Place du Châtelet

Châtelet means “small castle”. The name of the place comes actually from a fortress which was built here in the 9th century to defend Paris from the Vikings. From the beginning built in wood, it was rebuilt in stone during the 11th century. Its military function soon disappeared and it was later rather a prison and law-court. The fortress was later surrounded by different buildings and you can only see the top of it on this illustration from 1580. … as you can also see the top of the tower of the Saint Jacques church. The tower (from 1522) is still there (under restoration, so again you can only see the top), but the church is gone.

The Châtelet fortress was destroyed in 1802 and Napoleon I (I’m sorry, it’s he again) decided to convert the place to an open place, including the construction of a column, later placed on a fountain, the one we can see today. It got the name “La Fontaine du Palmier” (The Palm Fountain) because of the palm leaves that can be seen in the top of the column, just under the statue “Victoire”. The column is full of names of different Napoleon victories (of course).

The place got its present aspect under Napoleon III. Two theatres were built, Théatre de la Ville (or Théatre Lyrique) and Théatre du Châtelet, both from 1862, and the fountain was slightly moved to be in the centre of the place. The theatres have changed names several times. Theatre de la Ville got the name of Sarah Bernhardt from 1899 to 1923, when she was in charge and regularly performed here. They now belong to the City of Paris.

The comparison between 1876 and today shows hardly any difference except for the express road (Voie Pompidou) which was built along part of the river in the 1960’s (transformed to Paris Beach in August each year).

The bridge in front is called “Pont de Change” and dates from about the same time as the renewed place (1860).

To find the place on the Paris map, I suggest you go to my previous post about Rue St. Denis. Some of the above pictures can be found on my photo blog.

Rue Fortuny

I don’t know how well Nespresso is spread over the world. At least it’s a great success in France and I must admit that I’m a fervent Nespresso drinker since a few years, I believe even before George Clooney.

It’s doubtful if, ecologically speaking, this is the best coffee preparation method, but anyhow… So I went to the closest Nespresso shop to get my monthly dose. This shop is in an old former one-family private house (“hôtel particulier”) some ten minutes walk from where I live.

Leaving the place, I could turn to the left and find the Swedish Church of Paris or to the right and find the Parc Monceau…, but I went straight on via a small street called rue Fortuny (17th arrdt), which you can see on the top picture.

This part of Paris was scarcely inhabited until the middle of the 19th century, but Paris grew and it then became fashionable for fortuned people to own a “hôtel particulier” in this area. Only in this small street, maybe 200 meters (220 yards) long, there are a number of them, some really nice. Today they are mostly used as offices, but some quite well-known people used to live here.

Edmond Rostand lived and wrote Cyrano de Bergerac at no. 2. At no. 13 (a street number mostly avoided) lived Marcel Pagnol - very popular French author and film director; "Topaze" is perhaps the internationally most well-known of his works, starring John Barrymore and later Peter Sellers in different Anglo-American film versions. Some actors and actresses also lived here, the most famous being Sarah Bernhardt at no. 35, and also e.g. the dancer, actress and courtesan Caroline Otero (“La Belle Otero”), at no. 27. Less “official” is perhaps that Nicolas Sarkozy was born and spent his first 18 years at no. 46, together with grandparents, a later divorced mother and two brothers.
Some autumn leaves from the way home to taste my coffee.

I put a few of these photos on my photo blog.