lectures, I have come to understand that this was not necessarily the case. The National Assembly originally reacted negatively to the storming of the … Continue reading Reflecting Upon the Legitimacy of Non-Violence
As I stared down the narrow teal Colonne de Juillet, it was difficult to imagine the size and scope of the original Bastille that once had stood there. Other buildings, such as the elegant Palace of Versailles that we had visited the day before, had been elaborately maintained following the French Revolution, but the Bastille … Continue reading Bastille: Spaces, Emotion, and Recognition
Revolutionary Cities 