Today, on the newest episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec a Hemingway we take you on a walk from the Pont de la Tournelle through the Latin Quarter. Weaving our way through one little park after another, each one holds a special reminder of the past lives of Paris.
Let’s start at the Pont de la Tournelle. The first bridge built in 1620 lasted until January 21, 1651, when the wooden structure was no match to one of the many floods that flowed through Paris. Rebuilt in 1656 in stone it lasted 262 years until it was demolished to make room for the bridge we see today.
The current asymmetrical bridge designed by Pierre and Louis Guidetti dates to 1928. On the Left Bank side standing high above and watching the Seine is the statue by Paul Landowski of Sainte Genevieve. The patron saint of Paris has saved the city numerous times from the 5th century until today. After her death in 502, her relics were brought out in a grand procession to end floods, draughts, and even Notre Dame on the night of the fire in 2019.
Landowski wanted her to face into the city she loved but the bridge designers wanted her to look out to the east to fend off any invaders as she did in 451 keeping Attila the Hun away from Paris. The beloved saint stands tall like a column with a young girl at her feet clutching the symbol of Paris, a sailboat in her arms.
Just across the bridge as you look up is the legendary Tour d’Argent restaurant. Claims to have started in 1582, however, there is no mention in history until 1824. Owned by Frédéric Delair in the mid-1890s it was the next owner André Terrail who really created the Tour d’Argent we know today.
The Canard de Frédérick Delair, (pressed duck) was added in 1890. The whole duck is cooked and served and then a silver medieval contraption is brought out tableside and the carcass of the duck is pressed releasing all the juices. Cooked down the sauce is then added to your plate. Each duck is numbered and has been since the start. You are given a postcard with the number of your duck, not a bad keepsake that comes at well over 100€. Today they have sold over a million ducks. In an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover, he visited legendary cooking store E. Dehillerin to purchase his very own for a cool 2,300€. In 2019, following his death, it sold at auction for $35,000.
If the duck is out of your price range visit for lunch just to catch the view down the river toward Notre Dame as the newly installed large crane begins to build up the roof for the return of the spire. Currently closed for renovation until March 2, 2023, the high-end restaurant has a dress code, valet, and personal elevator attendant that takes you up the entrance.
And to save a few euros just stream the Disney cartoon Ratatouille inspired by the Tour d’Argent. The cartoon rat works his magic in the kitchen while the diners ate high above the city looking towards Notre Dame. With my high aversion to rodents, it’s the only way, I can deal with those creepy little figures.
Heading up Rue du Cardinal Lemoine that runs from the Seine to the Place de la Contrescarpe. Just below the Tour d’Argent at no 2 a young Paul Verlaine and his new wife, Mathilde lived in 1870, just months before he met Arthur Rimbaud.
The street was named for Cardinal Jean Lemoine who founded the Collège de Cardinal Lemoine of Theology in 1303 and lasted until the Revolution in 1790.
Cabaret Le Paridis Latin sits at number 28 and was first built under the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. It stood until 1870 when it was destroyed in the Prussian War but not before it was the place to be for many of the writers of Paris including Balzac and Dumas. In 1887 Gustave Eiffel constructed the interior at the same time as the Eiffel Tower was being built and inaugurated on January 20, 1889. The high times of the cabaret were short-lived. It was the Belle Epoque and cabarets had opened all over the city and by 1894 the Latin closed its doors.
For 75 years a few businesses came and went until Jean Kriegel purchased the location to turn it into apartments. Once he got inside and started demolition he realized what he had. The interior of Eiffel must be saved and not destroyed. Today it is the Paradis Latin once again. The 720-seat theater is fully restored and open Wednesday to Monday with shows at 7:30 pm. Seats range in price from 45€ to 200€. Skip the Moulin Rouge on your next trip to Paris and visit Paradis Latin.
urning right on Rue des Ecoles leads to the heart of Odeon. At number 2 Louis Braille lived when he created the braille language. Today he is buried in the nearby Pantheon.
Number 7 is a restaurant I adore, Bonvivant. One of the best places in Paris for steak frites. They have fantastic wine, and great music and the staff is friendly and fun.
The first square we find is the Square Paul Langevin. Langevin was a physicist that lived from 1872-1946. Teaching at the nearby University of Paris and later the President of the League of Human Rights. In 1911 his affair with Marie Curie made national news. Marie was a widow and Paul was getting divorced but the press had a field day. A lot has changed in France since then.
Inside the garden are a few relics of Paris’s past. Niches from the Hotel de Ville facade that burned in 1871. A mosaic from the 1889 Universal Exhibition and a 1716 fountain that was threatened to be demolished under Haussmann. The square was designed by Adolphe Alphand in 1868 when the land was too narrow to be built on.
A few steps away we run into the Square Michel Foucault, named for the French philosopher on one end, and the Square Auguste Mariette on the east end. Mariette was a founding father of Egyptology with Jean Francois Champollion. In 1850 the Musée du Louvre sent him to Egypt. While in Egypt he discovered endless antiquities including the Seated Scribe, the crowning piece of the Musée du Louvre’s Egyptian collection
The jardin has a few statues dedicated to the men of letters. A bust of Pierre de Ronsard, the prince of poets and poet of princes. A 16th-century Renaissance poet who became the poet to king Henri II, Francois II, and Charles IX due to his father’s relationship with Francois I. In 1526 his father was sent to Spain to accompany Henri II and his older brother Francis who were exchanged with his father as prisoners of Charles V. The bust was created in 1928 by Aristide Rousaud.
