Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin,
Paris 16
We continue with our walk trough the 16th arrondissement, this time just south of Trocadéro and more or less just in front of where is the Eiffel Tower, on the opposite side of the Seine River. This area is called Passy and was a separate village until 1860.
I’m not going to tell the story of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) here, but only what is more related to him and to France and more particularly to this area.
Franklin spent almost ten years here, arriving in 1777. He lived just behind the reddish small “hôtel” that you can see in the middle of the painting. Everything looks today different, only the small “hôtel” is still there (today the Turkish Embassy). Together with other members of the American delegation, sent to France to negotiate peace with Great Britain, Franklin was invited to live in a castle-like building, now disappeared, at the expense if a rich pro-American French aristocrat, Le Ray de Chaumont.
Franklin was already well known and extremely popular in France (which he had visited before). On his way from Nantes (where his ship arrived) to Paris, crowds lined the roads to acclaim him. He was as popular when he finally left – he even got a street named after him already in 1791. In the meantime, Franklin, acting as American ambassador, had achieved that the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, leading to freedom from Great Britain. He and his colleagues obtained by the way so much from France in money and arms that the country almost got ruined, one of the major reasons to the French Revolution a few years later.
I have only two photos to show you today: The building you see has a medallion and an inscription indicating that this was the place where Franklin lived and also that it was the first place in France where a lightning rod was installed.
The lightning rod was of course invented by Franklin, as were the bifocals (not yet the progressive version), the Franklin stove, the catheter… He discovered the existence of the Gulf Stream, he proposed a central governing council for Europe, the daylight saving time… and, among many other things, he was a great statesman!
I’m not going to tell the story of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) here, but only what is more related to him and to France and more particularly to this area.
Franklin spent almost ten years here, arriving in 1777. He lived just behind the reddish small “hôtel” that you can see in the middle of the painting. Everything looks today different, only the small “hôtel” is still there (today the Turkish Embassy). Together with other members of the American delegation, sent to France to negotiate peace with Great Britain, Franklin was invited to live in a castle-like building, now disappeared, at the expense if a rich pro-American French aristocrat, Le Ray de Chaumont.Franklin was already well known and extremely popular in France (which he had visited before). On his way from Nantes (where his ship arrived) to Paris, crowds lined the roads to acclaim him. He was as popular when he finally left – he even got a street named after him already in 1791. In the meantime, Franklin, acting as American ambassador, had achieved that the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, leading to freedom from Great Britain. He and his colleagues obtained by the way so much from France in money and arms that the country almost got ruined, one of the major reasons to the French Revolution a few years later.
I have only two photos to show you today: The building you see has a medallion and an inscription indicating that this was the place where Franklin lived and also that it was the first place in France where a lightning rod was installed.
The lightning rod was of course invented by Franklin, as were the bifocals (not yet the progressive version), the Franklin stove, the catheter… He discovered the existence of the Gulf Stream, he proposed a central governing council for Europe, the daylight saving time… and, among many other things, he was a great statesman!
