Gold of Power from Julius Caesar to Marianne

Bonjour from Le Marais

From 26 May 2016 a new exhibition entitled Gold of Power, from Julius Caesar to
Marianne, will be held in the Archaeological Crypt of the Île de la Cité.
The exhibition will retrace the history of Paris through a magnificent selection of
coins and exhibits evoking great figures of power.

Visitors will discover, in ten stages, the people of history who transformed the destiny of the city of their time, related to the archaeological vestiges found in the Crypt. The Parisii, founders of the Gallic city, Julius Caesar, victorious at the battle of Lutetia, the Emperor Julian who took power in the Île de la Cité, Philippe IV le Bel and Charles V who transformed the medieval city, up to Napoleon III who initiated today's capital: each of these powerful people left their effigy and their symbol engraved in metal.
The currencies of the earliest inhabitants of Paris are moving relics of the past and veritable works of art, made remarkable by their stylization and modernity.
The production of currency is also of key importance in political and symbolic terms and sheds light on how power was exercised.

Julius Caesar received permission from the Senate to stamp coins with his effigy during his lifetime, but Louis XII was the first king of France to put his portrait on a coin. At a time when humanism was extolling the individual, coins slowly became tools for propaganda and legitimisation of royal authority: Louis XIII gave his name to the famous Louis d'Or, and Louis XIV used variations of his portrait with great symbolic sophistication. Long after Caesar and Charlemagne, Napoleon III reproduced the imperial emblems: the eagle and the laurel leaf crown.

The French Revolution and the Republic followed this tradition, replacing the figure of the Emperor with a system of allegorical motifs including the winged genie, the cockerel symbolizing vigilance, the liberty cap and the figure of Marianne.

What do these coins represent ? What do they reveal about the history of Paris?
How should they be interpreted? The exhibition will provide answers to such questions. Through creative exhibits, young visitors and families will be able to touch large-scale .

Enjoy this amazing travel through Time !

The PARISMARAIS ® Team

Special thanks to VALÉRIE GUILLAUME, Head Curator for Heritage, Director of the Carnavalet Museum, the Archaeological Crypt of the Ile de la Cité and the Catacombs.
SCIENTIFIC CURATOR: SYLVIE ROBIN, Head Curator for Heritage, in charge of archaeology. SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR: THIERRY SARMANT, Head Curator for Heritage, History Department of La Défense, Constance Lombard COMMUNICATION &PRESS, DEPARTMENT MANAGER, André Arden, PRESS OFFICER.

TICKETS : Full price: €8 Reduced price: €6 Free for 18-year-olds and under
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CRYPT, 7 place Jean Paul II 75004 Paris
Tél. + 33 (0)1 55 42 50 10 - Open from Tuesdays to Sundays, from 10am to 6pm