Grenelle (2)

Referring to the previous post about Grenelle, my intention was not really to show a church again, but this one is so different. It is called Saint-Léon and was built 1924-33, in concrete, covered by brick. Both the exterior and the interior are in a for those days typical art deco style.

The original Grenelle 19th century buildings have to some extent been replaced and completed by more modern ones. During the first years of thye 20th century, some architects have excelled in art nouveau style, perhaps here more visible by the decoration of the buildings than by the architecture itself, so maybe more due to the sculptors.

Please notice the roots of the vines covering this building.

The Grenelle area is also known for having hosted the Paris winter cycling stadium – Vélodrome d’Hiver – best known as “Vel d’Hiv”. The building was destroyed in 1959. Unfortunately the name is especially linked to an event in 1942, during the Nazi occupation. Some 8000 Jews, where of 4115 children, spent five days here in terrible conditions before most of them ended up in Auschwitz.

In 1995, Jacques Chirac, soon after he became President, said: “Yes, the criminal madness of the occupier was seconded by the French, by the French State, everyone knows it. That day, France accomplished something irreparable.”

Close to where the "Vel d’Hiv" stood, on the Seine bank, is today a “Place des Martyrs-Juifs”, opened in 1986. The monument is there since 1994 and was created by Walter Spitzer, born in Poland, who managed to come back alive from the ghetto, Auschwitz, Buchenwald…).

Grenelle (1)

I don't know hat happened, but this post was published May 12, got some comments, disappeared, lost its comments... Now published again, May 13 late.

I noticed that after some four years of blogging about Paris, I had not yet published anything about this part of the 15th arrondissement, referred to as Grenelle. Until the 19th century this was a more or less unexploited area not yet part of Paris , even hardly used as farm land. Then, a certain Mr. Violet (and some associates) bought the land and started to have it exploited. We are then actually talking about the area south of the border represented by the red dotted line on the plan here below; north of it was already Paris. The Paris border was until 1860 situated where we today at some places, like here, can see an over-ground part of the metro (see top photo with Invalides in the background) and where we those days would find the wall “Fermiers Généraux” (tax farmers) (see previous post). Grenelle as well as other villages around Paris (Montmartre, Batignolles, Belleville, Charonne….) became thus in 1860 part of the growing Paris and the wall disappeared.

Mr. Violet allotted the area in a very rectangular way, something we hardly find elsewhere in Paris. The reason was of course that we were on virgin land and that no older roads or streets influenced the planning. For himself, he built a little "castle", rather soon transformed into a fire station. In front of the station is a very nice example of the special red lamps that you generally find in front of these stations.

What you may consider as one of the major streets is Rue de Commerce with Place de Commerce, a little square with a building which was the “town hall” until Grenelle became part of Paris and the 15th arrondissement.

Along the street you can also find the “Café de Commerce”, a three story brasserie, which opened in 1921.

There are still a lot of the original buildings around in the area and a surprising number of little squares.

I took also some photos behind some closed gates, but I’m not indicating the addresses; people who live there prefer of course not to have too many “tourists” around.

There are some more remarkable buildings and monuments to be found, but I will revert on that in a later post.

2CV's... and other vehicles

During a walk last week, I found all these old legendary Citroën 2CV cars parked outside a hotel … and also some of the drivers. I had seen a few of them around in the city now and then, but not this concentration. I looked up the site. It looks like a nice way to visit the city.

A long time ago I drove a 2CV for a year during a traineeship in southern France. Only good memories!

I took some more photos, which came out like this. My camera is now for repairs.

Some other examples of vehicles, more or less well adapted for driving around Paris ... and parking.

At last ... This is how the "street views" are photographed by Google.

Saint-François-Xavier Church

In the previous post about Avenue de Breteuil, I “promised” to revert with a post about the Saint-François-Xavier Church, so here it is.

Not so much to say about this church, which is fairly new, “only” about 150 years old. I would say that it’s another example of a type of churches built in Paris during this period with a “modern” mix of different classical models … but still of course beautiful.

(If you read the information given in the church, part of the interior decoration should be due to the same person who made the mosaics in the Sacré Coeur de Paris; this information is however false – he made it in the Sacré Coeur de Marseille.)

In a golden bronze-chasse you can find the body of  Saint-Madeleine-Sophie Barat (1779-1865) who created the female congregation of the Sacred Heart, today with some 3000 members, present on the five continents.

On the back side of the church is a statue of General Charles Mangin (1866-1925), one of the WWI heroes. This statue replaces a previous one, which was destroyed on direct order by Hitler in 1940. There is a photo with his 8 kids; one of them is the dad of a previous neighbour with whom, together with our respective dogs, I made regular evening walks during some ten years.

More tombs... Montmartre Cemetery

If you thought I had finished with the Montmartre Cemetery, you are wrong. I have still more in stock. :-)

This time it’s about some specific, spectacular, tombs, rather than about personalities.

The first one was erected for one (or two?) families: Delamare-Bichsel . I have not been able to find any information about who they were, only that the architect was called Boiret, who has left a few rather insignificant buildings in Paris, but who here obviously have excelled in an “art nouveau” style! (See also top picture.) This is one of the first tombs you see when you enter the cemetery. There are still flowers in front of the tomb now and then, so there must be family or friends around.

A second, very different one, was designed for himself and his family by Pierre-Léonard Laurecisque (1797-1860), who worked as an architect in Constantinople (e.g. the then French embassy – now the consulate general - , a church for the French community… ). His wife and son who both died young are actually buried in Turkey, but the cenotaph is dedicated to the whole family in a peculiar, very personal style, which is reflecting his architectural ideas.

For the third one, I have only been able to read that it’s the tomb of the Countess Potocka – Princess Soltikoff, who as far as one can read was born in St. Petersburg in 1807 and died in Paris in 1845. There are or were a lot of Potockas and Soltikoffs around, .. I found a number of articles and portraits, but nothing about this lady. (The bottom portrait is of a countess Potocka who was born in 1807, but died later than 1845; she was a good friend (and mistress?) of Chopin.)

The tomb seems to be under restoration (by the Paris municipality). I managed to find out that Francisque Duret (1804-65) has contributed to the creation of this tomb and then it may be interesting to know that he has left a number of statues around in Paris and elsewhere, including e.g. the St. Michel statue, part of the St. Michel fountain created by the architect Davioud (see previous post), Place St. Michel (see previous post).

Not really falling under this spectacular-tombs-chapter, but immediate neighbour to the previous tomb, is that for another famous architect, Jacques Hittorff (1792-1867)… and there is a link between the two tombs: Hittorff has left a lot of landmarks in Paris including the decoration of Place de la Concorde (including the fountains) (see previous posts, here and here), the plan and the buildings around Place de l’Etoile (see previous posts), Gare du Nord (see previous post)… and the “Cirque d’Hiver” (see previous post) … and Francisque Duret, who thus created the previous tomb, decorated the walls of the Cirque d’Hiver.

I’m more and more impressed by how all the painters, sculptors, authors, architects, composers, musicians… seemed to know each other, work together. Those days’ “salons” certainly played a great role. Here is an example where we can see Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Georges Sand, Paganini, Rossini… listening to Franz Liszt. Where are today’s “salons”?

 
 
 


Here is where you can find these tombs, if you are interested.