De l’Orient à l’Argentine : un tour du monde culturel entre histoire et art | Trésors du Patrimoine
In this new episode of the Grand Tour,
I’ll take you from Istanbul via Buenos Aires and Vienna. I will indeed tell you how the city
of Constantinople grew and fell. What was life like in Vienna
under Ottoman rule at the time? of the joyful apocalypse and how
the Argentine nation was built. Making culture a grand journey, and
the journey begins in Istanbul. on the banks of the Bosphorus. Istanbul, the city of 1000 mosques. Istanbul, which still remembers that it was
the domain of the Greeks, Constantinople of the Eastern Roman Empire
and the capital Ottoman consultants. License, Constantinople,
Istanbul today, three names which bear witness to its long history. With its 15 million inhabitants,
Istanbul straddles two continents. This is where Europe ends. This is where Asia begins. Two continents connected
by the Bosphorus Strait. There is a legend going around here about
the origin of the word Bosphorus. According to Greek mythology,
Zos falls madly in love with a a young priestess named Yoh. And so as not to arouse the suspicions of his
wife Hera, he will transform his mistress in a young and beautiful, all-white female. Hera will not be fooled and, to get revenge, sends a time-traveling
attack on the Genis, who is captured out of panic, who,
in order to get rid of this insect, will run around in all directions,
will cross Greece, will sail along the gulf that bears its name,
the Ionian Gulf, and arrives here and sets off in the waters, which will give this passage
its name: the cow watchtower, In other words, the Bosphorus. The first of the stories I’m going to tell
you in this Grand Tour begins here. on the banks of the Bosphorus. A significant event is about to happen. It is May 29, 1453, and
the capital of the Roman Empire From the East, Constantinople
will fall into the hands of the Ottomans. It was considered impregnable, and yet, on
Tuesday, May 29, 1453, the Roman emperor, Constantine XI met his death on its
ramparts while defending his city. Alongside him were 10,000 Byzantine soldiers
who would soon be overwhelmed. by an army of 100,000 Ottomans. At their head is a young man, only 21 years old. His name is Mehmet II. Mehmet II, the seventh sultan of the Ottoman
Empire, was a formidable military leader. The capture of Constantinople earned him
the nickname Fathy, the Conqueror. He would rule the Empire
for over 30 years. A shrewd strategist, Mehmet
II, before storming Constantinople, he built the fortress of
Rumelia in just four months. Located at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus,
its position allows it to block supplying the city and suffocating
Constantinople. At the moment when Meme II launched his offensive,
the troops of the Eastern Roman Empire are already weakened
by weeks of siege. Within a few days, the city fell
into the hands of the Ottomans. It was through this gate,
the Adrianople Gate, that Meme II makes his entry into Constantinople. For three days, he
kept away from the ramparts, leaving his troops to plunder the city, according
to tradition, the months are considerable in the Christian world. The date is June 1st, 1453. It’s a Friday. It is a day of prayer
for Muslims. And the first action that will be taken,
but May 2, after having crossed this The gateway is to go to Hagia Sophia. At the time, the four minarets
did not yet exist. Hagia Sophia is the symbol of the
Christian Empire of the East. For Mehmet II, taking
possession of this church, This signifies to the whole world the
supremacy of the Ottomans. In fact, no one knows how Mehmet
II first entered here in Hagia Sophia. Legend has it that he arrived on horseback,
but in fact, nobody is sure. What we do know for sure, however, is
that at that time, for the past 1000 years, Well, Hagia Sophia is the largest
church in the Christian world. And for Mehmet II, that’s a powerful symbol
when he comes to pray. for the first time here at Hagia Sophia, transforming
this church into a mosque. I’m going to show you something. Come
with me. To transform Hagia Sophia into a mosque,
Mehmet Duba ordered his troops to hide, to conceal and not destroy,
Christian mosaics like this one, which will be covered at La Chaune. There we see Christ, alongside his mother, the Virgin
Mary, and Saint John the Baptist. There’s another one I’d
like to show you. The mosaic I am drawing your
attention to is this one. It dates from the 11th century and it depicts
Christ, a Christ Pantecrator. that is to say, in all its glory. To his right is a Byzantine emperor. His name is [name] and he
was represented by his wife. This is his third wife, her
name is Zoé, and every time they When they got married, he had
this medallion altered. It is an evolving mosaic. If today, we can still find all these
mosaics and religious symbols Christians, it’s not because
Hagia Sophia has become a church, that’s simply because Hagia
Sophia has become a museum. When Mehmet II took Constantinople,
he decided to retain a large part of the heritage of the past,
like these obelisks of Egyptian origin erected on the site of a former
2nd century hippodrome. But above all, he embarks on a genuine
transformation of the city. Palaces and mosques spring from the earth,
shaping a city of a thousand and one nights. It was with the construction of the
Topcapi palace, built on the site from the ancient acropolis of Byzantium,
which Mémé two inscribed her A name forever etched in history. He will make it the center of his power. Topcapi remained the residence of the sultans
until the 19th century. but above all the seat of government. It was in this Imperial Council chamber that
all the major decisions were made. decisions of the Ottoman Empire. The visors, that is to say the ministers,
sat on these sofas, which gives this room its name,
the room of sofas. But it’s not the seats that are interesting
here, it’s this golden grille which overlooks the sultan’s private
apartments. And the sultan was behind that gate
with his wife to follow the deliberations of this council. So, while this room is open to the
public, that place is private. but exceptionally for the grand tour,
I was given the keys. Here we go. Here we are, in the Sultan’s
private apartments. It was here, behind this golden gate, that
he followed, alone or accompanied by the sultana,
the deliberations of the Imperial Council. And when he wanted to end his deliberations,
he would tap his finger like this on the grille or the curtain was being drawn. And then the visors and
ministers understood that it was necessary stop the session and come and report
back to him on the work. That’s a rather unique point of view. Topcapi’s palace also
housed a harem. This word, which has always fascinated
and intrigued, hide and seek was, at the time, a gilded cage
where hundreds lived of women guarded by eunuks. Slaves, they are chosen for their beauty
and their ability to entertain the sultan. None of them are Muslim, because it
is forbidden to enslave. a person of that faith. Topcapi’s harem housed a number of
women who left their mark the history of the Ottoman Empire. The first, of course, was Roxelana, the
wife of Suleiman the Magnificent. But I would like to talk
to you about Nurbanu. She was a young Venetian slave who was
captured by the fleet. Ottoman ruled by Barbarus. She was only 13 years old. She lived here in this harem and
she had an extraordinary destiny. In Topcapi’s harem, Cecilia
Venier-Bafo takes the name of Nourbanu,
which means princess of light. Using her charm and intelligence,
she married the sultan Selim II, son of Suleiman the Magnificent. She would become one of the leading female
figures of the Ottoman Empire. It is in the Ouskadi district that
the largest number are found mosques erected in honor of these sultanas
who, like Nurbanu, Khozem or Roxelan
had an influence on political life. The mosque built in honor of Nurbanu
is called the Valley Mosque of Sultanas, in other words the Mosque of
the Queen Mother, a veritable city within a city. At the time, mosques were both places of worship
and places of life, of trade and exchange. The architect Sinan is the author
of this architectural gem. He will be responsible for the largest construction
projects in the Empire. Born in 1489, of Christian origin, Mimar
Sinan is the inventor of classical Ottoman architecture. After being forcibly enlisted in
the Sultan’s Army, He was appointed imperial architect. His influence can be found all
over the city of Istanbul. The Suleimanjaro Mosque is one
of his greatest masterpieces. Built at the request of Suleiman the
Magnificent, It is considered the most beautiful of
the imperial mosques in Istanbul. These four minarets, encircled
by ten balconies, indicate that Suleiman was the fourth sultan
of Istanbul and the tenth of the Ottoman dynasty. Inside, every detail contributes
to its radiance. The stained glass windows in the wall of
the Mirhab are the work of an artist famous at court at the time. You will notice that the decoration concentrates around the Mirhab wall and more particularly around its niche. The rest
of the building, however, is devoid of ornamentation and presents
a more austere character. It was in this building that the works were
exhibited for the first time. ceramic workshops in Isnik. These are the same. These are the workshops that
will produce most of it in the future. ceramics intended for the
royal family and the elite. Pieces with a particular visual language,
or characteristic floral decoration. These
patterns are often accompanied abstract ornaments, inherited
from traditions medieval Persian and Islamic. This is just the beginning of
a new genre. Today, Sous-les-Maniers is
still a place of worship. In facing Sous-les-Maniers, On the other side of the Golden Horn
rises the Galata district. When Constantinople fell
to the Ottomans, Galata is a small fortified Genoese
town, an independent colony that returns two to Mehmet peacefully. Of this Christian enclave,
only a tower remains today. Genoese, the Galata Tower,
also called the Tower of Christ. It is at its summit that we meet the Turkish
historian Edem El Dem. What’s amusing is that,
viewed from Constantinople itself, of the Ottoman city, of
the Muslim city, seen from the palace, Galata is a very Christian city. Even though the Christian population is gradually
decreasing, even though the city is increasingly being
peacefully conquered by a population Although she is Muslim, she is still heavily
stigmatized by her Latin character. And consequently, it’s
a kind of local exoticism. And of course, it’s a port. And where there’s a port, there are drinks, there’s
alcohol, there are gambling dens, taverns, etc. And consequently, for the average Ottoman, it
is a place of perdition. Which means that many people frequent
it precisely for that reason. And consequently, there
are all kinds of poems, for example, which are composed of odes to the
freedom of Galata, to the fact that the wine flows freely in the streets of Galata, etc. And there is a kind of
fascination with the forbidden. So, it’s really this contrast that will
characterize the way of which the Ottomans perceived Galata. While the Galata district has often been
considered a place of perdition, Its proximity to the port also
gave it a certain openness on the world, on modernity,
on new trends. He greatly inspired writers, starting
with Mehmet II. who was not only a great strategist,
but also a poet. Since then, Lamartine, Chenier,
and Pierre Loty have also written very, Very nice pages about this neighborhood. So today, Istanbul is home to a Nobel
laureate in literature, Oran Pamuk. He opened his doors to us. Sometimes, I I tell myself I’m lucky to be writing a historical novel whose action takes
place in a palace that I I can see from my window. Oran Pamuk, a goat, was
born here in Istanbul. These books, translated into more than 60
languages, have made him the writer best-selling Turkish product in the world. Istanbul is his main source
of inspiration. My passion for writing is stronger here in
Istanbul, because everything is a potential topic. When I’m here, I look
around me and I think to myself: Why don’t I write about
this or that? The world here in Istanbul always
seems very interesting to me. I have been writing every day for 35 years. I need to write about how a diabetic
person needs these medications. In his book, The Museum of Innocence, Oran
Pamuk still takes once his city serves as the setting. A work of remembrance that he was keen
to extend through creation of a museum modeled after his novel. For years, he has
tirelessly collected hundreds everyday objects
from Istanbul. My relationship with Istanbul
is not based solely on love. It’s a love-hate relationship. At first, I wasn’t a writer
from Istanbul. I didn’t consider myself
that way at all. Even though I was writing about Istanbul, I thought
I was writing about of all humanity. Then, when my books started to be produced,
I realized that from the point From the point of view of foreign readers,
I was a writer from Istanbul. By creating
this unusual museum, Oran Pamouk offers a different vision of
Istanbul, the opposite of the one presented by the Topcapi palace and its treasures. For the writer, the true wealth of the
city lies in its inhabitants. If the
Grand Bazaar is the place where you meet The Estaambouliote
owes it to Mehmet II. He had it built in 1455
to develop trade. At the time, the Grand Bazaar was a covered
wooden market, considerably expanded in the 16th century. Under Suleiman the Magnificent,
it became the largest market in the East. It still is today. The Istanbul bazaar houses 4,000
shops spread out over 200,000 square meters. More than 58 interior streets,
accessible through 18 gates. It is organized by types of crafts. Jewelry, antiques, clothing,
perfumery. I would like to show you a perfume. It’s rose essence. Between
four and six tons of petals are needed. of roses to make one kilo of pure oil. Previously, it was called Istanbuli, because
the rose was the symbol of Islam. This object has an interesting history. The first bottle of this kind was given
by a Janissary to his beloved. He then went to the work site. His distraught wife collected his
tears in her bottle. Upon his return from the war, she gave him
back the vial filled with her tears. If
the Grand Bazaar was the economic showcase of the Ottoman Empire, it was also
a place of cultural exchange. Here in the store, you
have a beautiful collection of items. coming from different cultures. For example, this handleless water
carafe comes from Bukhara. And then, here is this object. Look at its beautiful shape
and floral patterns. And this comes from Anatolia. It dates back to the Ottomans. And they go so well together. The water caravans came
mainly from Central Asia. of Persia and Anatolia. Although the shape of these objects
was different, people used them The same applies in everyday life. It was in one of its alleyways
that the actor Tchéky Karyo, a child d’I Istanbul, gave me a meeting. Tchéky Karyo,
a French actor born in Istanbul. His character as a hunter in Jean-Jacquaneau’s
bear and his role Luc Besson’s film Nikita revealed
him to the general public. Since then, he has pursued a career
in France and internationally. For Tchéky Kariou, each
return to Istanbul is an opportunity to rediscover his childhood memories. Tchéky, you were a puppeteer. No, actually, I’ve seen that often,
it fascinated me, obviously. What period do these puppets
date from? They date from the 16th century. They were in fact important, carried
by Egyptians who brought These puppets in Istanbul. And naturally, the Ottoman
rulers became the patrons. And they gradually invaded the entire
population. They are often performing
during Ramadan. We play with that a lot. It’s quite mysterious, and extremely
funny when it’s done well. They’re going to have battles, actually. Just as we have battles with words
in rap today, there are battles. They play on assonance, he plays
on the incongruity of words. and he struggles with words. This shadow theatre, Tchéquy,
it had a social function. Yes, it was an outlet that allowed the people to tell their stories, to laugh at power. He’s our French puppet. That’s it, absolutely, he’s a clown. And besides, it’s quite violent, Caragosse.
