-Urban Sacralization-

                      For my urban sacralization I thought about many different places; such as home, and places I have been, and places that I want to go. But none stood out more than that of La Dame du Lac located in Lisses, a small suburb of Paris. I have never been to this place, but I  have always wanted to go there. Specifically because of its Parkour roots,  of course Parkour originated in Paris, but it is said that Parkour was first put into practice at this particular spot.
                     This spot is famous within the Parkour and Freerunning world; mainly because of its superb height, and texture, and dimensions- it practically looks like one big climbing wall. This place is now currently banned, and fenced in because of accidents that have occurred from falling or other smaller injuries. Fortunately people still d o train Parkour there, but if caught face a hefty fine.
                     Now this spot is very famous, and known- but only within a certain group of people, and it makes me wonder, whether or not this spot can actually count as an example of urban sacralization. Like I said, it is only known within the Parkour community, and maybe by people of Paris. But it does meet the criteria for urban sacralization according to Dean MacCannell and his writing on ''Sight Sacralization''.
                      Step one, according to MacCannell, being that the sight is marked off, or somehow marked worthy of preservation, by being different from other sites. This is true especially in this case, the fence, and if that isn't enough, this is surrounded by a moat of some sort, lots of water. So La Dame du Lac definitely stands out. Then step two, is the ''Framing and Elevation'' of the object. This is also true in this case. It can be looked at from a distance on the surrounding land, and also from atop the structure one can look out and see the beautiful sights. Thirdly  is ''Mechanical Reproduction''; this place not only has been photographed, quite a lot, but could have been done, even if it wasn't. Also this place has been filmed in documentaries and has been spoken about through word of mouth. One thing to take note of, is that this place is important not only because of itself, or its location; but because of the people that find this place interesting, and the use that this place has for these people. I think that is a huge factor in identifying an Urban Sacralized place/ structure. Here is La Dame Du Lac, in Lisses, Paris. Note that the fencing is not currently in this photo because this is an earlier photo.