Angels of Paris ─ An Architectural Tour Through the History of Paris

Angels are sculpted everywhere in Paris, not just on churches but in unexpected places: holding a lightning rod atop the Theatre du Chatelet’s roof, adorning a seventeenth-century gilded sundial inside a courtyard at the Sorbonne, hovering above a railroad headquarters where a beautiful stone frieze features young angels flying in to work on the tracks. Subtly, subliminally, the angels are a part of the fanciful and romantic spirit of Paris. Angels of Paris is the first book to explore this intriguing and extraordinary subject.

Angels of Paris features beautiful photographs taken from dawn to dusk, in all seasons, accompanied by text explaining the story behind the creation of each angel and of the location in which it is found. Organized chronologically, the book delves into the artistic trends and historic movements the angels reflect and the stories of the artists who created them and of those who commissioned them. Readers will learn about Paris’s history, buildings, and monuments through the abundant, beautiful, and surprising depictions of angels from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.

Rosemary Flannery has found angels in friezes, plaques, and free-standing sculpture; on fountains and facades, clocks and sundials, monuments and mansions, rooftops and window frames. Angels of Paris is a unique way for lovers of Paris to learn more about the city in a new and unusual way.

Rosemary Flannery has lived in France since 1989 and enjoys dual French-American nationality. She graduated with honors from Columbia University in 1985 with a degree in French language and literature, and studied Methodologie de l’Architecture with Professor Claude Mignot, an authority on Parisian building facades, at the Sorbonne. While at Columbia she co-produced and hosted French Encounters, a public-access television program on French culture produced in conjunction with the French Embassy. In 2005 she created and produced The Art Beat, a weekly cultural magazine for Paris Live Radio, an Internet radio station; several of her programs have been picked up by BBC World.