There really is a lot of violence. So, Caragosse
is the name of this puppet? That’s what it means… It’s the name of a character, who gave
his name to shadow theatre, right? That’s it. Caragosse
means black eye. And he has in front of
him a character called hajivat. And Hajivat, so it is this scholar,
this man who has this extremely chatier, which is full of words. And Caraguez mocks him, he attacks. It’s true that it’s something grotesque
too, the Caraguez. He allows himself everything, the showman behind the scenes. He plays everything,
he’s like a puppeteer. Except that here, he can have several
puppets at the same time. That’s what’s surprising. That’s the magic of it. Yes, my name is Caragosse. Everyone tells me that this
guy is a man of love. It’s already quite clear. I am not a man of love, I am
of the people. The people tell me what the people say, he
tells me what the people say. The people tell me what the people say. The
people tell me what the people say. The people are not telling me. The
people are not telling me. Caragosse, During the time of the Ottoman
Empire, the types of people who lived In Istanbul, they were represented on stage. For example, here, that’s French. Here we have a Jew, a rabbi. Here is another resident of Istanbul,
this is Mr. Livrogne. Caraguez was very popular
in the 16th century. There is a place in Istanbul that Mehmet II and
his successors have required to preserve it in its current state. It’s a water reservoir. It is called the basilica cistern. These 336 columns once supported a
basilica that no longer exists. Built by Emperor Constantine
in the 4th century AD, This cistern was used to
supply water to the palace of Topcapi and part of Constantinople. There are two columns here in this cistern,
which is interesting. to observe a little more closely. The first one is this one, whose base
represents a Medusa head. You know that in Greek mythology,
Medusa is a monstrous creature who has the power to turn you to stone
as soon as you Look her in the eyes. That might be the reason
why the one that is reversed. Athena displayed it on her shield,
perhaps to petrify her enemies. The second column is a little further away. Here is the second
column, it’s superb. Peacock feathers are
carved into these walls. And this column is called the
column of tears. simply because water is constantly
running down these walls. So some say that this name has been found,
the Column of Tears, to remind visitors of all the
tears that the slaves had to shed who built this cistern. It is here, in this basilica-like cistern, with
its magnificent decor, that I find myself back in Tchéquicario,
a place conducive to confidences. Istanbul is my father’s homeland. It’s a city where I was born, but
which I discovered later. around the age of 10. When you follow in the footsteps of
your youth, What do you discover? What images are you
rediscovering? For a very long time, the
city of Istanbul, it is remained as if in the imagination. It was like a dream city. I saw myself as the son of a pasha, a
Byzantine prince and all that. And in fact, when I arrived here, I
discovered a Jewish family there. for 500 years, since
the time of Isabella the Catholic at the time of the Inquisition,
who was practicing while we, We weren’t practicing at all. You see your father again. When I walk here, I see
it on every street corner. because I hear his voice. This language, the musicality of this language,
its consonances, that’s him. It is present everywhere. And also because he wasn’t a worker
in France, whereas here,
his family included cultured people, who had positions and all, my
father had decided to leave. He was a guy with incredible
energy, very strong. But he possessed a magnificent
wisdom. It was often these phrases that
would suddenly and instill themselves, amidst great silences. Suddenly, you
need to be able to, in your life, to sit on a bench,
eat cheese and be happy. Just that sentence. Incredible, isn’t
it? Wisdom? Yes, or: You are Jewish, there
is no need to be ashamed. but we shouldn’t shout
it from the rooftops. These are phrases that have stayed with me all
my life, still do. today, in fact. It’s all about ivory, that we would go out for drinks in the evening. Empty ourselves of our tightly packed vows, oaths of glory to the extreme. Between our dogs and our rifles, a little
further away, the wind was blowing. in the Tubiers’ palaces. It’s about memory, to play tricks tonight. Around memory, It’s about memory. To play tricks tonight. All throughout the golden age of the Ottoman Empire, From Mehmet II to Suleiman the Magnificent,
the Ottoman armies would embark to conquer vast territories. A little over two centuries after the capture
of Constantinople by Mehmet II, The Ottomans hoped to take another major
city, Vienna, in Austria. This is the second attempt. The first one was led by Suleiman
the Magnificent. The second, in 1683, will be
led by Pasha Kara Moustapha. He is at the 250,000 men come where we are Let’s surrender immediately, prepare to fight
and defend ourselves tooth and nail. After two months of Ottoman siege
and extremely violent fighting, The Austrian troops succeeded, with the
help of Polish battalions. and Germans, to repel the enemy. At the time, Vienna was the capital
of the Holy Roman Empire. This victory would permanently establish
Habsburg rule in Europe. Legend has it that the hero who
saved the empire was a baker. During the siege of Vienna,
the Turks reportedly tried to dig a tunnel to invade the city. But the bakers who get up at dawn
have discovered this project. This gave them time to
warn the Viennese guards. By thwarting this plan,
the Austrians would thus have won the war against the Turks. So, to celebrate the victory and
to taunt the Ottomans, Viennese bakers invented the croissant
by giving it the shape of a half-moon. Here in Vienna, there are many
legends about the croissant. The café owners themselves have their own
version, since they claim that the croissant was invented
to accompany the coffee which was a veritable spoil of war since it was
left behind, like many foodstuffs, by the Ottomans when they lifted
the siege of Vienna. There is no real official version
here in Vienna regarding the croissant. In any case, the combination of this pastry
with coffee is reminiscent of to the Viennese who often come to have
breakfast in this type of The location symbolically recalls this
victory over the Turks. After the defeat of the Ottomans in 1683, nothing
prevented any further the flourishing of Vienna. The city then experienced a commercial
and artistic revival. and unprecedented cultural significance. Whether it be the Hofburg Palace, the
Habsburg residence for over 600 years. The Belvedere Palace, one of the largest
Baroque palaces in Vienna. Or even the Saint-Charles church. Everything here is a reminder
of the splendor of that era. The most sumptuous testimony undoubtedly
remains Schönbrühl Castle. Chaune brune would soon become the
summer residence of the Habsburgs. Each generation, each ruler, will leave
their architectural imprint there. But it was Maria Theresa and Francis I who
gave it its magnificence. and its Rococo style. Francis I of the Holy Roman Empire arrived at the court
of Charles VI in Vienna at the age of 15. After his marriage in 1736 to
Marie-Thérèse, heiress of the house From Austria, he was elected emperor
of the Holy Roman Empire. He is the founder of the current
House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Before entering the castle,
a word on the color of the facades. This golden ochre tone is very distinctive. It is called schongebruhn yellow. Well, at the time, this color
code was mandated by decree. This allowed for a consistent tone across
all the buildings. officials of the Empire. Since then, well, this color has been
found all over Europe. on the buildings inherited from Easbourg. When she ascended the throne,
Maria Theresa made Schönbrunn his permanent residence. The castle has 1441 rooms, including
a hall of mirrors which serves at large receptions, but
also at family celebrations. Small concerts are held there. It was here that, in 1762, the young Mozart,
then six years old, performed for the first time in front of the empress. In this
portrait room, there are few near all of Marie-Thérèse’s children. She had 16 children, 11 girls and 5 boys. Marie-Thérèse,
whose portrait is shown here, was A powerful woman, she was a strategist. And to increase the influence of the
Habsburgs, she will attempt to marry each of his children to a great European. This will also be the case for
Marie Antoinette. She will of course marry her
to Louis XVI, the King of France. This marriage to the Crown of France was
arranged by Marie-Thérèse. She must have wanted it. Marie Antoinette, we know what happened next. Maria Theresa will not
be the only empress. Schönbrunn Palace
left its mark. The other iconic figure will be Elisabeth, Amélie, Eugénie of Wittelsbach, In other words, Ceci. In 1854,
she married her cousin Franz Joseph I, who fell under
her spell at first sight. The young empress is bored
at Schönbrunn Palace. She calls this place her gilded cage. It is therefore at the Hofburg Palace that
she spends most of her time. But Sissi did not take kindly to Viennese
etiquette and her role as sovereign. Elisabeth was a character,
one might perhaps say selfish, but still non-conformist. She wanted to create her own way of life
and be interested because that’s what was expected of her. She always wanted to achieve a free,
uncompromising life. And that’s something,
that’s definitely something very modern for that time. Ahead of her time, Cécile
is a great sportswoman. She enjoys horse riding and hunting. Céline Elisabeth was training to be able to
participate in these famous hunts. on horseback, where she was the only
woman who was able to participate. The ladies of the court were quite shocked
to see the empress on the rings that are shifting. We couldn’t even imagine that a
woman had done sports. So it was quite extraordinary
at that time. This is a unique piece; it’s
the syringe with which The empress injected herself with cocaine. It was Sigmund Freud who invented cocaine
as a treatment for fatigue. Exhaustion, as a remedy for depression. And it could be bought in
any pharmacy without a prescription. That is to say, it was not a drug, at
that time, it was a medicine. Here, we can clearly see the famous
waist of Empress Elisabeth. which was 51 centimeters tall, which
was surprising and at the same time extraordinary. A beautiful woman back then
was much curvier. For her, it was an opportunity
to rebel against her role as empress. not to be the ideal woman
of that era. During the reign of Sissi and Franz Joseph,
the waltz reached its peak. in the Austrian capital. The balsas became popular under the
influence of Johann Strauss Jr. Even today, Austrians live to the
rhythm of Viennese balls. The rules are very strict: the attire, the
dancing, the entry into the hall, Everything is codified. Michael Seltner dresses in the most traditional
garment for a ball: a tailcoat. That’s the tailcoat. You put it on like this. It is tied from behind. This jacket is an integral part of the tailcoat. It hides the straps very well. And it makes the outfit even more festive. When wearing a tailcoat, you
obviously need the right jacket. the right shirt and suitable trousers. But a bow tie would also be a faux
pas; a necktie would be a mistake. My shoes have a few scratches, but that’s
normal when you go often dance at the ball like me. We’re not immune to being
taken advantage of. It’s not a big deal, it’s
part of the game. For us dancers, it’s
normal to have a few scratches. However, it is important that
my shoes are always clean. Nearly 400 balls take place
in Vienna each year. They attract more than 300,000
fans from all over the world. Tonight, Michael joins Samantha. Passionate about dance, the two students meet
up for the Grand Ball of the imperial celebration. It’s beautiful. It’s very beautiful. It’s
very beautiful. It’s very beautiful. It’s
very beautiful. THANKS. THANKS.
Just now. Just
now. Great. Great. Opening a ball is a dream
for every young girl. I wanted that too. And finally,
my wish came true. Alles Weitzer. When opening a dance, it is important
to always remember the dance steps. Which foot should be placed before the other? You have to be careful to turn it in the
right direction. Check that your partner is doing well
and above all, never lose her. And of course, you obviously have
to stay in rhythm with the music. When you’re Viennese, it’s an obligation
to go dancing at the ball. And for a man, it’s an obligation to know
how to dance the waltz. A ball is a very important
social event. It’s good for relationships,
for meeting new people, But above all, to have a good evening. The secret of Viennese balls is that they have
preserved their ritual, an unchanging ritual. The tradition has been respected
since the time of Sissi. A sequence of different dances, a diversity
of musical genres, until the surprise midnight interlude,
the quadrille. The quadrille
is a work by Johann Strauss II. And that’s the music of the bat,
of the bat opera. It’s a tradition to revive The dancers and it works very well. After the quadrille, everyone is very happy
and they dance. as you see everywhere. The Habsburg dynasty left Viennese
society another tradition imperial: the practice of horse riding. The Hofburg Palace is indeed home
to the famous Spanish school. It is the oldest existing
riding school in the world. At the end of the 16th century,
Archduke Charles, brother of Emperor Maximilian II,
founded a rat at L’Episa, near Trieste. It is there that thoroughbreds from
Spain give birth to a new race: the L’épisans. The L’épisans are white, but when they
are born, they have this coat color. They are grey. This one is barely 5 years old and
he will, of course, turn white in turn. However, sometimes Lipisans
are born brown. and the rest of their lives. Well, that’s a real boon for a sharpening
shop because it’s considered a lucky charm. It’s good. The Lépisans train daily. It takes place here, in this magnificent
riding arena of the Hofburg Imperial Palace. And these training sessions are carried out
in groups of five or six horses. So, tradition dictates that every rider
who presents himself, even for a work session in this riding
arena, greets Emperor Charles VI, who is the builder, the
creator of this carousel, and who is also the father of Marie-Thérèse. So, we’ll see if the riders who are
going to present themselves before us, in a At that moment, they conform to this tradition. After a training session,
the horse is exposed to rays infrared rays that allow her to dry her
dress, but also to relax his muscles. It’s very comfortable here. In 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the demolition
of the medieval fortifications. from Vienna,
the very one that had made it possible to contain the associations of the Ottoman armies. He had the Ring built in its place, a
wide circular boulevard long four kilometers on which he had installed,
a few years later, Europe’s first electric tram. Today, with its 172
kilometers of track, The tram goes around the Ring. While Vienna sees its prestigious
buildings erected, The Habsburg dynasty continued the
expansion of its empire. At the end of the 19th century,
the Austro-Hungarian monarchy had a population of approximately 50 million
inhabitants, an empire composed numerous cultures and religions. Vienna then becomes the center of a multinational empire. Germans, Italians, Poles, Hungarians, Romanians,
Slovenes, Croats, Serbs live side by side and form alliances. The Austrian National Library holds
an exceptional document, a witness to this past. This is one of the most valuable
manuscripts in our national library. This is the emperor’s anthem, who
is also called God. protects Emperor Francis. This melody was composed
by Joseph Heiden. The great peculiarity of this song is that it
has been translated into several languages. We have several copies
of these translations here. Unlike France or England,
where there was no national anthem that in a single version,
the Habsburg monarchy was composed many regions where several languages
were spoken. So, it was important that everyone could
sing this anthem. in his native language. The First World War brought an end
to the Austro-Anglo-Saxon empire. In 1989, Zita, the last empress having reigned, he died at the age of 96. On that day, people gathered in front of
the Capuchin crypt to accompany him. until his final resting place. The procession stops in front of the closed door of
the crypt and, according to an extremely precise ritual,
ask a Capuchin friar entry permission… Zita, die Késerine von Österreich, gekrönte
Königin von It’s the Queen of Hugon, the queen of Böhmer, of Dalmatian, of Croatia, of Slavonian, of Galicea, of Lodomerian and Lysria. I don’t know. Who has the right to hear? Cita, a dead man, a holy man. So come on, Empress Zita joined that day the greatest female figures of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. This crypt contains the remains of 138
members of the Habsburg dynasty. Marie-Thérèse, of course, whose
tomb is shown here. This is probably the most impressive. She rests there with her husband, Francis I. Sissi’s is Modest, it’s a
little further away. This is the tomb of Sissi,
who rests beside her husband. Emperor Franz Joseph, and
his son, Rudolf. Sissi’s immense beauty and tragic fate
undoubtedly contributed to making He is a mythical
figure in history. Moreover, many people still come to pay
their respects at this tomb. While exceptional women have left their
mark on the monarchy, other women also distinguished themselves
in the bourgeoisie and the business world. This is the case of Anna Sarrère. In 1892, she
took over the management of a hotel to make it one of the most popular establishments
among the aristocracy and the upper middle class. Today, we’re featuring Elisabeth Gürtler,
a businesswoman, who is in charge of the hotel. Anna Sacher, can you see her here,
above the doorman’s box? She was a woman with a strong character
and great self-confidence. She ran that house with
an iron fist. Moreover, she was doing something
unusual for the time. She smoked Havana cigars. This earned him a very masculine
image in Viennese society. Every
time someone asked the hotel manager, she
was particularly fond of him Answer: I am the director. I am the man of the house. It was very important for her to reiterate
her position. In 1890, it was not particularly accepted
or appreciated by the bourgeoisie that a A woman can run a business. But I think that if his business was very
successful, it could be accepted. Since its creation, this legendary hotel It has hosted the world’s greatest figures. At the time, stylist Emilia Flegue was
also a very prominent figure. However, it is not his artistic talents
that history will remember. but his close relationship with one of the greatest
painters of the late of the 19th century, Gustav Klimt. Emilia Flegue would become the painter’s
great inspiration. At the beginning of the 20th century, at the age of 35,
Klimt participated in the creation of a movement Major artistic movement: the Secessionists. This movement will mark a break with
the academic style of the time. The Belvedere Castle now houses the world’s
largest collection of paintings by Gustav Klimt. I have an appointment with Gérard Garouste,
one of the painters and sculptors French, the most important. So, Gérard Garouste, we are
standing in front of one of the paintings… The most well-known thing about Clim is the kiss. Lots of gilding, lots of gold, therefore
lots of sacred things. Does he consider kissing sacred? The half-seconds when the painting is
revealed, even before it reaches consciousness, these are
the most important seconds important for this view of the painting. Well, that’s a story for everyone. But for me, the first shock of this painting
is its delicacy. of his faces in relation to this composition which has nothing to do with painting,
which came from a decorative panel. We’re in a set. And I, who am a painter, ask myself:
But then, where does painting begin? Where does the scenery begin?
