The Temple

(No, the "temple" is not the small wooden thing with a pigeon on top you see on the photo.)

Of what used to be called the Temple, hardly anything remains. Today you can visit a small park, Square du Temple, but here you will find nothing which reminds you of what the Temple used to be. However, some very minor traces do exist. But, let’s first try to get an idea of what the Temple really was.

Originally the Temple was a medieval fortress, built for the Knights Templar (or the Order of the Temple) during the 13th century. As this Order was dissolved soon later (“tough” actions by the Avignon Pope Clement V, King Philip IV... ), the Knights Hospitaller (of Jerusalem, Rhodes, Malta...) took over and remained until the Revolution.

On the plans I show here, you can see what the Temple looked like in 1739 (from the Turgot plan), including church, chapel, hospital.... Some special attention is of course drawn to the Tour du Temple (the Temple Tower, the “Grosse Tour”, “Grosse Tower”, “Grande Tour”) which dates from 1306. It served immediately partly as prison, more and more with the time. It’s especially known for having been the prison of the Royal family after the Revolution. Louis XVI left directly from here to the guillotine (see previous posts); Marie-Antoinette was transferred to the Conciergerie (see previous post) for a short while, before it was her turn.... Compared to the 1739 plan, some modifications had already taken place when the Royal Family arrived in 1792. Obviously some of the walls were already demolished. The “Grosse Tour”, which had its place just behind the park corner you can see on the top picture (traces have been painted in the street just behind - in front of the local 3rd arrondissement Town Hall), was destroyed in 1808, and soon also most of the other buildings. The home of the “Grand Prior” which in the meantime had been used as home of members or “friends” of the Royal family (the young Mozart was invited to play here) remained until the middle of the 19th century and the Haussmann modifications.

What remains than today of the Temple?

Hardly anything. The doors of the “Grosse Tour” can be found at the Château de Vincennes (photo from Wikipedia) and a wall corner tower remains in the yard, between some apartment buildings which you cannot access (unless living there or being invited of course). (See plan above.)

The doors of the gate to a house close by (1 rue Saint-Claude) are said to come from the “Grand Prior” building. (It happens also to be the place where an impostor, Joseph Balsamo, “Count of Cagliostro”, lived in the 1780’s. He was heavily involved in an affair called the “Collier de la Reine” (Queen’s Necklace).

After the demolition, the park, Square du Temple, was created. Just north of it, a first covered market was built in 1811, replaced by a large cast iron version in 1863, but a few decades later in its turn partly replaced by apartment buildings. However, a small part of the “Marché du Temple” (specialised in clothes and textiles), the “Carreau du Temple”, remains - today under modification to become a local centre for cultural and sports activities.

A few traces...

During its fairly long history, there has of course been some violence in Paris, including the St. Bartholomew’s Day (totally some 30.000 Protestants killed in Paris), the different revolutions and wars...

Most physical traces are gone. Here is a short list (certainly not complete) of what still can be found:

The Saint Roch Church (built 1653-1754) has quite some history - Corneille, Le Nôtre, Diderot... are buried here - but it’s perhaps especially known for an event which took place in 1795, when Bonaparte led a troop which killed some 200 “royalist rioters” on the then seven (now thirteen) steps leading to the church. This event is known as the “Whiff of Grapeshot” and was actually considered as a big step on his way to becoming Emperor. You can still see some more or less repaired traces of the battle on the church facade.

After taking the photos, I entered the church and listened to a very nice (free) organ and soprano concert (Bach, Haindl, Beethoven).
I have already posted about the late 15th century Hôtel de Sens, originally the home of the Archbishop of Sens, later occupied by one of the Guise cardinals, by (ex-)Queen Margot ... then a stage coach company and several other less glorious activities until it was taken over and restored by the City of Paris in 1916. It’s now the home of the “Forney Library”, specialised in architecture and with a collection of about a million old postcards.

July 28, 1830, during the July Revolution - which led to the abdication of Charles X (younger brother of the decapitated Louis XVI), replaced by Louis-Philippe who remained King until the next Revolution in 1848 – a cannon bullet landed on the front of the building and can still be seen. The famous Delacroix painting “Liberty Leading the People” celebrates the 1830 event.
The facade of what is commonly known as the Odeon Theatre, now officially named Théatre de l’Europe, has numerous traces of some fusillades. I have not been able to get it confirmed if these are also traces from the July revolution, 1830, or rather from some shooting between German soldiers and French resistants in August 1944.

Maybe a few words about the theatre? It was originally built to be home of the “King’s Actors”. Marie-Antoinette officially opened the theatre (1782) and she was also present during the première of the “Marriage of Figaro” (1784). During the Revolution, the republican actors left (1791) for what today is the “Comédie Française” on the other side of the Seine. The theatre got the Odeon name in 1796. In 1819 it was promoted to be the “Second Théatre Français”, part of the “Comédie Française” and remained so until 1959. In May 1968, the theatre was one of the centres of the student uprising. In 1971 it was again promoted to the rank of “National Theatre”. It was however more and more used for foreign guest performances and for non-French plays and in 1990 declared “Théatre de l’Europe”.
March 8-11, 1918, during WW I, the German aviation bombarded Paris, preparing more heavy bombarding by long distance cannons. (Contrary to what normally is “known”, the super-cannon “Grosse Bertha” (named after Mrs. Krupp) was not in use in the bombardment of Paris). Serious damage and a lot of causalities were noted. March 11, the “War Ministry”, where then Georges Clemenceau led the French government was hit. Some traces are still there on the front of the building, which today is marked “Ministère des Armées” and houses the French Army headquarters. (See also top picture.)
When I made my posts about the “Grands Boulevards”, I found a street name plate with clear evidence of shooting. I have no idea of the origin of these traces. Sorry!

