Square des Innocents

The Square des Innocents was for many centuries the site of the major Paris cemetery. When it was created, it was of course outside the centre, along the road to Normandy and the north, today’s rue St. Denis (see plan in my previous post), but it was soon surrounded by the growing city.

Some wealthy people got individual graves, but most people were buried in mass graves. In 1786 it was decided - despite the walls that had been built around and some other basic precautions - that this could not last. The major Paris market place – Les Halles – was the immediate neighbour and one started to have some ideas about infections etc. The cemetery was closed and some two million skeletons were displaced to the catacombs.

Today, this has become a nice square with a beautiful fountain in the middle. The fountain, in a different form, was created in the middle of the 16th century by the architect Pierre Lescot and the sculptor Jean Goujon, who also were behind the architecture of the Louvre when the transformation from a fortress style was commenced. The fountain was in the beginning rather a relief placed along the church you can see here (the engraving is from 1550), was moved and transformed to its square fountain form in the 1780’s when the cemetery became a market place.

The declaration of the first French constitution took place here in 1791 (based on the revolutionary declarations of 1789).

The market was closed in 1858 and a real square was prepared. The fountain was again slightly displaced.

You can here get some ideas of what the place looked like in 1550 and in 1865.

… and what it looks like today. In the background you can see the St. Eustache church. You can find these pictures in their larger form on my photo blog.

See you Monday! Have a nice weekend!