It’s a game. What does this painting
evoke for you? Klimt was a symbolist. He wants to bring out
his mythical side in his painting. And there, there is an obvious symbolism which
is that between this sacred gold and its Faces in rupture, I think
he drew sustenance from it, was inspired by it. and he wanted to develop this in
order to break with the naturalists. Once again, a love scene, a universal
theme, is an alibi. and through the technique of painting,
in fact, it’s his adventure personal that stages. So, ultimately, I would say it’s more
of a self-portrait than a love scene. It is Klimt’s adventure that counts. This painting is his own adventure. This is the artistic period where
the painter begins to speak of him in his painting. Yes, that’s what shocked the critics
of the time, because good painting, If we have to paint a bouquet of flowers,
it has to be… looks like a bouquet of flowers. And all the critics of the time were
shocked by this adventure of these new painters who begin to paint their fantasies,
their illusions, their desires. But what are they thinking? You, Gérard Garouze, when you paint, it’s yourself
you’re telling your story. in your paintings?
Yes, absolutely. All painters do is self-portraits. To each era its art, to every
art, its freedom. This will be Klimt’s motto. The year 1902 was the year of glory
and consecration for the artist. On the occasion of an exhibition in homage to
Beethoven, Klimt created a monumental fresco
34 meters long depicting the ninth symphony. This mural, which was intended to be temporary, will
ultimately be preserved. It is now located in Vienna, in
the Secessionist Pavilion. To alongside Klimt, There are also architects who will, in
turn, revolutionize their art. The most iconic of them is
named Otto Wagner. A pioneer of Art Nouveau in Vienna, he
combined aesthetics and functionality. In 1902, he was asked to imagine a church
in a very particular location. To appreciate Otto Wagner’s inventiveness and
understand his approach, I wanted to take you here,
away from the city center. We are in a hospital, a psychiatric
hospital. And a century ago, Otto Wagner
was asked to build this church. It is considered the first modern
church in Europe. Indeed, with this building, Otto
Wagner will create a true manifesto, the manifesto of modernity. So, externally, we recognize
all the ornaments that make His style: marble, glass, copper
and of course, all the gilding. And what about inside?
Well, let me take you inside. I told you earlier that this church
had been built in a psychiatric hospital
at the time, Two key words: Hygiene and safety. Look at this holy water font. Instead of everyone dipping their fingers
in that holy water font, everyone will be able to go and collect the drop
of holy water that pearls from this dispenser. In terms of security, Otto
Wagner had planned every last detail. For example, that’s good. Look closely, none of
the edges are sharp. Everything is rounded so that the sick
person cannot, during Mass, to injure if he were to become agitated. This may seem obvious, but
we are in 1904. Just like with flesh, look closely,
there is no apparent staircase, Therefore, there are no accessible stairs. Only the priest can access it, but
from the sacristy. So, aesthetics, functionality, we
are at the beginnings of design. And then, before leaving this place,
I would like you to observe the angels that are on these stained glass windows. You have those who look at the sky,
and then you have those who… They are watching, those who are watching the earth. Observe their wings closely. They represent peacock feathers. We are in the Art Nouveau period. And this is not the only example in Vienna. The Austrian capital is becoming a
hub of artistic creation. a true showcase of Art Nouveau. Factory, public establishment,
metro station, interior decoration of famous cafes, villas
and apartment buildings, Otto Wagner’s talent shapes
and decorates the city. This is a particularly interesting
example in architecture. by Otto Wagner. This elevator was revolutionary. It was the first to be installed
in a residence in Vienna. This was very important to Otto Wagner. There was no longer a beautiful floor. They were all equally important
to the inhabitants. Otto Wagner lived here
until his death in 1918. Restored by the Austrian Historic
Monuments Office, this The apartment is a work of art in itself. This apartment was not only
revolutionary and radical. It was also an example of what Otto Wagner
would have liked to build for everyone. As an architect,
he built his own apartments. and then used them as a model
for modern-era architecture. To some extent, it could be said that
he tried every dwelling. After a few years, he
sold his buildings and with With the money, he developed a new,
even more modern building. Once again, he was moving
into the new building. His first building is located
on the Ring Road. on this grand bourgeois avenue,
while his last apartment It is located further outside
the city center. It is much more functional
and more modern. This is also a sign of Otto Wagner’s radicalization
with age. Before leaving Vienna, Heading to the Prater. It is one of the most famous amusement
parks in the world. It is located on a former hunting reserve
of the Habsburg emperors. In Bourges, one of the city’s
emblems, the Ferris wheel, stands. This wheel is also one of
the symbols of Vienna. It is 65 meters high and during
the First World War, It served as an observation post for
the Austrian Army. A little aside for film buffs: it also
served as a setting for the film The third man with Orson Welles. So, as World War II approached,
given the rise of Nazism In the 1930s, a
number of Austrians, Austrian intellectuals and artists
are going to leave the country. Some will settle in London, as was
the case with Freud. Others will choose Brazil, as was
the case with the writer Stephen Zweig. And then others, many others, will go
to Argentina, and it will be the case of Margaret Wallmann. Born in Vienna, Margaret Wallmann is a choreographer
and director. directs the Vienna Ballet. Despite enjoying great popularity, she
was nevertheless forced, in 1938, to leave his position because
of his Jewish origins. She decides to settle in Buenos Aires. Margaret Wallmann finds Argentina in a state of great excitement. If Europe in the 1930s, after
experiencing recession, is preparing to go to war, while Argentina
is a land of promise. and Buenos Aires is bursting with energy. The arrival of hundreds of thousands
of immigrants gives the city a new dynamic and artistic economic momentum. When Margaret Wallmann arrived
here in Buenos Aires, she headed from the Ballet du théâtre Colonne and she
will discover a similar place in every respect to today’s. You’ll
see. The Colonne theatre is emblematic of
the European influence of which the Buenos Aires nun at the time. His style is eclectic, a blend of
Italian and French inspiration. The hall’s acoustics attract the greatest
voices, such as that of Maria Callas. the world’s greatest philharmonic orchestras
or ballet companies. Margaret Wallmann would remain at
the head of the ballet for ten years. It’s truly a magnificent room. During Margaret Wallmann’s time,
Buenos Aires was booming. and the vibrant life of Argentinians
passes through this place. Like the Paris Opera or the Ascala
in Milan, the Cologne Theatre is one of the most renowned
opera houses in the world. Its acoustics are
truly exceptional. Buenos Aires is built over time successive waves of immigration. To become competitive on the world stage,
Argentina, in the 19th century, needs manpower. The National Constitution
of 1853 makes incentive policy a fundamental principle for
European immigration. After the United States,
Argentina becomes the second country welcoming Europeans to
the new continent. When Argentinians are asked about their origins,
they respond with a lot of humorously and in the form of a joke. Mexicans are descended from the Aztecs, Peruvians
are descended from the Incas. Well, we Argentinians,
we get off the boats. It’s true that immigration built
this country. Buenos Aires was built right here
in the La Boca neighborhood. La Boca means both the mouth
and the mouthpiece. And in the 19th century,
there was enormous activity here port that has attracted millions and
millions of immigrants. And among them, the young Aristotle Onassis,
who carried out what was his first employment at the foot of this metal bridge,
which moreover has become one of the symbols of La Bocca. But those who shaped this neighborhood
the most were the Italians. The largest wave of Italian immigration
took place between 1900 and 1910. At that time, more
than a million Italians settled here,
in the Bocca district. And today, it is estimated
that out of a population of 40 Millions of Argentinians, well,
45 percent are of Italian descent. The memories of those great, uncertain
crossings are still intact in the oldest cases. Hello Patrick, how are you? How
are you, Caméla? I’m doing well ?
Okay, okay. I’m fine with you. I just arrived here when
I was 16 years old. We come from Modena. We arrived after the war. World War II. I won’t tell you too much
because it’s rather sad. We embarked in a port in Italy for a long trip that lasted a month. Only one stopover, Dakar, just one day. And the rest, between sky and sea. And that’s where it all began. After that, we landed here in La Boca. That’s where I met my husband, an Argentinian,
son of an Italian. What strikes you when you discover
the La Bocca district, It’s the bright colors of the houses. There is not a wall, a door, a balcony
here that is not decorated. The pictorial history of the boca begins with an abandoned child. He was taken in and
then raised by a poor family in the Boca, and this child will become a painter. One of the greatest Argentinian painters
of the 1930s, he will be known under the name King and Martine. King and Martine were born in 1890. Loyal to his neighborhood, his port,
and the men and women who work there, He chose to live his whole
life here in La Boca. Legend has it that he was the one
who incited the inhabitants to paint the facades of their house. His painting testifies to his
passion and commitment. He could not paint what he had
not personally experienced. And for example, these workers are recurring
characters in his painting. These men have bent backs, bent
by the effort and the loads. They could paint them because
he himself had been one of them. As a teenager, he had worked at this
port loading and unloading boats. He was interested in the figure of a man
who embodies dreams of the whole of society. The dreams of a society that lets you
go out based on work, progress, effort and talent. Argentina, It’s the other side of our Basque Country,
as we say here. In the 19th century, the Basques were
indeed very numerous to come and seek Eldorado. Many prominent Argentine figures
are of Basque origin. This was the case with Evaperon,
and it was also the case with Che Guevara. who, in turn, had Irish and
Basque origins. So this diaspora, today,
has remained very active. Martin Labat is Argentinian. His ancestors, however, were Basque. They arrived by boat
in the 1880s. With his beret firmly in place,
he regularly goes at the Guretchea Center, one of the Basque
cultural centers in Buenos Aires. As you can see here, this
is a typically Basque place. We can see it in the construction,
in the decorations. There is an inscription on this stone. 1930. This is the final stage of the great Basque
immigration to Argentina. At the time, Europe was going through an economic
crisis generated, particularly through wars. And Argentina offers the possibility
of a new life in a new a country similar to the Basque Country. They leave from
Saint-Jean-de-Luz by boat. It’s a very long and difficult
journey of almost three months. They cross the Atlantic to arrive here,
in the south, in this the country that is Argentina. They arrive here with
genuine expertise. Knowledge in raising animals
such as sheep. They know how to work with singing,
how to milk cows. You know, the Basques
are workaholics. For a Basque,
the sun never sets. We know when the day starts, but
never when it ends. If the Basques arrive in Argentina with
their workforce, They also bring their traditions, and in particular
the practice of Basque pelota. A sport immediately adopted
by Argentinians. Vamos a jugar un poco, eh? A good game. What did you ask me? Acá
tengo las hilosas. Ah, qué bueno. Are the threads good? If.
Fija, you leave the loop for yours. Ah, está perfecto. Raquita es sare. Sare, quiere decir: Pequeña red,
in Basque-French. We are bodies. Basque pelota is indeed originally
from France. Only then did she arrive in Argentina,
where she met a two-stage evolution. This pelota court was imported from the Basque Country. It’s Elba stone. A black stone with a
particular characteristic. It is very hard and sounds very good. The ball bounced off it very hard. There is a Franco-Argentine personality
I would like you to meet. This is Pablo Reynoso. He is one of the most inventive sculptors
and designers of our time. They split his time between Paris, Madrid,
and Buenos Aires, and he told me arranged to meet at his workshop. Pablo Renoso is working on the creation of
a gigantic mast, 24 meters high, intended for the campus of an
Argentinian university. Is that one of the workshops
where the artworks are made? Yes, that’s one of my production
centers, I call them, which is equipped for everything.
