"King Henri IV of France . . . was not interested in courtly
splendor, or books, or the arts; he was notoriously averse to
spending money, even on his mistresses. But when it came to
embellishing Paris, nothing was too good for him. Henri first
entered the city as its sovereign after several sieges and half a
century of civil wars, What he found was a decaying and ravaged
medieval hodge-podge. By the time he died, in 1610, he had
transformed it into one of the great European capitals. Just how he
did this is the fascinating (and still relevant) story that Hilary
Ballon tells in her admirably documented book."--Olivier Bernier,
"Wall Street Journal"
"This delightful book elegantly documents Henri IV's architectural
programs of 1605-10 . . . and helps us understand the surprisingly
gentle humanity and charm that those urban groupings
possess."--"The New Yorker"
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