Travels in the Knowledge Web:
Notre Dame Cathedral, France to chewing gum
Notre Dame Cathedral – In 1844, the great Paris cathedral was given major repairs (and a lot of it rebuilt, and some new bits added in the ‘Gothic style’). The work took over twenty years and the new bits were so good you can’t tell them from the old bits. The work was carried out by… 
Viollet-Le- Duc – French architect and medievalist maven, pals with similarly-inclined Victor Hugo. He helped boost the Gothic Revival and even built a Gothic-style apartment block in Paris. His two books on the history of French architecture were a major influence on all architects of the time. His patron was… 
Prosper Merimee – Great novelist and Inspector-General of French Monuments. Knew the Empress Eugenie (and hubby, Napoleon III), whose Spanish mother told him a story he wrote up as ‘Carmen,’ inspiring Bizet to do the opera. He was a pal of De Musset, had an affair with Georges Sand, and fell for Brit. visitor to Paris… 
Mary Shelley – Recent widow of the Romantic poet, and authoress of ‘Frankenstein’ (inspired by a Switzerland castle holiday with lecher Byron and her sister). She knew all the radical writers: Lamb, Hazlitt, Coleridge, and social reformer Frances Wright (of Tennessee commune fame). Her father was another social reformer… 
William Godwin – Writer, republican and atheist, helped publish Tom Paine’s ‘Rights of Man’ and became famous with his own ‘Political Justice. ‘ Founder of socialism. Burke considered him dangerous. The radical’s radical, much admired by UK libertarian and mill-owner… 
Robert Owen – Crazy for Rousseau ideas. Founder in 1824 of utopian commune in New Harmony, Indiana. Knew Laplace, Humboldt, Pestalozzi, Malthus, Bentham, etc. In 1829, he went to Mexico with the idea of opening another commune there. Permission was refused by… 
General Santa Anna – Mexican celebrity at the time. In following decades he was President and Dictator of Mexico several times (helped by US Presidents Andrew Jackson and Polk), fought Davy Crockett, and ended up exiled in Staten Island. Through a young businessman in his boarding house there, he introduced to the US…
