Space and Revolution

This is an unconventional history of architecture during the French Revolution. It reveals how the French revolutionaries attempted to use architecture and urban planning to implant the ideals of the Revolution in the minds of the citizens of the new state. Their ultimate aim was to use the built environment to create a vast community across France in which citizens would be united by common symbols and shared rituals. More than 370 illustrations, many never before published, are featured. Included are artists' renditions - by Boullee, Lequeu, Ledoux and many others - of the plans for numerous buildings, monuments and public squares. There are details, views and sketches reproduced from the original watercolours, pen and ink drawings and blueprints - among them, the sketches for the positioning of the Horses of Marly at the entrance to the Champs-Elysees.