For gigantism. For gigantism. There
are no limits to creation. Any crazy idea is possible. Is the bench a recurring feature in your home? This is a recurring theme for me. That’s called the talking bench. I also call him the one who gives his word. It’s a good thing to chat. There is a relationship to functionality
in your work that is quite striking. It’s not that I’m a bench maker,
I’m a sculptor who has always introduces
a function into his work. This is a bench, but
it could be a mast. Here, we place a lot of trust in
the artist because we believe in the artistic project, as
we believed in the tango and because we believe in football. There are some vectors
where you are pushed to go further. We’re proud of that. But I am also very inspired
by French culture. I… Simply,
I know how to assimilate it and to make it with a particularity
that is mine. Originality, diversity, Pablo Morenozo shows us his creativity. discover an example in the
heart of Buenos Aires. Patrick, I wanted to show
you these buildings. Do you know what it is?
I don’t know, no. An official building, a castle? It’s a castle, but a water castle. All of this is a facade
to hide a water tower. Is this what they call
Argentine excess? I think so, yes. That’s why I wanted
to show it to you. Because these buildings, in fact, were born
from the desire to hide something. So, what do we do? And the architecture,
we take an architecture Renaissance,
to which mosaics will be added English, with doors that
will come from Spain. So we bring the roofing from France,
all the rest comes from England. And all of this creates a particular style? A
style that… It’s what ?
Is it Baroque? That’s impossible. The impossible becomes possible. That’s
pretty much it. And Pablo, is all of Buenos Aires
built with that spirit? In large part, it’s a bit like receiving
an instruction manual. for a washing machine, but the
washing machine has not arrived. So, you have the manual to apply it to something
else and you invent. That’s more or less the spirit
of these countries that will emerge from nothing, based on migratory flows. It’s all going to get mixed up. Sometimes it will be a huge success,
sometimes it will be a complete failure. It doesn’t matter. The
question is how to move forward. And is that what will give Buenos Aires
its architectural originality? I find that it is there, the reality. When you see a building and then the one next
to it, there’s a Frenchman. There’s an Italian, there’s a Spaniard, there’s
one who mixes everything up. One who thought it was Versailles, but
who has never been to Versailles. Another one who wanted to do West Mister. Okay, but it wasn’t… The materials weren’t there,
but the will was. That’s Buenos Aires in a nutshell. I wanted to show you something else. We need to keep in mind that we are in the 19th
century, the end of the 19th century. Argentina is rich, it wants the
best, it always wants the best. So, in sculpture,
what is the best? Rodin.
What do we do? Rodin is commissioned to create a work
which is… That’s it, yes. He came here, there?
He didn’t come. No, no, he did it in France. The sculpture has arrived. But there’s a little anecdote
that I love. The sculpture itself is good,
but the base is sublime. a little disproportionate, a little too
big in relation to the sculpture. And the base is by a disciple of Rodin,
Antoine Bourdelle. who sculpted this. He wholeheartedly embraced
the creation of this work. And in fact, it was the opening
of a huge, huge orders for Bourdelle in Argentina. And it is the disciple who takes precedence
over the master? Yes, here. He took it here. Rodin
is the ultimate artist. Absolutely. But there is a star here who is a
French artist who is not well known. Not at all in France,
but here it’s a legend. But because he left us everything, all the
beautiful things around us, It’s Charles Thaïs. Charles Thaïs is a landscape architect. A disciple of Édouard André,
he participated alongside him in the creation many Parisian parks and gardens. Sent by André to Argentina to oversee
the development work on a park In Córdoba, he settled permanently
in Buenos Aires. where he was appointed in 1891,
director of parks and promenades. Charles Thaïs will considerably transform
the face of Buenos Aires. Palermo wood is one of
his many creations. It’s the green lung of the city. This is typical of Boulogne-Hervassen. We find exactly the same operating principle
with very similar tracings. nets and artificial lake creations, cities
like the ones you see here, with palm trees as well, of course, since
we’re in Buenos Aires. And these are truly
parks that have been created. At the time, it was called Hygiene Park,
for well-being and health Parisians. Well, here it’s exactly the same principle,
that is to say that we find people on pedal boats, on bicycles. Following the Parisian model,
Charles Thaïs creates in the woods of Palermo a botanical garden, a rose garden. The rose has nothing to do with Argentina. At that time, people were looking at France, they were
looking at Bagatelle and the Roses, parks created by Édouard André. We need to look even further back
to Josephine de Beauharnais. at Malmaison,
his first rose collections. We find it in a Parisian rose garden since
we have the layout of the regular French garden. And then, the rose garden, which was very fashionable
in France at the beginning of the 20th century. To create his rose garden,
Charles Thaïs brought in all These roses from France by boat. There is a very nice story
about this here in Buenos Aires. As the ship carrying them crosses the
Equator, a phenomenon The unexpected happens. All rose bushes
bloom at the same time. To celebrate the event, the commander then
organizes a grand ball on the ship. At the beginning of the 20th century, French
influence extended even to cafes. It is here, at Café Tortoni, that
painters, writers, and musicians meet. Among them were Quinquela Martin and
Carlos Gardel. Federico García Lorca and many others. It’s the oldest cafe in town. It was created by a French immigrant in 1858,
modeled after a Parisian café. which was located on Boulevard des Italiens and which
brought together all the intelligentsia 19th century Parisian. This cafe, which has disappeared, was called
Café Tortoni, hence the name of this one. In the spread of this European
culture in Argentina, A woman will play a key role. This is Victoria Ocampo. Born in Buenos Aires in 1890,
Victoria Ocampo belonged to a family of Argentine high society. In the 1930s, she
took a long trip to Paris. There she met Coco Chanel, Malraux, Éluard,
Breton, Stravinsky, Camus quantity of intellectuals
from all disciplines. She invites them to Argentina and it is in this
luxurious villa that she receives them. She invites her intellectuals, she
has an enormous fortune, and she decides to invest this fortune in culture. So, she pays for their ticket,
she puts them up. They are housed like
kings in this house. They have chambermaids, service staff,
and a personal driver. And it was a house where not only intellectuals
and writers lived, and we talked about culture, etc. But we were having a pleasant time. The kitchen, for example, she went to see de
Gaulle in 1964, the de Gaulle at its maximum. And at a political lunch, she
talks about cooking. She says: You eat better at my place, Villa
Ocampo, than at the Élysée Palace. So, she paid attention
to those things. And that’s what attracted
intellectuals, among others. who liked to stroll in the gardens,
meet people, drink the best coffee or to be really comfortable. All these writers she met in Paris
and elsewhere capitals from the 1930s onwards. That’s a book by Camus, which
is quite exceptional, by the way. because he dedicated it
at several points in his life. He talks about his encounter with her. To Victoria O Campo, this
book that does not explain “Well, with friendship which solves everything,
that of the heart,” Albert Camus. There you go, that’s Albert Camus’s travel
journal, which actually He’s talking about this house. He said: Finally, I
landed at Victoria O’Campo’s. Large, pleasant house in the style
of Gone with the Wind. Grand and old luxury. I want to lie down there and sleep
there until the end of the world. The mandate, indeed. There is a place where the Portegnoss,
the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, they enjoy getting together. This unusual place also reflects
the city’s cultural tradition. It’s a theatre. His name was the Great Spandid. Today, his role has completely
changed. So, this theatre, as you can see, has
been transformed into a bookstore. It is also the largest bookstore
in Latin America. It was built in 1919, and on stage, it
has seen the most big stars of tango. Then it became a cinema. It was also here that the first
screening took place. talking film in Buenos Aires. One can imagine the atmosphere that must
have prevailed in that room. What’s pleasant here, besides
the beauty of the place, These are all the reading nooks that have been
set up, either on the balcony, in the bathtub, and even on stage,
where you can both drink have a coffee and read your book. If Vienna is the capital of Valls, Buenos
Aires is the capital of tango. It appeared at the end of the 19th century in the
working-class neighborhoods of the capital. Tango is thus intended to be a provocative,
insolent dance. very far removed from the puritanical morals
of good society at the time. In the 1930s, it was exported to Paris. That’s where he earned
his stripes. The most prestigious theaters in Buenos
Aires then resonate with the most beautiful voices of tango, and the controversial
astarin is called Carlos Gardel. At the time, he was
the most famous singer. On June 24, 1935, at 1:00 a.m., at the summit of his glory, in a plane crash. The quality of his voice and his premature
death will make him a popular myth. Today, his voice was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site and tango is still very much present
in the streets of Buenos Aires. From Bovedo, el vecino Raúl,
que es un fenómeno. Y que si ningún un typeo de interérés,
más que pasar la bien compartir y a space, nosotros bien hace varios sábados
cantando, from now on we know each other. Marie and Diego are a French-Argentine
couple. They are lovers of tango. Several times a week, they dedicate
themselves to their passion. For Marie, dancing well starts
with wearing the right shoes. They are comfortable. And firstly because they have a sole, you see,
made of leather, So you can pivot easily,
unlike with sneakers or shoes like that. And since they’re sandals, they
have a strap that holds you securely. The shoe is on your foot,
so you’re not likely to lose them nor to restrain her during the dance. So, they have one bridle, two
bridles, diagonals. Well, it depends, it depends on the models. And then, they have really
high heels. It’s true that it can be scary. But ultimately, once
you’ve been dancing for a long time, We have a good sense of balance, we
maintain good body control. So, the heel doesn’t land
very, very often. We’ll put it down as soon as we
can. But when you pivot, you have to lift it. So ultimately, when you’re already wearing
seven centimeters of heel, All you have to do is lift it
a little more and pivot. Actually, no? It’s
quite comfortable. Come on. Tonight, Marie and Diego have chosen to
go to one of the milongas. the most fashionable in Buenos Aires. Here, all generations mingle and on
the dance floor, High heels are a must. The woman doesn’t particularly need to
look at the place where she puts her feet, the step that man takes,
because ultimately, traditionally, It is the man who suggests steps to the woman,
and she follows, she accepts. She continues the steps
as they suggest. So, generally speaking,
he doesn’t need to look at his feet. but he needs to watch the track. Managing the couple, the couple’s dance,
in relation to all the other dancers They turn, like that, they turn the track. When the track is very narrow,
you still need to know how to dance without offending others. I’m taking you to a historic and iconic
tango location, here. in Buenos Aires, it’s Confiteria Ideal. This is the place where Carlos Gardel
used to perform. And I have a meeting there with the dancers from
the Tango Passion troupe. Our hands. Dos palomas que sienten frío, tus venas tienen sangre de abandon en tus tangos. His cries abandoned as cruzan sobre el barro del callejón. When all the doors are closed, ahí ladran the fantasmas of the song Vanina, what are you expressing? By singing the tango? Tango always makes you vibrate
from within. You can’t sing the tango without
feeling the words. It’s a short, three-minute performance
during which we are entirely within the story that
must be passed on. But it’s passion,
it’s sadness. What characterizes the soul of tango? Passion, sadness, nostalgia. Most of the time, the lyrics are
positive and not negative. Passion and love are always present
in the interpretation. that we make of it. There is a body language, there
is an alphabet. When you see the dancers responding to each other like
that, you get the impression that they they communicate with each other using their bodies.
Exactly. It is a language in which three
main elements communicate. Leg work, intensity of movements
and twists. That’s what makes it different
from other dances. Here we are back on the banks of the Rio
de la Plata, the Silver River, which probably gave its name
to this country, Argentina. This is a river here that is about
fifty kilometers wide and serves as border between Argentina and Hurugué. This is where our story ends. I’ll see you for the next episode of The
Grand Tour, the journey continues. It is at the end that everything begins. See
you soon. Like your things, baby. Now,
I’ll put on your shoes.
Let’s take a break.
I’ll turn it loose.
Come for a ride.
I want to take you out.
Yeah.
Come for a
ride. In this new episode of the Grand
Tour, I will take you from Istanbul
to Buenos Aires via Vienna. I will
tell you how the city of Constantinople
fell into the hands of the Ottomans,
how people lived in Vienna
during the time of the joyful apocalypse,
and how the Argentine nation
was built. Making culture a great journey,
and the journey begins in Istanbul,
on the banks of the Phosphorus.
Istanbul, the city of a
thousand mosques. Istanbul, which still
remembers that it was the Byzantium of the
Greeks, the Constantinople
of the Eastern Roman Empire and
the capital of the Ottoman
sultans. Byzantium,
Constantinople, Istanbul
today. Three names
that bear witness to its
long history. With its
15 million inhabitants, Istanbul
straddles two continents. This is where Europe
ends. This is where Asia
begins. Two continents connected
by the Bosphorus Strait.
There is a legend going
around here about the origin of
the word. According to Greek mythology,
Zos falls madly in love with a young
priestess named Yoh. And so as not to arouse
the suspicions of his wife Hera, he will
transform his mistress into a young and beautiful
all-white genia. Hera will not be
fooled and, to take revenge, sends
a time upon the Genis who is seized with
panic, who, to get rid of
this insect, will run in all directions,
will cross Greece, will run
along the gulf which
bears her name, the Yonian Gulf, and
arrives here. And it plunges into
the waters, which will
give this passage its name: the cow watch,
in other words,
the Bosphorus. The first
of the stories I’m going to tell you in this
Grand Tour begins here, on the banks of
the Bosphorus. A significant
event is about to happen. It is May 29, 1453,
and the capital of the Eastern Roman
Empire, Constantinople, is about
to fall into the hands
of the Ottomans. It is considered
impregnable, and yet, on this Tuesday,
May 29th, the Holy
Roman Emperor, Constantine XI, will
meet his death on his ramparts while defending his city.
Alongside him were 10,000 Byzantine
soldiers who would soon be overwhelmed
by an army of 100,000 Ottomans.
At their head was a young
sultan, only 21 years old, his name was
Mehmet II. Mehmet II, the seventh sultan
of the Ottoman Empire, was a formidable
military leader. The capture of
Constantinople earned him the nickname
Fathy, the Conqueror.
He would rule the
Empire for over 30 years.
A skilled strategist, Mehmet II, before
storming Constantinople,
had the fortress of Rumelia built
in just four months. Located at the narrowest
point of the Bosporus, its
position made it possible
to block the city’s supply lines
and suffocate Constantinople.
