Paris Plages
Paris-Plages (until 2005 Paris-Plage ) is a public summer event organized by the City of Paris since 2002. It takes place annually in July and August during the French national summer holidays for 4 to 5 weeks.
history
Paris-Plage (German: Paris-Strand) was the name of a beach in the town of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage until the mid-1960s . The beach got this name because of its relative proximity to the French capital Paris and the numerous Parisians who could be found there on the weekends during the summer months.
The French city of Saint-Quentin in the Aisne department pioneered such an action in 1996. Social problems for some of the 60,000 inhabitants had prompted the city administration to transform the town hall square into a sandy beach with games and pools . This action has since become an annual attraction. In 2002 this action was picked up in the media and carried out in Paris and some other French and some European cities such as Berlin , Brussels , Budapest and Prague ; but not over such a long stretch of river.
During the national summer holidays in France in July and August, especially after the French national holiday on July 14th, a large part of the Paris population traditionally goes on vacation, at least to the countryside, to escape the summer heat in the city. The aim of the city council of Paris under Mayor Bertrand Delanoë was to offer the residents of the region who stayed at home the activities that can normally only be found on the natural beaches.
The Paris city administration had the name protected under trademark law and tried to force the place Paris-Plage to use the name under legal license. After this complaint was rejected and there are two sections of the Seine that are used for the event, the official name since 2006 has been "Paris-Plages" (plural).
Location and design
The Place d' Hotel de Ville will be covered with sand and some beach volleyball fields will be created. On the right bank of the Seine at the level of the Seine islands Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis , the Voie George Pompidou expressway, which borders the quay walls, will be closed to traffic for 3.5 km. It is possible to block this important traffic artery, as there is only very little traffic in the city during the long holidays. The section between Pont au change to Pont Sully opposite the Seine islands in the 4th arrondissement has been transformed into a pedestrian zone with numerous attractions. Some green strips are covered with fine sand, loungers are provided in many places, there are games for children, massages and making music together are offered and physical well-being is also provided. Please note that swimming in the Seine is not possible due to the sometimes high quay walls and shipping traffic. Since 2006 there have also been a number of installations on the left bank of the Seine at the level of the new BNF national library .
financing
The Paris-Plages event is associated with not inconsiderable costs for the city's public budget: the establishment of the artificial beach landscape with palm trees and other plants, the installation of sports activities such as climbing for children and the numerous animators have to be paid for. In order to keep costs within reasonable limits, the City of Paris shares the costs with public and private sponsors, who also benefit from the popularity of the event. In 2004, the total budget was around € 2 million, of which € 1.4 million was financed by the partners and by the fees for the cafés, restaurants and kiosks installed on the bank. Concerns were raised by conservative city councils in 2002 as to whether this event, with its relatively high cost, would be a success.
Individual events
2002
Paris-Plages has its premiere during the big holidays.
2003
There are almost 3 million visitors. During the extraordinary heat wave at the beginning of August 2003, the newly installed atomizers were a great success with visitors. This is an installation installed by the wayside, mostly several meters long, resembling a shower, under which you can walk to refresh yourself. Instead of a jet of water, there is finely atomized water, so that you can enjoy the refreshment in normal clothing without getting wet.
2004
Paris-Plages 2004 took place between July 21st and August 20th. News this year were a ship converted into a floating open-air pool on the Seine at the level of the Sully Morland metro station , in which you can hardly swim due to its small size, and a library at the level of the Pont Marie metro station .
The access points to Paris-Plage were marked for the first time on the RATP public transport routes ( Paris-Plage station in the Paris metro ).
2005
Paris-Plages 2005 took place from July 21st to August 21st. In honor of the Brazilian year in France , this theme was the common thread in the events. Introductions to rowing were offered every morning . The number of visitors was estimated at 3.8 million.
2006
Paris-Plages 2006 took place from July 20th to August 20th. The motto was French Polynesia . In addition to the well-known locations on the town hall square and to the right of the Seine, another section of the river "rive gauche" was opened to the left of the Seine at the level of the Bibliothèque nationale de France , directly below the new Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir , which opened on July 13, 2006 . There was a large wooden platform with a few dozen loungers, a beach bar and access to another swimming pool that was stationed here on the Seine . A ferry operates between the two banks of the Paris-Plages.
criticism
At the end of 2015 it became known that there had been irregularities and that the costs for Paris-Plage were significantly higher than published. At the beginning of 2017, the problem was raised that the company LafargeHolcim , which had provided the sand free of charge every year since 2002, had operated a cement plant in Syria during the Syrian civil war and was involved in the construction of the controversial wall between Mexico and the USA. LafargeHolcim was then withdrawn from this task.
Comparable offers elsewhere
There are comparable offers in the summer months in Berlin , Brive-la-Gaillarde (Depart. Corrèze), Brussels , Budapest , Cahors , Clermont-Ferrand , Cognac in Charente, Metz , Pau , Rodez (Depart. Aveyron), Saint-Quentin (Original idea), Toulouse , Tourcoing (Depart. Nord near Roubaix)
Web links
- Paris-Plages at de.parisinfo.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lancement de la 10e édition de Paris-Plages ... sous la pluie. July 21, 2011, accessed June 20, 2019 (French).
- ↑ La gestion de Paris Plages souffre de "sérieux dysfonctionnements" ( Memento of December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), in: Liberation of December 11, 2015
- ^ Antoine Garbay: Paris-Plages: la mairie ne veut plus du sable de Lafarge. In: lefigaro.fr. March 29, 2017, accessed June 19, 2019 (French).