The best view?

Yes, you have a nice view of Notre Dame (see previous posts) from here – maybe even better with an adjusted focus. However, I must admit that in my opinion the best views of Notre Dame are from the backside. (Don’t’ worry about this photo, the leaves are still on the trees, it’s an old photo.)

I wrote briefly on Square René-Viviani here, but this time, maybe a bit more. What today is a green little square just in front of Notre Dame has been occupied by different monastic, hospital… buildings since centuries - but before that we even found a cemetery. We can see that space was well occupied by buildings until the end of the 1920’s, when the green space was created - and the square was named after René Viviani (1863-1925), a French Minister.

Now you find trees, flowers, happy city-bees and a – quite recent – fountain referring to Saint Julian the Hospitaller. Unfortunately the deer did not offer any fresh water the day I passed.

When Notre Dame was restored during the 19^th century, several abandoned objects were left on what was going to be the square and they are now part of the decoration.

Even before the creation of the square, there was obviously some little space to plant a tree. You can find what is supposed to be the oldest tree in Paris, planted in 1601 by a botanist, Jean Robin (1550-1620), who gave his name to the tree, Robinia. Well, some 417 years old, the tree is now supported by some concrete crutches, but is still nicely blooming each spring. Consider that the tree was planted during the reign of Henry IV, was 188 years old at the French Revolution…

There are some other even older relics in the square, including some remains of a medieval well...

… and of course (what remains of) the church Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre (Saint Julian the Poor) – we have a second Saint Julian in this little square. The start of the construction of the present church – replacing previous ones (but the Vikings passed) is about simultaneous to that of Notre Dame, around 1160, but both were preceded by some 15-20 years by Saint-Pierre de Montmartre (see previous post). The church building, which in the meantime has served other purposes, has been partly destroyed and has diminished in size. It is awarded to the Melkite Catholic community in Paris in 1889 and has been part of it since then. It is frequently used for concerts. To the right of the entry you can find an old well and a stone, the last remaining one of the slabs which used to cover the Roman streets.