By the time Mehmet II went on
the offensive, the troops of the Eastern
Roman Empire were already
weakened by weeks of
siege. Within a few days, the
city fell into the hands
of the Muslims. It was through
this gate, the Adrianople Gate, that
Mehmet II entered
Constantinople. For three days, he
stayed away from the ramparts,
letting his troops plunder
the city, according
to tradition. There is
considerable commotion in the Christian
world. It is June 1st,
1453. It is a Friday, a day
of prayer for Muslims. And the first
thing Mehmet II will do after passing
through that door is to return to Hagia
Sophia. At the time,
the four minarets did not
yet exist. Hagia Sophia is the
quintessential symbol of the Christian Empire
of the East.
For Mehmet II, taking possession
of this church meant signifying
to the whole world the
supremacy of the Ottomans. In fact, no
one knows how two warehouses
were built for the first time
here in Hagia Sophia. Legend has it that
he arrived on horseback, but in
fact, nobody is sure. What we do
know for sure, however, is that at that
time, for 1000 years, Hagia
Sophia was the largest church
in the Christian world.
And this, Mehmet de Leccey, and
this is a whole symbol for him, when he
comes to pray for the
first time here, at Hagia Sophia, transforming
this church into a mosque.
I’m going
to show you something. Come with me. To
transform Hagia Sophia into a mosque,
Mémé de Bat ordered her troops
to hide, hide and not destroy, the Christian
mosaics like this one, which
will be covered with lime. It shows Christ,
alongside
his mother, the Virgin Mary,
and Saint John the Baptist.
There’s another
one I’d like to show you. The
mosaic I am drawing your attention
to is this one. It dates from the 11th century
and it represents a Christ,
a Christ Pantocrator, that is
to say in all his glory. To his right is
a Byzantine emperor. His name is Constantine
IX and
he was represented in the
company of his wife. She is
his third wife. Her name is Zoé and
every time they got married,
he had this locket
changed. It is an evolving
mosaic. If today we can find all these
mosaics and Christian religious symbols,
it is not because Hagia
Sophia has become a church again,
it is simply because Hagia Sophia
has become a museum. When Mehmet II took
Constantinople, he decided to preserve
much of the heritage of the past,
such as these obelisks of
Egyptian origin erected on the site of
an ancient 2nd century hippodrome.
But above all, he embarks on
a genuine transformation of the
city. Palaces and mosques spring from
the earth, shaping a city of a thousand
and one nights. It was with the construction
of the palace of Topcapi, built
on the site of the ancient acropolis
of Byzantium, that Medea II
inscribed his name forever
in history. He will make it
the center of his power. Until the
19th century, Topcapi was
the residence of the sultans. But
above all, the seat of government.
It was in this Imperial Council chamber that
all the major decisions of the
Ottoman Empire were made. The
visors, that is to say the ministers,
sat on these divans, which is
how this room got its name, the Room of
Divans. But it’s
not the seats that are interesting here,
it’s this golden gate that leads to the
sultan’s private apartments.
And the sultan was
behind that gate with his wife to follow
the deliberations of this council.
So, while this room is open
to the public, this place is private,
but exceptionally for the Grand
Tour, I was given the keys.
Here we go. Here we are, in the Sultan’s
private
apartments. It was here,
behind this golden gate, that he
followed, alone or accompanied by the
sultana, the
deliberations of the Imperial Council.
And when he wanted to end these deliberations,
he would tap his finger
like this on the gate or pull the curtain.
And then the visors and ministers
understood that
they had to stop the session and come
and report back to him on
the work. That’s a rather unique
point of view. Topcapi’s palace
also housed a harem.
This word, which
has always fascinated and intrigued,
at the time
concealed a gilded cage where hundreds
of women lived,
guarded by eunuchs. Slaves, they
are chosen for their beauty and their
ability to entertain the
sultan. None of them
are Muslim, because it is forbidden
to enslave someone of that
faith. The harem of Topcapi
housed a number of women who left
their mark on the history of
the Ottoman Empire. The first,
of course, was Roxelana, the wife
of Suleiman the Magnificent. But
I would like to talk
to you about Nourbano.
She was a young Venetian slave who was
captured by the Ottoman fleet
led by Barbarus. She was only
13 years old. She lived
here in this harem and
she had an extraordinary destiny.
In Ouskadi, the kingdom of Topcapi,
Cecilia Venier-Bafo takes the
name Nourbanu, which means
princess of light.
Using her charm and intelligence,
she married Sultan Selim II,
son of Suleiman the Magnificent. She
would become one of the leading female
figures of the Ottoman Empire. It is in the Ouskadi district that
we find the largest number of mosques
erected in honor of these sultanas
who, like Nourbanu, Nourbanou, Cosem or
Roxelane, had an influence
on political life. The mosque
built in honor of Nurbanu is called the Mosque
of the Valley of Sultanas,
in other words the Mosque of the Queen
Mother, a veritable
city within a city. At the time,
mosques were simultaneously places of
worship, living spaces, shops
and exchanges. The architect
Sinan is the author of this
architectural gem. He will be responsible
for the largest
construction projects
in the Empire. Born in 89, of
Christian origin, Mimar Sinan
is the inventor of classical Ottoman
architecture. After being forcibly
conscripted into
the Sultan’s army, he was appointed
imperial architect. His influence
can be found all over the city
of Istanbul. The Suleymaniye
Mosque is one of his greatest
masterpieces. Built at the request
of Suleiman the
Magnificent, it is considered the most
beautiful of the imperial mosques
of Istanbul. These
four minarets, encircled
by ten balconies, indicate that Suleiman
was the fourth sultan of Istanbul
and the tenth of the
Ottoman dynasty. Inside, every
detail contributes to its
radiance. The stained glass windows in
the Mirhab wall are the
work of a famous artist
from the court at the time. You will
notice that the decoration is concentrated
around the wall of the Mirhab
and more particularly around its niche.
The rest of the building, on the
other hand, is devoid of
ornamentation and has a more austere character.
It was in this building that
the works from the Isnik ceramic workshops
were exhibited for the first time.
These same workshops will produce
most of the ceramics intended
for the royal
family and the elite in the future. Pieces
with a particular visual language
or characteristic floral decoration.
These motifs are often
accompanied by abstract
ornaments, inherited from medieval
Persian and Islamic traditions.
This is just
the beginning of a new genre.
Today, Sulaimaniyah
is still a place of worship.
Opposite Sous-l’Émanier, on the
other side of the Golden Horn,
rises the Galata district.
When Constantinople fell
to the Ottomans, Galata was a small
fortified Genoese town, an independent settlement
that surrendered peacefully to
Mehmet II. Of this Christian
enclave, today only a Genoese
tower remains, the Galata Tower,
also called the Tower of Christ.
It is at its summit that we meet the
Turkish historian Edem Aldem.
What’s funny is
that, seen from Constantinople itself,
from the Ottoman
city, from the Muslim city, seen
from the palace, Galata is a very Christian
city. Even though the Christian population
is decreasing
over time, even though the city is
increasingly being peacefully conquered
by a Muslim population, it still remains
highly stigmatized by its Latin
character. And consequently,
it’s a kind of local
exoticism. And of course, it’s
a port. And where there’s
a port, there are drinks, there’s
alcohol, there are gambling dens, taverns,
etc. And consequently,
for the average Ottoman, it
is a place of perdition. Which means
that many people
frequent it precisely for that reason.
And consequently, there are all sorts
of poems by men, for example, which are
composed of odes to the freedom of Galata,
to the fact that
wine flows freely in the streets
of Galata, etc. And there is a kind
of fascination with the
forbidden. So, it is really this
contrast that will characterize the way
the Ottomans perceived Galata. Although
the Galata district has often been considered
a place of perdition, its proximity
to the port has
also given it a certain openness
to the world, to modernity,
to new trends. It has greatly
inspired writers, starting with Mehmet
II, who was not only a great strategist,
but also a poet; from Chesniers, Pierre
Lhôti, have also written very, very
beautiful pages about this district.
Today, Istanbul is home to
a Nobel laureate in literature,
Oran
Pamuk. He opened his doors to us. And sometimes
I think I’m lucky to be writing
a historical novel whose
action takes place in
a palace that I can see from my window.
Oran Pamuk was born here in
Istanbul. His books, translated
into more than 60 languages, have
made him the best-selling
Turkish writer
in the world. Istanbul is his main source
of inspiration. My passion for
writing is stronger
here in Istanbul
because everything is a potential subject.
When I’m here, I look
around and think: Oh, why
don’t I write about this
or that? The world here in Istanbul
always seems very interesting to me.
I have been writing every day for 35 years.
I need to write
like a diabetic person needs
these memory medications. In his book,
The Museum of Innocence,
Oran Pamuk once again
uses his city as a setting. A work
of remembrance that he was
keen to extend by creating a museum
modeled on his
novel. For years, he has tirelessly collected
hundreds of
everyday objects from
Istanbul. My relationship
with Istanbul is not based
solely
on love. Of love. It’s a love-hate
relationship. At first,
I wasn’t a writer from Istanbul.
I didn’t consider
myself that way
at all. Even though I was writing about
Istanbul, I thought I was
writing about all of humanity.
Then, when my books started to be translated,
I realized that from the point of
view of foreign readers, I was
a writer from Istanbul. By creating
this unusual museum, Oran
Pamuk offers another vision of Istanbul,
the opposite of that offered by
the Topcapi Palace and its treasures. For
the writer, the true wealth of the
city lies in its inhabitants. If the
Grand Bazaar is the place where
the Istanbulite gathers, They owe it to Mehmet II. He had it
built in 1455 to develop
trade. At the time, the Grand
Bazaar was a covered wooden market,
considerably expanded in the 16th century
under Suleiman the Magnificent,
it became the
largest market in the East. It
still is today. Ouzgur,
a small wine cellar.
We have chai, we have chai, we have water.
The Istanbul bazaar houses
4,000 shops spread
over 200,000 square meters.
More than 58 interior
streets, accessible through 18 gates.
It is organized by types of crafts.
Jewelry, antiques, clothing,
perfumery, I would like
to show you a perfume.
It’s rose essence. It
takes between four and six tons
of rose petals to make one
kilo of pure oil. It
used to be called Istanbul, because
the rose was the symbol of Islam. This
object has an interesting history.
The first bottle of this kind was
given by a janissary to his beloved.
He then went to
the battlefield. His grieving
wife collected his tears
in her bottle. Upon his
return from the war, she gave him
back the vial filled with her tears.
While the Grand Bazaar was the
economic showcase of the Ottoman Empire,
it was also a place of cultural
exchange. Here
in the store, you have a beautiful collection
of items from different
cultures. For example, this
handleless water carafe comes
from Bukhara. And then,
here is this object.
Look at its beautiful
shape and floral patterns.
And this comes from
Anatolia. It dates back to the
Ottomans. And they go so well
together. The water carafes
came mainly from Central
Asia, Persia, and Anatolia.
Although the shape of these objects
is different, people use them
in the same way on a daily
basis. It was in one of these alleyways
that the comedian Tchéky Karyo,
a child of Istanbul,
arranged to meet me.
Tchéky Kario, French actor, born in
Istanbul. His character as
a hunter in Jean-Jacquaneau’s “The
Bear” and his role in Luc
Besson’s film “Nikita”
revealed him to the general
public. Since then,
he has pursued a career in France and
internationally. For Tchéky Kario,
each return to Istanbul is an opportunity
to relive his childhood
memories. Tchéky, you were
a puppeteer. No, actually,
I’ve seen that often.
It fascinated me, obviously.
What period do these
puppets date from? They date from
the 16th century. They were, in
fact, imported by Egyptians
who brought these puppets to Istanbul.
And naturally, the
Ottoman rulers became the
patrons. And they gradually invaded
the entire population.
They are often performing
during Ramadan. We
play with that a lot.
It’s quite mysterious.
It’s extremely funny when it’s
done well. They’re going to have battles,
actually. Just as we have battles with
words in rap today, there
are battles. They play on assonance,
they play on the incongruity of
words, and they battle with
words. This shadow theatre, Tchéquy,
did it have a social function?
Yes, it was an outlet that allowed
the people to tell their stories,
to laugh at power.
It’s our French
puppet show. That’s
it, exactly. He’s a
clown. And besides, it’s quite violent,
Caragosse.
There really is a lot of violence.
So, Caragosse is the name of this puppet?
That’s the name of a character
who gave her name
to shadow theatre, right? That’s
it. Caragosse means black eye. And
he has in front of him
a character named Hadjivat. And
Hadjivat, therefore, is this scholar,
this man who has this extremely refined
language, who is
full of words. Et
Et Caraguez mocks him, he attacks.
It’s true that it’s something
grotesque too, the Caraguez. He allows
himself everything,
the showman behind the
scenes. He plays everything, he’s
like a puppeteer who…
Except that here, he can have
several puppets
at the same time,
that’s what’s amazing.
Hence the magic. Yes,
my name is Caraguez.
Everyone tells
me that this guy is a shame.
That’s already a real shame. That’s
a shame. During the Ottoman Empire, the
types of characters who lived in
Istanbul were represented on stage.
For example, here, that’s French.
Here we have a Jew,
a rabbi. Here is another
resident of Istanbul,
this is Mr. Livrogne.
Caraguez was very
popular in the 16th century. This
art form was performed in public
squares. Children, women, men,
everyone could attend the show.
Since 2009, it has been listed as a
UNESCO World Heritage
Site. There is a place in
Istanbul that Mehmet II
and his successors were
keen to preserve
in its original state. It’s a water
reservoir. It is called the basilica
cistern. These 336 columns
once supported a basilica that no longer
exists. Built
by Emperor Constantine in the 4th century
AD, this cistern served to supply water
to the Topcapi Palace and part
of Constantinople. There
are two columns here in this
cistern that are interesting
to observe a little more closely.
This is the one whose base represents
a Medusa head. You know that in Greek
mythology, Medusa is a monstrous creature
that has the
power to turn you to
stone as soon as you look
into her eyes. This may be the reason
why it is reversed. Athena displayed
it on her shield, perhaps to
petrify her enemies. The second column
is a little further
away. The second column,
here, it’s superb.
