The Top 5 posts of 2013

Back again due to popular request (ie to satisfy my own curiosity) the annual list of the top five most-read posts on Invisible Paris. Come back next week for a list of my 5 personal favourite posts this year (which strangely enough – like last year – bears no resemblance to the list of most read articles). 

Keeping with tradition, I have also added a few notes for each post to explain why I chose the subject, why I think it worked and how the story developed. 

I was also happy to note that reader numbers for the articles were a good percentage higher than the top 5 from last year. If my output is declining, I’m glad to see that my audience remains interested in what I do manage to produce!

Auguste Perret: Huit Chefs d'Oeuvre !/?

The life and work of Auguste Perret, one of the most important 20th century architects in France and Paris, is currently being celebrated in an exhibition that runs until February 19th 2014. As an added bonus, the exhibition is being held inside one of his own buildings, the fantastic - and still quite secretive - Palais d'Iéna.

Introducing Invisible Lyon

Following the launch of Invisible Bordeaux two years ago, I'm pleased to announce that the Invisible empire in France now stretches to three cities, with the arrival of Invisible Lyon.

As I mentioned previously, the Invisible City concept is all about being curious and keeping your eyes open, and having the desire to hunt out and recount the forgotten stories of your own personal environment. I'm assured that Lyon - a place that I personally have never visited - is an excellent invisible city with a very wide range of potential material!

Pigalle: the battle is lost, but who won the war?

According to the New York Times, the charm of the Pigalle district has been destroyed by a recent influx of American trendsetters. Pigalle may be defeated, but the guilty party is not fashions but instead simple economics.

Thomas Chatterton Williams’ article for the paper, ‘How hipsters ruined Paris’, is a smartly observed piece which managed to get under the skin of both Parisians and imported Americans – quite an achievement in itself. It is however let down by a glaring oversight. The writer laments the falling of one of the city’s bastions and yet seems completely unaware of the fact that he is a soldier in the invading army.

Le Cimetière de la Villette

The three principal cemeteries in Paris - Père Lachaise, Montmartre and Montparnasse -  see large numbers of tombstone tourists, but few people venture out to the other smaller burial grounds in the city. A look in photos at one of these, the cimetière de la Villette. 

Like the majority of cemeteries in Paris, the La Villette graveyard was originally created to serve the needs of a small village community on the outskirts of Paris. The cemetery we see today is actually the fourth one in this particular village, the growing suburb having quickly filled the other three (which were all abandoned then built over).