The Hall Of Mirrors And Buffalo

There is something in the area where this blog is being written that should get more attention. The recent coup plot in Germany drew attention to the Kaisers, the royal family that ruled the German Empire from 1871 to 1919. The would-be coup was a plan by members of the nobility to essentially restore the Kaisers

During the time of the Kaisers Germany became a prosperous modern country. Great advances were made in science and technology and it pioneered the idea of the welfare state. A section of Buffalo, Kaisertown, is named for them today.

The German-speaking states and principalities across central Europe had long been precluded from uniting because they were divided between Protestants and Catholics. Prussia was the Protestant state that dominated the north, Austria was the Catholic state that dominated the south. Prussia was not only ultimately victorious in Germany but also against France in the Franco-Prussian War. This is why German-speaking Austria is a separate country today.

A united German Empire was thus actually proclaimed in Paris, actually in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles just outside Paris. The newly-united Germany would, of course, be dominated by Prussia. The King of Prussia would become Emperor of Germany.

The memory of the King of Prussia lives on in the town by that name in southeastern Pennsylvania. There would be three emperors before it came to an end in 1919, after the First World War. Kaiser Wilhelm I and II were grandfather and grandson. The one between them, Frederick, would reign for only a short time.

The treaty to end the First World War would be known as the Treaty of Versailles because it would be signed in the same Hall of Mirrors where the German Empire began. The Hall of Mirrors might actually be the single most famous room in the world.

The Palace of Versailles is actually the third successive palace of the French royal family, which was ultimately overthrown in 1789. The first was Palais de la Cite, on the island in the Seine River not far from Notre Dame Cathedral. The second was the complex that is now the Louvre, which included the former Tuileries Palace. The splendid Palace of Versailles was built just outside Paris and the royal court moved there.

But it was the sheer splendor of Versailles that did much to inspire the French Revolution, of 1789, which saw the king and queen overthrown and guillotined, and was really the beginning of the modern political era.

The way that this relates to the area where this blog is being written is that there is a company with a strong local presence called St. Gobain. This is actually a French company that goes back to the Seventeenth Century. It was originally a glass manufacturer. It was this company that made the glass for the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.

Image from Google Street View.

Something else about this area that should get attention is Transit Road. Western New York State's Transit Road is one of the most visible straight lines on earth, as seen from space. It is close enough to Buffalo to be developed but far enough away to stand out against a mostly dark green background. The vertical straight line in the very center of the following image is Transit Road, as seen from space.

Image from Google Earth.