Peacock feathers are carved
into these walls. And this column
is called the column of tears,
simply because water
constantly flows down
its walls. Some say that the name “Column
of Tears” was chosen
to remind visitors of all the
tears that the slaves had to shed. who built this cistern. It is here,
in this basilica-like cistern, with
its grandiose decor,
that I meet Tchéquicario,
a place conducive to confidences.
Istanbul is my father’s
homeland. It’s a city where I was born,
but which I discovered later, around
the age of 10. When
you retrace the steps of your youth,
what do you discover?
What images are you rediscovering?
For a very
long time, the city
of Istanbul remained
as if in the imagination. It
was like a dream city. I felt
like the son of a pasha, a Byzantine
prince and all that. And in
fact, when I arrived here, I discovered
a Jewish family, there for
500 years, since the time of Isabella
the Catholic, at the time of the Inquisition,
who were practicing, while we
were not at all practicing. Are you
seeing your father again? When
I walk around here, I see
him on every street corner,
because I hear his voice. This
language, that’s the musicality
of this language, these consonances,
that’s him. It is present
everywhere. And also
because he wasn’t someone
who… He was a worker,
in France. While here,
his family were cultured people, who
had positions and all, my father had
decided to leave. And he was a guy who
had incredible energy, very
strong. But he possessed a magnificent
wisdom. It was often
those phrases
that, all of a sudden, in the middle of
long silences,
all of a sudden, you have
to be able,
in your life, to sit on a bench, eat cheese
and be happy. Just
that sentence. Incredible, isn’t it?
Wisdom. Yes, or:
You are Jewish,
you shouldn’t
be ashamed, but you
shouldn’t shout it from the rooftops.
These are phrases that have
stayed with me all my
life, you see? Even today, in fact.
It was around the ivory that
we would go to drink in
the evening. Emptying our hearts,
our tightly packed oaths, our
vows of glory to shatter. Between
our dogs and our rifles,
a little further away,
the wind was blowing through
the mangroves. It’s all about memory,
playing tricks tonight, all about
memory. It’s all about memory,
playing tricks tonight.
Throughout the golden age of the
Ottoman Empire, from Mehmet II
to Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman
armies embarked on the
conquest of vast territories.
A little over two centuries after
Mehmet II captured Constantinople,
the Ottomans hoped to take another
major city, Vienna, in Austria.
This is the second attempt.
The first one was led
by Suleiman the Magnificent.
The second, in 1683, will
be led by Pasha Kara Moustapha. He is
in command of 250,000 men. Vienna,
where we are going immediately,
is preparing to fight and defend itself
tooth and nail. After two
months of Ottoman siege and extremely
violent fighting, Austrian troops,
with the help of Polish and German
battalions, succeeded in repelling
the enemy. At the time,
Vienna was the capital of the Holy
Roman Empire. This victory would
permanently establish Habsburg rule
in Europe. Legend has it that
the hero who saved the empire
was a baker. During the siege of
Vienna, the Turks reportedly
tried to dig a tunnel to invade
the city. But the bakers who
get up at dawn have discovered this
project. This gave them time to
warn the Viennese guards.
By thwarting this plan, the
Austrians would have
won the war against the
Turks. So, to celebrate the victory
and to taunt the Ottomans,
Viennese bakers invented the
croissant, giving it the shape
of a half-moon. Here in Vienna,
there are many legends
about the croissant. The
cafe owners themselves have
their own version, claiming that the
croissant was invented
to accompany coffee, which was
a real war prize, having been left
behind, like many other goods,
by the Ottomans when they
lifted the siege of Vienna.
There is no real official
version here in Vienna
regarding the croissant. In any
case, the association
of this pastry with coffee,
well, reminds Viennese people who
often come to have breakfast in
this type of place, symbolically recalls
this victory over the Turks. After the
defeat of the Ottomans in 1683,
nothing prevented Vienna
from flourishing. The city then experienced
an unprecedented
commercial, artistic
and cultural revival, whether it
was the Hofburg Palace, the residence
of Epossburg for more than 600
years, the Belvedere Palace, one
of the largest Baroque
palaces in Vienna, or the
Church of St. Charles. Everything
here is a reminder of the splendor of
that era. The most
sumptuous testimony undoubtedly
remains Schönbronn Castle.
Schönbronn would soon become the summer
residence of the Habsburgs.
Each generation, each ruler,
will leave their architectural imprint
there. But it was Maria Theresa and
Francis I who gave it its magnificence and
Rococo sound. Francis
I of the Holy Roman Empire
arrived at the court of Charles VI
in Vienna at the age of 15. After
his marriage in 1736 to Maria
Theresa, heiress of the House of Austria,
he was elected Holy Roman
Emperor. He is the founder of
the current House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Before entering the
castle, a word about the color
of the facades. This
golden ochre tone is
very distinctive. It is called Schönbrun
yellow. At the time, this color
code was established by decree.
This made it possible
to find the same tone across all official
buildings of the Empire.
Since then, throughout
Europe, this color can
be found on buildings
inherited from Easbourg. When she ascended
the throne, Maria Theresa
made Schönbrunn her permanent
residence. The castle
has 1441 rooms, including a
hall of mirrors which is used for
large receptions, but
also for family celebrations. Small concerts are held there.
It was here that in 1762, the young
Mozart, then six years old, performed
for the first time before the Empress.
In this portrait room, there
are almost all of Marie-Thérèse’s
children. She
had 16 children, 11 girls and 5 boys.
Marie-Thérèse, whose portrait we see
here, was a powerful woman, she
was a strategist.
And to increase the influence
of the Habsburgs, she will try to
marry each of her children to a European
grandee. This will also
be the case for Marie
Antoinette. She will
of course marry her to Louis
XVI, the King of France. This marriage
with the Crown of France, Marie-Thérèse
organized
it, she wanted it. Marie Antoinette,
we know what happened next. Maria
Theresa will not be the only
empress to leave her mark on Schönbrunn
Palace. The other emblematic
figure will be Elisabeth, Amélie, Eugénie
of Wittelsbach,
in other words, Sissi. In 1854,
she married her cousin Franz
Joseph I, who fell under her spell
at first sight. The young
empress is bored at Schönbronn
Castle. She calls this place
her gilded cage. It is therefore at the
Hofburg Palace that she spends
most of her time, but Sissi does
not tolerate Viennese etiquette and
her role as sovereign well.
Elisabeth was a character, one might
perhaps say selfish, but still
non-conformist. She wanted to create
her own way of life and
to be interested because that
was expected of her. She
always wanted to achieve a free life,
free without compromise. And
it was still something very modern for
that time. Ahead of her
time, Cécile is a great sportswoman.
She enjoys horse riding and
hunting. Cécile, Elisabeth, was training
to be able to participate in those
famous horse hunts, where she was the only
woman who was able to participate.
The ladies of the court were quite shocked
to see the emperor on
the rings, between doorways. We
couldn’t even imagine that a woman
had done sports. It was
quite extraordinary
at that time. This is a unique piece;
it is the syringe with
which the Empress injected herself
with cocaine. It was Sigmund Freud
who invented cocaine as a remedy for
fatigue, exhaustion, and depression.
And it could be bought in any
pharmacy without a prescription.
That is to say, it was
not a drug at that time, but a medicine.
Here we can clearly see the famous
waist of Empress Elisabeth, who had
a waist of 51 centimeters, which
was surprising and at the same time extraordinary.
A beautiful
woman back then was much curvier.
For her, it was a chance
to rebel against her
role as empress, to not be the ideal
woman of that era. Under the reign of
Sissi and Franz Joseph, the
Valle reached its peak
in the Austrian capital, Vienna. Balls became
popular thanks to Johann Strauss
Jr. Even today, Austrians live
to the rhythm of Viennese
balls. The rules are very strict:
the attire, the dancing, the
entry into the hall, everything is
codified. Michael Seltner dresses in
the most traditional garment for
a ball: a tailcoat.
Is that a tailcoat? You put it on
like this. It is tied from behind. This
jacket is an integral part
of the tailcoat. It hides
the straps very well. And
it makes the outfit even more festive.
When wearing a tailcoat, you
obviously need the right jacket, the
right shirt and suitable
trousers. But a bow tie would
also be a faux pas; a necktie would be
a mistake. My shoes have a
few scratches, but that’s normal
when you go dancing at the ball a lot
like I do. We’re not immune
to being taken advantage of.
It’s not a big deal, it’s
part of the game. For us
dancers, it’s normal to
have a few scratches.
However, it is important
that my shoes are always clean.
Nearly 400 balls take place in
Vienna each year. They attract more
than 300,000 fans from
all over the world.
Tonight, Michael joins Samantha.
Passionate about dance,
the two students meet again for
the Grand Ball of the imperial celebration.
That’s great. That’s lucky.
It looks very good.
THANKS. You
too. THANKS. Just now.
Yes, earlier. How do
you
like it ?
Great.
Good day. Opening
a ball is a dream
for every young
girl.
I wanted that
too. And finally, my
wish came true. Alles
Weitzer. When opening a dance,
it is important to always remember
the dance
steps. Which foot should be placed
before the other? You have to be careful
to turn in the right direction,
check that your partner is
doing well and above
all, never lose her. And of course,
you obviously have to stay in
rhythm with the music. When you’re
Viennese, it’s an obligation to
go dancing at the ball. And
for a man, it’s an obligation to
know how to dance the waltz. A ball
is a very important social
event. It’s good for
relationships, for meeting
new people besides just the
usual crowd, but above all,
for having a good evening.
The secret of the Balviénois
is that they have preserved their ritual,
an unchanging ritual. The tradition
has been respected since
the time of Sissi. A sequence
of different dances, a diversity
of musical genres, up to the
surprise midnight interlude,
the quadrille. The
quadrille is
a work by Johann Strauss the Younger,
and it is the music of the bat, from
the opera The Bat. It’s a
tradition to reactivate the dancers
and it works very well. After the initial
setup, everyone is very happy and
we’re dancing, as
you can see everywhere.
The Habsburg dynasty left Viennese
society another imperial tradition: the
practice of horseback riding. The Hofburg
Palace is indeed home
to the famous Spanish school. It is
the oldest existing riding
school in the world. At the end
of the 16th century, Archduke
Charles, brother
of Emperor Maximilian II, founded
a rat at L’Épisa, near Trieste. It was there that thoroughbreds from Spain
gave birth to a new breed: the
L’Episans. The L’épisans
are white, but when they are born,
they have this coat color. They are
grey. This
one is barely 5 years old and
he will, of course, turn white in turn.
But sometimes the episans are brown
at birth and remain
so for the rest of their lives.
Well, that makes a curia very happy
because it’s considered a
lucky charm. The Lépisans
train daily. It takes place here, in
this magnificent riding arena of the
Hofburg Imperial Palace. And these
training sessions are carried out in
groups of five or six horses.
So, tradition dictates that every
rider who comes, even for
a training session in this riding school,
salutes Emperor Charles VI, who
is the builder, the
creator of this riding school, and
who is also the father of Marie-Thérèse.
So, we’ll see if the riders
who are about to appear before us in
a moment conform to this tradition. After
a work session, the horse
is exposed to infrared rays which
allow it to dry its coat, but also to
relax its muscles.
It’s very comfortable
here. In 1857, Emperor
Franz Joseph ordered the demolition of
Vienna’s medieval fortifications.
The very same
ones that had made it possible to
contain associations of the Ottoman armies.
In its place, he had the Ring
built, a wide circular boulevard
four kilometers long on which, a few
years later, he installed the first
electric tramway in Europe. Today, with
its 172 kilometers of track, the
tram goes around the Ring. While Vienna
saw the erection of its prestigious
buildings, the Habsburg
dynasty continued the expansion
of its empire. At
the end of the 19th century,
the Austro-Hungarian monarchy
had a population of approximately
50 million inhabitants, an empire
composed of many cultures and
religions. Vienna then became
the center of a multinational
empire. Germans, Italians, Poles,
Hungarians, Romanians,
Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, live
side by side and form alliances. The
Austrian National Library holds
an exceptional document,
a witness to this past.
This is one of the
most precious manuscripts in
our National Library. This is the
Emperor’s anthem, also
known as May God Protect Emperor
Francis. This melody
was composed by Joseph
Heiden. The most remarkable thing about
this song is that it has been translated
into several languages.
We have several copies
of these translations here.
Unlike France or England, where the
anthem existed in only
one version, the Habsburg monarchy was made
up of many regions where
several languages were
spoken. So, it was important that
everyone could sing
this anthem in their native
language. The First World War
brought an end to the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. In 1989, Zita, the last
empress to have reigned, died at the age of
96. On that day, Vienna gathered in front
of the Capuchin crypt to accompany
him to his final resting place.
The procession stops in front of the
closed door of
the crypt and, according to an extremely
precise ritual, asks
a Capuchin friar for permission
to enter.
Who had a choice? Cita, the Caesar
of Red West, the queen of the queen
of England, the queen of Bohemia,
of Dalmatia, of Croatia,
of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria
and of Lyria.
I don’t know. This crypt contains
the remains of 138 members of the
Habsburg dynasty. Marie-Thérèse,
of course,
whose tomb is shown here. This is probably
the most impressive. She rests there
with her husband, Francis I. Sissi’s
is more modest,
it’s a little further away.
This is the tomb of Sissi, who rests
alongside her husband,
Emperor Franz Joseph,
and her son, Rudolf. Sissi’s immense beauty
and tragic fate have undoubtedly contributed
to making
her a mythical figure
in history. Moreover, many people still
come to pay their respects at this
tomb. While exceptional women have
left their mark on the monarchy,
other women have also distinguished
themselves in the bourgeoisie
and the business
world. This is the case
of Anna Sahrer. In 1892, she took over
the management of a hotel and transformed
it into one of the most
popular establishments
for the aristocracy and the upper middle
class. Today,
Elisabeth Gurtler, a businesswoman,
is in charge of the hotel. Anna
Sahrer, you have it. You see it
here, above the doorman’s box? She was
a woman with a strong character
and great self-confidence.
She ran that
house with an iron fist. Moreover,
she was doing something unusual
for the time. She smoked Havana
cigars. This earned him a very masculine
image in Viennese society.
Whenever someone asked for the hotel
manager, she made a point
of replying: I am the manager.
