Date of Award
Spring 5-13-2013
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Denise Davidson
Second Advisor
Dr. Jared Poley
Abstract
Les Halles, Paris’s historic marketplace, was once called “the belly of Paris” by Emile Zola. Les Halles was a Parisian institution. The destruction of the marketplace in 1971, especially the famed Baltard pavilions, set off a firestorm of debate and public dissent not seen on an urban issue in nearly a century. Within the debate over Les Halles existed a series of gripping juxtapositions or binaries- a battle between the Gaullists and the liberal intellectuals, capitalists and workers, modernity and tradition. These juxtapositions reveal France’s struggle to adapt to the new modernity that emerged in the postwar and post-colonial years. The battle over Les Halles was symbolic of the power struggle between Gaullists who wanted to “modernize” France on the one side, and on the other, a group of intellectuals and preservationists who sough to protect Les Halles as a symbol of traditional French identity.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/4077196
Recommended Citation
Kasten, Scott A., "Destroying the Mystique of Paris: How the Destruction of Les Halles Served as a Symbol for Gaullist Power and Modernization in 1960s and 1970s Paris." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2013.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/4077196