In the center between the two sides at the top of the steps is a statue of Claude Bernard. Born in 1813, he dreamed of being a playwright but his parents convinced him he would be better off studying medicine. Arriving in Paris in 1834 he lived in the Latin Quarter with other students attending the Collège de France. It was Bernard’s breakthrough in the study of blood and the liver that led him to understand Diabetes and how to treat it. Numerous streets, squares, and schools all over France are named for the great doctor.
The gentleman just a tad further might be easier to recognize. Dante Alighieri. Why is the Italian poet here you may ask? Born in 1265, the poet came to Paris in 1307 for two years to attend the University of Paris living on what is now named after him, the Rue Dante. Artist Jean-Paul Aubé born in 1837, attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts as a student and later as a teacher. In 1881 he was commissioned to create a statue dedicated to the great poet. Aubé also designed a grand monument to Leon Gambetta that once stood in the center of the Cour Napoleon of the Musée du Louvre where the Pyramid is today.
Just behind Dante and Bernard is the Collège de France. Established in 1530 by king Francois I teaching chemistry, mathematics, philosophy, history, archaeology, and more.
The building that stands today was created in 1780 by architect Jean-Francois Chalgrin. Chalgrin later restored the facade of Saint Sulpice after it was struck by lightning.
Peek through the gates into the courtyard and spot the statue created by Jean-Francois Champollion by Auguste Bartholdi. Bartholdi of course is best known for the Statue of Liberty.
Jean-Francois Champollion, the man behind deciphering the Rosetta Stone found his love of languages at a very early age. The youngest of seven children to largely absent parents, he was raised by his older brother Jacques-Joseph. While his brother pursued his profession as an archeologist he was sent to the school of the Abbé Dussert. It was at the age of 11 that he discovered his interest in languages. Learning Greek and Latin first, then Ethiopic, Hebrew, Arabic, Syria, and Chaldean. His abilities were quickly noticed and were invited by the prefect of Grenoble, Joseph Fourier to view some special documents and artifacts. Fourier had been a part of Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt in 1799 when the Rosetta Stone was discovered. Champollion upon seeing it said he was going to be the one that would discover its meaning.
He began to study Coptic, the modern Egyptian language, adding the final piece to his knowledge puzzle. Living in Paris and still working on the meaning of this ancient stone, it was on September 14, 1822, that Champollion ran out his door on Rue Mazarine yelling “Je tiens mon affaire” (I got it).
He would be named the curator of the ancient Egyptian collection of the Louvre by Charles X on May 15, 1826. Working with his brother, the two men would create four rooms filled with Egyptian antiquities. Those rooms were on the ground floor, southeast corner of the Sully wing in the Cour Carrée, today in addition, the collection stretches the entire east end of the wing. The work of Champollion in the Louvre changed it from just being an art museum to a museum that spans civilizations.
Inaugurated in 1875, the statue was originally intended for the town of Figeac where Champollion was from. Unable to raise enough money the statue was given to the Collège de France where he stands today. Not without controversy, there are many that want to see the statue removed. His left foot rests on the top of a Pharoh head which is extremely disrespectful in the Egyptian culture.
Crossing the Rue Saint Jacques, an even more impressive building on the south side of the street is the Sorbonne Université Faculté des Lettres. Architect Henri-Paul Nénot a student of Charles Garnier designed the building that replaced the 17th-century version. Sculptor Antonin Mercié created the pediments of science above the rue des Écoles entrance. The inside of the building is amazing and only available to visit on the 3rd weekend of September.
Across the street is a bronze statue of Michel de Montaigne. The Renaissance philosopher was created by Paul Landowski, who also did the wonderful Sainte Genevieve at the start of the walk on the Pont de la Tournelle. Notice the toe of his shoe that is shiny copper from years of students rubbing for luck before big tests.
Montaigne sits on the edge of the Square Samuel Paty. Originally named the Place Paul-Painlevé but was renamed on October 16, 2021, the one-year anniversary of the death of French teachers Samuel Paty. Paty was teaching his class about the freedom of the press and shared a photo of Mohammed done by Charlie Hebdo. One of the students shared an inaccurate version of the events with her father and from there it quickly escalated. On October 16, 2020, at the end of the day, Paty was walking home and was stabbed and then beheaded in the street in front of his house. After students and parents were arrested for their role in the horrific death of Paty.
This small square also packs a punch and is filled with so many great things. In the western corner is the Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus hiding in the bushes. The twin children of Rhea Silvia and the god of Mars were tossed into the Tiber in a basket and floated to the banks of the river until a wolf found them and breastfed them. This is the moment captured in the sculpture and copied all over Europe. Remus later died and Romulus went on to create the city of Rome and name it after himself.
You can also find a monument to artist Puvis de Chavannes in 1924 by Jules Desbois.
Just beyond the square is the Musée Cluny which opened in the spring of 2022 after over seven long years. It is a must-see when you visit Paris. Dedicated to the middle ages the coolest things to see are pieces of former churches and abbeys and the heads of the kings of Judah from the facade of Notre Dame de Paris.
Open Tuesday to Sunday 9 am - 6:30 pm.