2-979-565 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Paris Improvements: the Palais de Justice, Sainte Chapelle, and Pont au Change, 1857. View of '...the Saint Chapelle and the Palais de Justice, both which have been restored with architectural fidelity...[The Palais is] one of the oldest palaces of the Kings of France [and] has been restored and rebuilt by M. Duc, architect......the roof and elegant steeple [of the Sainte Chapelle] are seen on the left...Beneath is the Pont au Change...built between 1639 and 1647...which here crosses the Seine...We have here, too, a glimpse of another phase of Parisian life. The large vaults along the river bank are used in the daytime as an abode by certain industriels, who rake up the sand of the Seine to pick up a scanty living...despite the great numbers of houses recently built in Paris, lots of persons pass the night in this retreat of filth and squalor'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.