A sporting frenzy has gripped the capital: in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, sport is everywhere! In the streets, in bars and cafés, in parks, in museums... Is this craze really so new? The Maison de Balzac takes us back in time, with a free exhibition exploring the links between Parisians and sport.
Entitled Le sport avant les Jeux (Sport before the Games), this exhibition provides a pictorial overview of the various sporting activities practiced by Parisians in the early 19th century, before Pierre de Coubertin decided to revive the Olympic Games. Running from May 22 to September 15, 2024, this exhibition brings together various drawings, engravings and press cartoons commenting on current sporting events or habitual sporting exercises.
Regular sport is a relatively recent activity in France: it wasn't until the 19th century that sport and physical exercise became leisure activities. Paris and the surrounding area were transformed to accommodate these new hobbies.
You can play long palm on the Champs-Elysées, swim in pools set up in the Seine or race aboard regattas, go horseback riding in the Tuileries gardens and in the Bois de Boulogne, and fencing, boxing and batonball rooms are springing up everywhere...
These sports are no strangers to us... And yet, they can be very different from the ones we know. Rules, techniques, official dress: many things have changed in just a few centuries!
Discover this free exhibition at the Maison de Balzac, throughout the Olympic summer.
Dates and Opening Time
From May 22th, 2024 to September 15th, 2024
Location
House of Balzac
47, rue Raynouard
75116 Paris 16
Prices
Free
Official website
www.maisondebalzac.paris.fr
