Paris Street Lamps

The first street lamps, installed on rue de Rivoli around 1830, were gas-powered and had to be turned on every night by un allumeur de reverberes (a “street light lighting guy”). Since the 1920s, all Paris’ street lamps became electric and there are 82,000 of them. So Monsieur l’allumeur de reverberes is out of a job! (London still has real gas lamps, I hear.) This photo above (which includes one of Paris’ beautiful street lamps) is the Palais de Justice, which houses various law courts on the Ile de la Cite. Notice the national motto of the French Republic below the flags: Liberte, Egalite, and Fraternite (hidden behind the top of the ornate black and golden entry gate). The Palais de Justice sits between the Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle, the Gothic church with the beautiful (and huge) 15 separate stained glass window panels (with more than 1,100 different scenes).

I think the most beautiful street lamps in Paris are on the place de la Concorde. These decorative posts were installed in 1844 and were the first ones to be electrically lighted in the city.

The other two photos are views of the place de la Concorde from the Tuileries Garden.