Notre-Dame de Travail

Just behind the “Modern Montparnasse” (see post last Wednesday), it’s suddenly as if you returned to an earlier century.

Hardly any cars, a small park - Square Cardinal Wyszynski -, some old buildings ... and especially a surprising church, Notre-Dame de Travail, a name which you could possibly translate to the workers’ Notre-Dame. This church was built 1899-1901 and looks rather ordinary outside with its some kind of roman style, but the inside is quite particular, all in metal – iron and steel. It seems that it was especially intended to welcome guest workers who often were lodged in the neighbourhood. They would feel “like home” (or perhaps rather in their working environment). Anyhow, I felt a very simple and special beauty when I entered. (For photos, some more light would have been nice, but I didn’t find the button.)

The church is one of the three or four Paris churches which also offer masses in Portuguese.

The bell comes from Sebastopol and was brought to France as a trophy after the Crimean War (1853-56).

I wish you a nice weekend!

Modern Montparnasse

During the 1960’s and 70’s a large part of the Montparnasse area was rebuilt. This included the Gare Montparnasse and the Tour Montparnasse. None of these are probably considered to be any architectural master pieces; it has even been seriously suggested to demolish the Tour, which is one of the few skyscrapers in Paris with its 56 stores. (The Paris skyscrapers are in the suburbs.) Today's rules include that no buildings in Paris must exceed 37 meters (120 ft) - even less in some areas, but this is now under discussion. We may in the future get some towers in the outer parts of Paris. Not only the railway station and tower were built, a large surrounding area was completely transformed. This is probably not what you at first hand would include in a tourist visit to Paris, but there are some interesting aspects to know.

This is the approximate area where most of the new buildings are situated.
If we start with the railway station, Gare Montparnasse, it differs thus considerably from the other Paris stations which have kept their 19th century architecture. (I have already made posts about Gare St.Lazare, Gare de l’Est, Gare de Lyon. Remain Gare du Nord and Gare d’Austerlitz.)

I show you what the old station used to look like and also a photo of a famous accident which took place in 1895 (Wikipedia photos). Gare Montparnasse is the station you would use if you leave for the west or south-west of France (Loire valley, Bordeaux, Brittany...) including by the fast TGV trains (see top photo), but it’s of course also a station for more local traffic. It’s a large station, actually divided in three, one of them replacing the old smaller Gare Vaugirard. There is a surprising park on top of the station - which you can reach by some direct stairs – surrounded by high modern buildings. It’s called Jardin (Garden) Atlantique, created in 1994. It’s an astonishly calm place if you consider the busy life in the area. When I was there last week, I was alone! As you can see from the photos, it’s of course not the best period to nicely illustrate a park.

At one end of the park, still on top of the station, there is a memorial to Field-Marshall Leclerc who as a general led the French troops participating in the Liberation of Paris in August 1944 and also a Jean Moulin museum. Jean Moulin was a high-profile member of the French Resistance during WW II. It can be noted that it was at Gare de Montparnasse (August 25, 1944) that the German governor of Paris, von Scholtitz, who disobeyed Hitler’s order to destroy Paris, surrendered to General Leclerc and Rol-Tanguy, the French resistance leader. To finish today, a few pictures from the surrounding area including some modern hotels and shopping malls, one of Paris’ leading jazz clubs, “Le Petit Journal” ... and also of Place de Catalogne, surrounded by buildings by Ricardo Bofill.

Félix Potin - Rue de Rennes

A couple of days ago, Adam made a post about a building in Paris, which intrigued him (and which intrigued us all after having read his post). The architect was Paul Auscher (1866-1932).

Auscher was later responsible for a number of buildings in Paris, one of which is in a very striking Art Nouveau style – obviously the only one by him in this style - and using concrete as basic material. Most Parisians have seen this building, have probably even been visiting it, perhaps not all of us paying too much attention. You can find it on Rue de Rennes (no. 140). (You can read more about it – in French - on the excellent blog « Paris 1900 ».)
It was originally built for Félix Potin in 1904. Félix Potin was for about a century a leading retailer chain, especially in the Paris region. Everybody went to “Félix Potin” to buy “anything”. Potin and his successors created some big department stores, like this one, and around 1950 there were some 1200 Félix Potin mini markets in the Paris region. The chain was later taken over, obviously not well managed ... and today nothing is left, except some buildings. After Félix Potin this building has been occupied by Monoprix, Tati .... and today Zara, Spanish competitor to GAP, H&M.... The interior has changed completely, but fortunately the exterior has well survived a number of restorations, including a recent one (there is office space to rent).

I mentioned another remarkable Félix Potin building from 1910, situated on Rue Réaumur, in a previous post.









The top photo has been taken from in front of the only real skyscraper within the Paris borders, Tour Montparnasse, looking down Rue de Rennes. You can see the tower of Félix Potin at the left.
The Félix Potin building is in sharp contrast with its neighbour, the almost only recent building on this street, which is one of several FNAC* shops in Paris.

(I'm sorry for somewhat dark pictures, taken a cloudy January afternoon.)

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*/ FNAC is a leading chain in France for audio, books, records, DVDs, computer software and hardware, televisions, photographic equipment.... with more than 200 stores, mostly in France, but some 60 abroad, belonging to PPR (Pinault).