Harp Column Blogs: Carl SwansonArchive

OK, Here's Paris, the sequal. Or PARIS, PART DEUX. About 10 years ago I read some Sunday travel section article about Paris and things to see, and one of the things mentioned was the Museum of Plans-relief, which is housed in the Military Museum at the Invalides. I'd never heard of it, so on my next trip to Paris I went there and had the surprise of my life.

Back in the 1600's the technology had not yet been developed to make maps showing the land contours and other geographical features, so the only thing they could do was to make a scale model. The result was the Plan-relief, or scale model of entire cities, ports, fortifications, etc. The first ones were made in the reign of Louis XIV, around 1690, and continued until about 1835. Some of the models are quite small(4 feet square) and show a fort, or Mont St. Michel, etc. The largest ones are about 15 feet square and show entire cities. The plan-relief of whole cities shows not only the city, but also all of the surrounding countryside. On a model that is 15 feet on a side, the city is around 3 feet in diameter in the center of the model, so you can see that a lot of countryside is shown too. Every building in the city, including all churches, monastaries, ramparts, are made to scale and painted to look like the building, and all trees are made out of wire and silk thread. The surrounding landscape is painted to show fields, streams, rivers, etc. The astounding result is that you can see a scale model of a city that was made in 1690 and see exactly what it looked like at that time.

I discovered on this trip that the Museum of Beaux Arts in Lille has 15 of these models on display, all representing cities in northern France, Belgium, and Holland. Maastrikt is one of the cities shown. I was headed to Lille anyway, so I stopped in to see the models. They're unbelievable. Looking at one of these models is like flying over the actual city in a small plane. The buildings are about 1/2 inch tall, so you see the scale. I recommend to anybody that they make an effort to visit this museum at the Invalides, and if possible, take the train to Lille to see the other models. It's well worth the trip.