SECRET FOUND
IN PARIS METRO
G'day folks,
Yep, you guessed it. Some more fine art has been found in Paris.
When your walls start to
look outdated, there’s always the option of just painting over them, which is a
little bit like what the Parisian metro has done over the years to update its
stations. When the old white tiling of yesteryear needed a revamp, they
simply covered them up with more modern materials. A quick and easy fix,
it didn’t require even removing the old posters and advertisements pasted along
the platforms. So when present day metro workers went in last week to
begin preliminary renovations and strip back the walls of the Trinité station
in the 9th arrondissement, they uncovered a layer of the city’s history lost
in time.
Public transport schedules dated June 20th, 1959,
household advertisements, vintage city maps, concert promotions and even a
record of criminal convictions that took place within the metro network– a time
capsule of mid-century poster design was unveiled, forgotten behind the walls
since they had been entombed during renovation work in 1960 for a
city-wide initiative to modernise the stations after the war.
For a brief moment, metro passengers disembarking from
their trains onto the platforms of the Trinité station last week, were
plunged into the past as the carriage doors swung open.
Parisian commuter Yan Covès was quick to snap the
uncovered peeling artworks, knowing that within a few days, they would be
sealed over once more. Nevertheless, Trinité is one of many stations scheduled
to undergo preparations for big renovation works starting in October.
A welcome distraction from the routine of the daily commute
and a rare glimpse into the urban environment of commuters 50 years before
us, this might just give Parisians a new reason to enjoy riding the metro.
Surely it’s a sight worth being late to work for.
Clancy's comment: What next will they discover?
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