I am the man of the house. It was very
important for her to reiterate
her position. In 1890, it
was not particularly
accepted or appreciated by the bourgeoisie
that a woman could run a business.
But I think that
if his business was
very successful, it could be accepted.
Beauty. Since its creation, this legendary
hotel
has welcomed the world’s greatest. At
the time, stylist Emilia Flegue was also
a very prominent figure. However, it
is not his artistic talents that history
will remember, but his close relationship
with one of the greatest
painters of the late 19th century, Gustav
Klimt. Emilia Flegue
would become the painter’s great
inspiration. At the beginning
of the 20th century,
at the age of 35, Klimt participated in
the creation of a major artistic movement:
the Secessionists. This movement will
mark a break with the academic
style of the time. The Belvedere
Castle now houses the world’s largest collection
of paintings by Gustav Klimt.
I have an appointment with
Gérard Garouste, one of the most
important French painters and
sculptors. So, Gérard Garouste,
we are standing
in front of one of the paintings… The most well-known thing about Climes
is the kiss. Lots of gilding, lots of
gold, therefore lots
of sacredness. Does he consider
kissing sacred? The half-seconds
when we discover the painting, even
before it passes
through consciousness, are
the most important seconds for this vision
of the painting. Well, that’s a
story for everyone. But for me, the first
shock of this painting is the
delicacy of its faces in relation to this
composition which has nothing
to do with painting, which came
from a decorative panel. We are in
a setting and as a painter,
I ask myself: But then, where
does the painting
begin? Where
does the scenery begin?
It’s a game. What
does this painting evoke
for you? Klimt
was a symbolist. He wants to bring
out his mythical side in his painting.
And there is an obvious symbolism
here, which is that
between this sacred gold and his faces
breaking away, I think he
drew sustenance from it, was inspired
by it, and he wanted to develop
this to break with the
naturalists. Once again, a love scene,
a universal subject,
is an alibi. And through the
technique of painting,
in fact, it is his personal
adventure that is being staged.
So, ultimately, I would say that
it’s more of a self-portrait than a love
scene. It is Klimt’s adventure that counts.
This painting is his own
adventure. This is characteristic
of this period when the painter
begins to talk about himself in his
painting. Yes, that’s what shocked
the critics of the time,
because good painting, if you
have to paint a bouquet of flowers,
it has to look like a bouquet of flowers.
And all the critics of the time were
shocked by this adventure of these new
painters who began to paint their fantasies,
their illusions, their desires.
But what are they thinking?
Gérard Garouze,
when you paint, are
you telling your own story
in your paintings?
Yes, absolutely. All painters do is
self-portraits. To each era Sonard, To
every art its freedom, such will
be Klimt’s motto. The year 1902 was
the year of glory and consecration for
the artist. For an exhibition in homage
to Beethoven, Klimt created
a monumental 34-meter-long fresco
representing the Ninth Symphony. This mural,
which was intended to
be temporary, will ultimately be preserved.
It is now located in
Vienna, at the pavilion of the ceciçonists.
Alongside Klimt were also
architects who would also
revolutionize their art. The
most iconic of them is
named Otto Wagner. A pioneer of Art
Nouveau in Vienna, he combined aesthetics
and functionality. In 1902, he
was asked to imagine a church in a very
particular location. To appreciate Otto Wagner’s
inventiveness and
understand his approach, I wanted
to take you here, a little away from
the city centre. We are
in a hospital, a psychiatric
hospital. A century ago,
Otto Wagner was asked to build this church.
It is considered the first modern
church in Europe. Indeed,
with this building, Saint-Clair
will create a true manifesto, the
manifesto of modernity. So, externally,
we recognize all the
ornaments that make up its style: marble,
glass, copper and of course,
all the gilding. And what about inside?
Well, let me take
you inside. I told you earlier that this
church was built in a psychiatric
hospital and at the time, there
were two key words: Hygiene and safety.
Look at this holy water font. Instead
of everyone dipping
their fingers in this holy water
font, each person will
be able to pick the drop of holy water
that beads from this dispenser. In terms
of security, Otto Wagner had
planned every last detail. For example,
that’s good. Look
closely, none of the
sharp edges are sharp.
Everything is rounded so that
the sick person cannot hurt
themselves during mass if they
happen to become agitated.
This may seem obvious,
but we are in 1904. Similarly, look
closely at the dear one, there is
no visible staircase, therefore
no accessible staircase.
Only the priest can
access it, but from the sacristy.
So, aesthetics, functionality, we
are at the beginnings of design.
And then, before leaving this
place, I would like you to observe
the angels that are on these stained
glass windows. You have those who
look at the sky and then
you have those who look
at us, who look at the earth. Observe
their wings closely. They
represent peacock feathers. We are in the
Art Nouveau period. And this is not
the only example in Vienna. The
Austrian capital became a hub of artistic
creation, a true showcase
of Art Nouveau. Factories, public establishments,
metro stations,
interior decoration of
famous cafes, villas and
apartment buildings, Otto
Wagner’s talent shapes and decorates
the city. This is a particularly
interesting
example in the architecture of Otto
Wagner. This elevator was
revolutionary. It was the first to be
installed in a residence in Vienna. This
was very important to Otto Wagner.
There was no longer
a beautiful floor. They were
all equally important
to the inhabitants.
Otto Wagner lived here until his death
in 1918. Restored by the
Austrian Historic Monuments Office,
this apartment is in itself a work
of art. This apartment was
not only revolutionary and radical, it
was also an example of what
Otto Wagner would
have liked to build
for everyone. As an architect, he built
his own apartments and then used
them as a model for modern-era architecture.
To some extent, it could be said
that he tried every dwelling.
After a few years, he
would resell his buildings and
with the money, he would develop
a new, even more modern building.
Once again, he was
moving into the new building.
His first building is located
on the Ring, on this large
bourgeois avenue, while his last
apartment is located further
outside the city centre.
It is much more functional
and more modern. This is also a sign of Otto Wagner’s radicalization
with age. Before
leaving Vienna, head
towards the Pratere.
It is one of the most famous amusement
parks in the world.
It is on a former hunting reserve of
the emperors of the Habsburg dynasty that
one of the emblems of the city
stands: the Great Wheel.
This redhead is also
one of the symbols of Vienna.
It is 65 meters high and during the
First World War, it served
as an observation post for the
Austrian army. A little
aside for film buffs: it also served
as a setting for the film The Third
Man with Orson Welles. As World War
II approached, given the rise of
Nazism in the 1930s, a number of Austrians,
including Austrian
intellectuals and artists, left
the country. Some who would
settle in London would choose
to do so, as was the case with Freud.
Others will choose Brazil,
as was the case with the writer
Stephen Zweig. And then others, many
others, will go to Argentina, and
this will be the case for Margaret
Wallman. Born in Vienna
in 1904, choreographer
and director, Margaret Wallman
directs the Vienna
Ballet. Despite enjoying
great popularity, she was
forced to leave her post in 1938 because
of her Jewish origins.
She decides to settle in
Buenos Aires. Margaret Wallmann finds Argentina
in a state of great
upheaval. While Europe in the 1930s,
having experienced recession,
was preparing to go to
war, Argentina was a land of
promise and Buenos
Aires was overflowing
with energy. The arrival of hundreds
of thousands of immigrants gave
the city a new economic and artistic
boost. When Margaret Wallmann
arrived here in Buenos Aires, she
took over the direction of the Ballet
of the Colonne Theatre, and
she discovered a place similar in every
way to the one today. You’ll see. The
Colonne Theatre
is emblematic of the European influence
that Buenos Aires
showed at the time. His style is eclectic,
a blend of Italian and French inspiration.
The acoustics of the hall
attract the greatest voices like that
of Maria Callas, the greatest philharmonic
orchestras or the greatest ballets
in the world. Margaret Wallmann would
remain at the head of
the ballet for ten years.
It’s truly a magnificent room. In
Margaret Wallmann’s time, Buenos
Aires was in full expansion and the
vibrant life of Argentinians
passed through this place.
Like the Paris Opera or the Ascala
in Milan, the Teatro Colonne
is one of the most
renowned opera houses in the
world. Its acoustics
are truly exceptional.
Buenos Aires was built up through
successive waves of immigration.
To become competitive on the world
stage, Argentina in the 19th century
needed manpower. The national
Constitution of 1853 made the
policy of encouraging European
immigration a fundamental
principle. After the
United States, Argentina
became the second most popular
destination for Europeans
on the new continent.
When Argentinians are asked about their
origins, they respond with great
humor and in the form of a joke
from the Astecs, the Peruvians descend
from the Incas, and we Argentinians
descend from the boats.
It’s true that immigration
built this country.
Buenos Aires was built
right here on the Boca neighborhood.
La Boca means both mouth
and mouthpiece. And in the
19th century, there
was enormous port activity here
which attracted millions and millions
of immigrants. And among
them, the young Aristotle Onassis,
who carried out what was his first job
at the foot of this metal bridge which,
moreover, has become
one of the symbols of La
Bocca. But those who shaped this neighborhood
the most, well, those were
the Italians. The largest wave of
Italian immigration took place between
1900 and 1910.
At that time, more than a million
Italians settled
here in the La Boca district.
And today,
it is estimated that out of a population
of 40 million Argentinians,
well, 45 percent are of Italian
origin. The memories of those great,
uncertain crossings are
still intact among the oldest
among us. Hello Patrick, how
are you? How are you,
Carmela? I’m
doing well
? Okay, okay.
I’m fine with you. I arrived here when
I was 16 years old. We come
from Modena. We arrived after the
war. World War II. I won’t
tell you too much because
it’s rather sad. We embarked
in a port in Italy for a long journey
that lasted a month. The only stopover
was Dakar, just for one day. And the
rest, between sky and sea. And
that’s where it all began. After
that, we landed here in La Boca.
That’s where I met my husband, an
Argentinian, son of an Italian.
What strikes you when you discover
the La Boca neighborhood
is the bright colors of the houses.
There is not a wall, a door,
a balcony here that is not decorated.
The pictorial history
of La Boca begins with an abandoned
child. He was
taken in and raised by a poor family
in La Boca, and this child would
become a painter, one of the greatest
silver-selling painters in the
1930s, he would be known as King and Martine.
King and Martine were born
in 1890. Loyal to his neighborhood,
his port, and the men and women who
work there, he chose to
live his whole life here
in La Bocca. Legend has it that
he was the one who encouraged
the inhabitants to paint the facades
of their houses. His painting
testifies to his passion
and commitment. He could not
paint what he had not personally
experienced. And for example, these
workers are recurring characters in his
painting. These men have bent
backs, bent by the effort and
the loads. They could paint them
because he himself had been one of them.
As far as he knew, he had worked at
that port loading and unloading boats. He was interested in the figure of a man
who embodies the dreams
of the entire society.
The dreams of a society that wanted to
succeed based on work, progress,
effort, and talent. Argentina
is the other Basque country,
as we say here. In the
19th century, many Basques came in
search of Eldorado. Many
prominent Argentine figures
are of Basque origin. This was
the case of Evaperon, and also
of Cségevara, which today
had Irish and Basque origins.
So this diaspora, today, has
remained very active. Martin Labat
is Argentinian. His ancestors,
however, were Basque. They arrived
by boat in the 1880s. With
his beret screwed onto his
head, he regularly goes to
the Guretchea Center,
one of the Basque cultural
centers in Buenos Aires.
As you can see here, this is a typically
Basque place. We can see
it in the construction, in
the decorations. There is an inscription
on this stone. 1930. This
is the final stage
of the great Basque immigration to Argentina.
At
the time, Europe was going
through an economic crisis
generated, in particular, by wars. And
Argentina offers the
possibility of a new life
in a new country similar to the Basque
Country. They leave from
Saint-Jean-de-Luz by boat.
It’s a very
long and difficult journey
of almost three months. They
cross the Atlantic in practical
ways to get here, in the south,
to this country called
Argentina. They arrive here with
genuine expertise and knowledge
in raising animals such as sheep.
They know about fieldwork, milking
cows. You know, the Basques are workaholics.
For a Basque,
the sun never sets. We
know when the day starts,
but never
when it ends. If the Basques
arrive in Argentina with their
workforce, they also bring
their traditions, including the practice
of Basque pelota. A
sport immediately adopted by Argentinians.
Vamos a jugar un poco,
eh? A good game.
Pierre d’Elba. A black
stone with a particular
characteristic. It is
very hard and
sounds very
good. The ball bounced
off it very hard. There is a
Franco-Argentine personality I would
like you to meet. This is Pablo Reynoso.
He is one of the most inventive
sculptors and designers of our time.
He divides his time between
Paris, Madrid and Buenos Aires,
and he arranged to meet me in his
studio. Pablo Renoso is working
on the creation of a gigantic
mast, 24 meters high, intended for
the campus of an Argentinian university.
So this is one of the workshops
where the artworks are
made? Yes, it’s one
of my production centers, I
call them, which is equipped
for everything. For gigantism.
For gigantism. There
are no limits to creation.
Any crazy idea
is possible. Is
the bench a recurring feature in your
home? This is a recurring
theme for me. That’s called a talking
bench. I also call him
the one who gives his word. It’s a
good thing to chat about. There is
a relationship to functionality
in your work that is quite striking.
It’s not that I’m a bench manufacturer,
I’m a sculptor who has always
introduced a function into his
work. This is
a good one, but it could be
a mast. Here, we place
a lot of trust in
the artist because we believe
in the artistic project, just
as we believed in tango
and as we believe in football.
There are some vectors
where you are pushed to go
further. We’re proud of that. But
I am also very inspired
by French culture.
Simply, I know how to assimilate
it and
render it with a particularity that
is my own. Originality, diversity,
creativity: Pablo Reynoso
shows us an example of this in the heart
of Buenos Aires.
Patrick, I wanted to show
you this building.
Do you know what it is?
I don’t know, no. An official
building, a
castle? It’s a castle, but a water
castle. All of this is a facade
to hide a water tower.
Is this what they call Argentine
excess? I think
so, yes. That’s why
I wanted to show
it to you. Because
these buildings, in
fact, were born from the desire to hide
something. So, what do we do? What
kind of architecture? We take
a Renaissance architecture
and add English mosaics with
doors that will come from Spain. So,
we’re bringing in the roof
from France. All the leftovers
come from England. And all of
this creates a particular style. A style
that… What is it? Is it Baroque? That’s
impossible.
