Construction of the Avenue de l‘Opéra in Paris, Charles Marville, 1876 - 1877
Between 1853 and 1870 the incessant din of buildings being knocked down resounded throughout Paris. Emperor Napoléon III engaged Georges-Eugène Haussmann to mastermind the city’s rigorous urban renewal, whereby a significant portion of the old medieval Paris vanished to make way for boulevards and newly built houses. Charles Marville recorded much of this demolition and construction.