Spring 2022

Clockwise: Palais du Bardo, vintage postcard, Public Domain
Head of the Statue of Liberty on display in Paris at the World Fair 1878 Source
Album de la Statue de la Liberté, Public Domain
Aerial view of the Exposition Universelle of 1878, public domain
The head of the Statue of Liberty was also
showcased in the garden until it was packed
in one of 214 wooden crates for shipment to
the United States. The Statue of Liberty was
designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste
Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. It was
given by the people of France to the United
States and dedicated in situ in 1886. There are
more than 100 replicas of the iconic statue
including more than 30 in France!
Palais du Bardo
The Palais du Bardo, built for the Exposition
Universelle of 1867 in the 14th arrondissement
at Parc Montsouris, was designed by the
French architect, Alfred Chapon. The original
Bardo Palace was the 13th-century royal
residence of the Hafsid family, located in
the suburbs of Tunis. It was one of the most
important museums of the Mediterranean
basin, tracing the history of Tunisia over
several millennia. Chapon carefully recreated
a reduced-scale replica of the Bardo Palace
in Tunisia in pure Moorish style. Six statues of
lions flanked the staircase of honor that led to
a brilliantly green-tiled, colonnaded courtyard
evoking A Thousand and One Nights. The Bey
of Tunis rested here during his visits to the expo
in a private bed chamber with an adjoining
harem room.
After the expo, the City of Paris bought
the Palais and commissioned a redesign
by Gabriel Davioud. It accommodated
housing for the staff of the astronomical
and meteorological Observatoire de Paris,
installed on its premises in 1876. In 1974 the
building had deteriorated to such an extent
that its occupants were evacuated. A fire
destroyed it completely in 1991.
Most buildings of the Expositions Universelle
were meant to be temporary and only a few
vestiges remain, most famously the Eiffel Tower
(1889), the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais and
the Alexandre III Bridge (1900), the Palais de la
Porte Dorée (1931) and the Palais de Chaillot
and Palais de Tokyo (1937). But you’ll find
drawings, paintings and maps of all the buildings
created at the Musée Carnavalet museum.
Sue Aran lives in the Gers department of
southwest France where she runs French Country
Adventures which provides private, personallyguided,
small-group food & wine adventures into
Gascony, the Pays Basque, Tarn and beyond…
The Good Life France | 59