The impossible
becomes possible.
That’s pretty
much it. And Pablo, is all of
Buenos Aires built
with that spirit? In large
part, it’s a bit like receiving
an instruction manual for a washing
machine, but the washing machine
never arrived. So, you have
the manual to apply it to something
else and you invent. That’s kind of the
spirit of these countries that
will be born from nothing, from migratory
flows. It’s all going to get mixed
up. Sometimes it will be a huge
success, sometimes it
will be a complete failure. It doesn’t
matter. The question is how to move
forward. Is this
what will give Buenos Aires
its architectural originality? I
think that’s where the originality
lies. When you see a building and
then the one next to it, there’s a Frenchman,
there’s an Italian, there’s
a Spaniard, there’s one who mixes
everything up. One who
thought it was Versailles, but who has
never been to Versailles. Another one
who wanted to do Westminster. Well, but
it wasn’t quite there either…
The materials weren’t there,
but the will was. That’s
pretty much it, Benoît-Zer.
So, I wanted to show
you something else. We need to keep in mind that we are in the
19th century, the end of the 19th century.
Argentina is rich, it wants the
best, it always wants the best. So,
in sculpture, what is
the best? Rodin. What do we
do?
Rodin was commissioned
to create this work.
He came here, there?
He didn’t come. No, no,
he did it in France.
The sculpture has arrived,
but there’s a little anecdote that
I love. The sculpture is good,
but the base, while sublime, is
a little disproportionate,
a little too big in relation to the
sculpture. And the Sox, it was
a disciple of Rodin, Antoine Bourdelle,
who sculpted that. He wholeheartedly
embraced
the creation of this
work. And in fact, it was
the opening of a huge, a huge commission
for Bourdelle in Argentina.
And it is the disciple who
takes precedence over the master?
Yes, here. He took
it here.
Rodin is the
ultimate artist. Absolutely.
But there
is a star here who is a French
artist, who is not known
at all in France, but who is a legend
here. But because he left
us everything. The only beautiful
thing around us is Charles Thaïs.
Charles Thaïs
is a landscape architect. A
disciple of Édouard André,
he participated alongside him in the creation
of numerous Parisian parks and
gardens. Sent by André to Argentina to oversee
the development of a park in
Córdoba, he settled permanently in Buenos
Aires, where he was appointed director
of parks and promenades in 1891.
Charles Thaïs will considerably
transform the face of Buenos Aires.
Palermo wood is one of his
many creations. It’s the green
lung of the city. We are typically
in Boulogne-R Seine. We find exactly
the same operating principle with
very clear lines and creations of artificial
lakes, cities like you see here,
with palm trees added, of course,
since we are in Buenos Aires. And
these are truly parks that have
been created.
At the time, it was called Hygiene
Park, for the well-being and health of Parisians.
Well,
here it’s exactly the same
principle, meaning you find people
on pedal boats and bicycles.
Following the Parisian model, Charles
Thaïs created a botanical
garden and a rose garden in the Palermo
woods. The rose has nothing to do
with Argentina. At that time, people
were looking at France. We look at
Bagatelle and Les Roses, parks created
by Édouard André. We can even
look much further back, to Josephine
de Beauharnais, at Malmaison, and her
first rose collections.
We find ourselves in a Parisian
rose garden, since we have the layout
of the regular French
garden. And then, its rose
garden which was very fashionable in
France at the beginning of the 20th century.
To create his rose
garden, Charles Thaïs had all
his rose bushes brought from
France by boat. There is a
very nice story about this here in Buenos
Aires. As the ship carrying them crosses
the Equator, an
unexpected phenomenon occurs. All
rose bushes bloom
at the same time. To celebrate
the event, the commander then
organizes a grand ball on the ship. At the
beginning of the 20th century, French
influence extended even to cafes. It
is here, at Café Tortoni, that painters,
writers, and musicians meet. Among
them were Quinquela Martin,
Carlos Gardel,
Federico García Lorca and many others.
It’s the oldest cafe in town. It
was created by a French immigrant in 1858,
modeled after a Parisian café located
on Boulevard des Italiens, which brought
together the entire Parisian intelligentsia
of
the 19th century. This cafe,
which has disappeared, was called
Café Tortoni, hence the name of this one.
In the spread of this European
culture in Argentina,
one woman would play an essential role:
Victoria Ocampo. Born
in Buenos Aires in 1890,
Victoria Ocampo belonged to a family of
the Argentine high society. In
the 1930s, she took
a long trip to Paris. There she met
Coco Chanel, Malraux, Éluard, Breton,
Stravinsky, Camus, and a host of
intellectuals from all
disciplines. She invites
them to Argentina and it is in this
luxurious villa that she receives them.
She invites these intellectuals,
she has a huge fortune and she decides
to invest this fortune in culture.
So, she pays for their
ticket, she puts them
up. They are housed like
kings in this house.
They have wives, servants, and a personal
driver. And it was
a house where not only were there intellectuals
and writers, but people also talked
about culture, etc. But
we were having a pleasant time.
The kitchen, for example,
she went to see de Gaulle in
1964, when de Gaulle was at his
peak. And at a political lunch,
she talks about cooking.
She says: You eat better at
my place, Villa Ocampo, than at
the Élysée Palace.
So, she paid attention
to those things. And that’s
what attracted intellectuals,
among others, who liked
to stroll in the gardens, meet people,
drink the best coffee,
or just be really comfortable.
All these writers she met in Paris
and elsewhere in the 1930s.
This is a book by Camus,
which is quite exceptional
because he dedicated it at several
points in his life. He
talks about his encounter with
her. To Victoria O Campo, this book
which explains nothing
with friendship which resolves everything,
that of the heart,
Albert Camus. So,
this is Albert Camus’
travel journal, which actually talks
about this house. He says: Finally, I
land at Victoria O’Campo’s.
Large, pleasant
house in the style of Gone with the
Wind. Grand and old luxury.
I want to lie down
there and sleep there until
the end of the world. I do fall
asleep. There is a
place where the Portegnoss, the inhabitants
of Buenos Aires, they enjoy getting together.
This unusual place also reflects
the city’s cultural tradition. It’s
a theatre. His
name was the Great Spandid. Today,
his role has completely
changed. So, this
theatre, as you can see, has been
transformed into a bookstore. It is
also the largest bookstore in
Latin America. It was built
in 1919 and on its stage, it has seen the
greatest stars of tango.
Then it became a cinema.
It was also here that the
first talking film in Buenos Aires
was screened. One can
imagine the atmosphere that
must have prevailed in that room.
What’s nice here, besides
the beauty of the place,
is all the reading nooks
that have been set up, whether on the
balcony, in the bathtub and even
on stage, where you can both drink
a coffee and read your book. If
Vienna is the capital of Valls,
Buenos Aires is the capital of
Tango. It appeared at the end of
the 19th century in the working-class neighborhoods
of the capital. Tango was then
intended to be a provocative,
insolent dance, very
far removed from the puritanical morals
of good society at the time.
In the 1930s, it was exported to Paris.
That’s where he earned
his stripes. The most prestigious
theaters in Buenos Aires
then resounded with the most beautiful
voices of tango and the controversial
astarin was named Carlos Gardel.
At the time,
he was the most famous singer.
On June 24, 1935, he died at the
height of his fame in a plane crash.
The quality of his voice and his
premature death will make
him a popular myth.
Today, its voice has been declared
part of humanity’s heritage
by UNESCO, and tango is still very
much present in the streets
of Buenos Aires.
Llegó el social de Oviedo,
el vecino Raúl, que es un fenômeno.
Y que, sin ningún tipo de intérés,
ni pas que de passer
la vie, ni de partage
un espace, parce nos viens tous les samedis
en chantant, et à poco nous ses retrouveres.
THANKS.
Marie and
Diego are a French-Argentine
couple. They are lovers
of tango. Several times a
week, they dedicate themselves to
their passion. For Marie,
dancing well starts with wearing
good shoes. They are
comfortable. Firstly, because they
are made of leather,
you see, so you can pivot
easily, unlike sneakers or
shoes like that. And since
they are sandals, they have
a strap that holds the shoe securely
to your foot, so you
don’t risk losing them or having
them held back during the dance.
So, they have one bridle, two bridles,
diagonals, well, it
depends, it depends on the models.
And then, they have really high
heels. It’s true that it can
be scary. But ultimately, once
you’ve been dancing
for a long time, you develop a good
sense of balance and you maintain
good body position. So,
the heel doesn’t land very often. And
very often, as soon as we can, we land
it. But when you pivot, you have to
lift it. So finally, when you already have
a seven centimeter heel,
all you have to do is lift it
a little more and pivot. Actually,
no? It’s quite
comfortable. Tonight,
Marie and Diego have chosen to go to
one of the most fashionable
milongas in Buenos Aires. Here, all
generations mingle and on the dance floor,
high heels are de rigueur.
The woman does not particularly
need to look at where she puts
her feet, where he is not doing what
the man is doing, because ultimately, traditionally,
it is the man who suggests
steps to the woman and she follows,
accepts, and continues the steps
as he suggests them. So, generally, he
doesn’t need to look at
his feet, but he needs to look at the
track. So, managing the couple, the
couple’s dance in relation
to all the other dancers who are
circling around the floor. When
the dance floor is very crowded,
you still need to know how
to dance without offending others.
It’s like a mirage of plants
and emissions. They
are all birds of the sky.
I know that’s not the case, you and
there is love. Our only ones went terribly
wrong. There is only
one hope that evil
will befall. There is only one kiss, only
one kiss, that you only carry the
kiss, robaudra ça. I’m taking you to
a historic and iconic place of tango, here
in Buenos Aires, it’s the Confiteria
Ideal. This is a place where Carlos
Gardel used to perform. And
I have a meeting there with
the dancers from the Tango Passion troupe..
Tus ojos son oscuros,
como el olvido. Your lips are ready,
as they meet your
hands. Dos palomas que
sienten frío. You come with
the blood of abandoned
in your tangos. His cries
abandoned as they cruised over the
barrier of the callejón. When
all the doors are surrounded, that when
you hear the fantasies of the song
Malena, you can sing the tango with your
quebrada Malena, you have to
abandon it. Vanina, what
do you express by singing the
tango? Tango always makes
you vibrate from within.
You can’t sing the tango
without anything happening,
without feeling the words.
It’s a short, three-minute interpretation
during which we are completely
immersed in the story
we have to convey. But
it is passion, it is sadness,
what characterizes the soul
of tango? Passion, sadness, nostalgia.
Most of the time, the
lyrics are positive and not negative.
Passion and love are always
present in the interpretation
we give it. There is a body language,
there is
an alphabet. When you see
the dancers responding
to each other like that, you get the
impression that they are talking
to each other with their bodies.
Exactly. It is a language in which three main
elements communicate. Leg work,
intensity of movements and twists.
That’s what makes it different
from other dances. Here
we are back at the
banks of the Rio de la Plata, the Silver
River, which undoubtedly gave its
name to this country,
Argentina. This is a river
here which is about fifty kilometers
wide and which serves as the border between
Argentina and Uruguay. And so,
this is where our story
ends. I’ll see you for
the next episode of The Grand Tour,
the journey continues. It is at the end
that everything begins. See you
soon. Come
on, folks. Right?
Oh, yeah. Pack
your things, baby. Now, I’ll put on your shoes. Let’s take a break. I’ll turn it loose. Come for a ride. I want to take you out. Yeah. For a ride. I
want to take you out.
Un voyage exceptionnel entre Istanbul, Vienne et Buenos Aires
Amoureux de la France et du patrimoine, ses trésors n’auront plus de secrets pour vous 👉https://bit.ly/4dnI1h1
00:00 Istanbul : Byzance, Constantinople, empire ottoman
04:42 Sainte-Sophie et la transformation ottomane
08:12 Topkapi, le harem et ses figures mythiques
15:39 Galata : quartier génois, artistes et écrivains
21:15 Le Grand Bazar et les arts traditionnels
24:49 Théâtre d’ombre et patrimoine immatériel
29:26 Citerne basilique et héritage mythologique
34:35 En route pour Vienne : chute ottomane et renouveau impérial
39:15 Schönbrunn, Habsbourg, Marie-Thérèse et Sissi
50:07 L’école espagnole d’équitation : les Lipizzans
58:34 Klimt, Wagner, Garouste : une capitale artistique
01:11:57 Buenos Aires, immigration et essor culturel
01:17:58 Les peintres argentins et les quartiers populaires
01:24:07 Pablo Reinoso : art, design et héritage franco-argentin
01:32:20 Café Tortoni, tango et vie intellectuelle
01:40:55 Le langage du tango et la passion argentine
01:46:28 Fin du voyage sur le Rio de la Plata
Ce Grand Tour conduit Patrick de Carolis sur trois continents.
À Istanbul, cité millénaire aux influences byzantines et ottomanes, il découvre Sainte-Sophie, les trésors de Topkapi et le quartier de Galata, accompagné de Tchéky Karyo et du Prix Nobel Orhan Pamuk.
À Vienne, il part sur les traces des Habsbourg, entre faste impérial, bal viennois, Lipizzans, chefs-d’œuvre de Klimt et architecture révolutionnaire d’Otto Wagner, avant une rencontre inspirante avec Gérard Garouste.
Le voyage s’achève en Argentine, où Buenos Aires dévoile son cosmopolitisme : immigration européenne, effervescence artistique, tango et création contemporaine avec le designer Pablo Reinoso.
Un périple au cœur des cultures, des arts et des mémoires du monde.
Titre : Le Grand Tour – Istanbul, Vienne, Buenos Aires
Réalisation : Patrick De Carolis et Jean-Luc Orabona
© Tous droits réservés – AMP
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Bienvenue sur Trésors du Patrimoine, votre passeport pour explorer le riche patrimoine et l’art de vivre français. Partez à la découverte des régions de France et de leur patrimoine : Sites historiques, panoramas naturels, traditions, savoir-faire artisanal, culture, Histoire..
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2 Comments
Merci pour le partage-partagé, toujours agréable de visiter le monde sans sortir de chez soi. J'apprend par le biais de vos sorties. Gratitude, Joyeux Noël.
Beurk