Bois de Vincennes

Lac Daumesnil in the Bois de Vincennes

Hippodrome de Vincennes harness racing track

The Bois de Vincennes is one of two partly as English landscape park designed urban forests of Paris . With an area of ​​995 hectares or 9.95 km² it is one of the most important local recreation areas in the city and a popular excursion destination .

The forest is located in the 12th arrondissement and forms the easternmost branch of the city. It is bounded in the north by the town of Vincennes with the castle of the same name and by Fontenay-sous-Bois , in the east by Nogent-sur-Marne and Joinville-le-Pont , in the south by Saint-Maurice and Charenton-le-Pont as well as in West of the Périphérique and Saint-Mandé ring roads . This roughly corresponds to the area that this then royal domain already occupied in the 11th century.

The attraction of the Bois de Vincennes, which attracts numerous day-trippers into the forest, is justified, apart from the forest areas (365 ha) with their hiking trails (60 km) and bridle paths (19 km), the three artificial lakes and their islands and the Parc flower park floral de Paris (28 ha), the wide range of sports facilities and other leisure, entertainment and entertainment venues. Here you will find the Hippodrome de Vincennes trotting track , the INSEP sports institute (Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance) , several riding clubs , the Vincennes Zoo , the Théâtre de l'Épée de bois and other educational and research facilities, including the École Du Breuil botany school and its arboretum , a model farm and a school for the training of guide dogs . There are bicycles for rent and rowing boats , which can be translated to the islands. Numerous coffee gardens and restaurants take care of the physical well-being.

Surname

The meaning of the name is not known. This area was mentioned for the first time under the name Vilcena in a document from the Abbey of Saint-Maur from the year 847. It has not yet been possible to find a credible explanation for the origin of this name.

history

The Bois de Vincennes is one of the last remains of the forest crown that surrounded ancient Lutetia in earlier times .

middle Ages

In the 9th century it belonged to the diocese of Paris, came to the crown in the 11th century and was henceforth used as a royal hunting ground.

In 1164, Louis VII initiated the settlement of monks from the monastery of Gramont in the Limousin . As early as 1183, his son Philippe-Auguste had to put the surrounding abbeys, which had taken possession of a large part of the forest, back into their place. He protected the an area of 50 acre reduced forest by a 12 km long wall, let deer and deer suspend and even then existing royal hunting lodge replace it with a mansion that in the 14th century at its site Castle of Vincennes should arise. The following kings sought the integral restoration of the forest, the area of ​​which, although the Parlement (Supreme Court) had ordered logging during the Hundred Years' War to alleviate the hardship caused by the severe winter of 1419, under Louis XI. had risen to 200 acres. In 1475 King Olivier le Daim ordered 3,000 oaks to be planted.

Early modern age

In 1551 Heinrich II had the forest reforested and acorns planted.

17th and 18th centuries

Louis XIV enlarged the forest again and had the castle embellished and expanded. His successor Louis XV. Alexandre entrusted Claude Lefebvre de la Faluère with a renewed afforestation, in the course of which the previously naturally grown forest, which until now still served as a hunting ground, developed into an artificial park , albeit very slowly at first . Straight paths were drawn, circular squares created at their intersections, some of which were artistically designed, such as today's “route du Polygone” with an obelisk (1731). Louis XV finally broke six portals into the wall and opened the forest to the public.

19th and 20th centuries

In the 19th century the forest became a military training area. Part of the forest was cleared for the construction of barracks, shooting ranges and maneuvering areas. In 1860 Napoleon III left. the Bois de Vincennes of the city of Paris with the order to redesign it in the English style similar to the Bois de Boulogne .

Baron Haussmann assigned the job to the landscape architect Jean-Charles Alphand , who knew the emperor's taste well. He had the largely deserted area afforested and provided with artificial hills and three lakes. The Lac de Gravelle is fed by the Marne and serves as a reservoir for the Lac Daumesnil , the Lac de Saint-Mandé and the artificial rivers that run through the park. In 1863 the Hippodrome du Plateau de Gravelle , now the Hippodrome de Vincennes , was opened. As with the Bois de Boulogne, Haussmann tried to generate income here too by selling plots on the edge of the upgraded green space, albeit with less success (because of the social east-west divide in Paris). In the III. Republic , the military use of the Bois de Vincennes was intensified again after 1871. It was not until 1947 that a larger artillery position and a parade field were incorporated into the park.

For the Summer Olympics in 1900 sports facilities were built and the paths were expanded. So the archery competitions took place in the park. In 1919, the Pershing Stadium was built, which was the venue for major sports competitions in the 1920s.

In 1931 the Paris Colonial Exhibition took place in the park, which attracted 33 million visitors. Most of the pavilions in the style of the architecture of the colonial peoples were removed after the event, the only remaining architectural evidence of the exhibition is the Palais de la Porte Dorée at the western end of the Bois, which now houses an aquarium and the Cité nationale de l'histoire immigrant museum de l'immigration is located.

In 1929 the Bois de Vincennes was officially incorporated into the city of Paris, but like the Bois de Boulogne, it does not really belong to the city because the land is state owned. Corresponding to the lower social status of the Bois de Vincennes, the impairment caused by the Boulevard périphérique ring road is now greater than that of the Bois de Boulogne in the “noble” west of the city.

Warning sign for the traffic of the "autonomous bus"

In the Bois des Vincennes, an "autonomous bus", starting from the Chateau de Vincennes metro station , drives driverlessly into the park, largely on a road that is closed to other car traffic. It is operated by RATP .

literature

• Jean-Michel Derex: Histoire du Bois de Vincennes - La forêt du roi et le bois du peuple de Paris . Édition L'Harmattan, Paris 1997, ISBN 2-7384-5591-3 .
• Robert Schediwy, Franz Baltzarek: Green in the city - history and future of European parks . Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-85063-125-7 .

Web links

Commons : Bois de Vincennes  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Bois de Vincennes on the Vincennes City Council website (French)
• Bois de Vincennes on the City of Paris website (French)
• The city forest and its surroundings , private page (German)
• Hippodrome de Paris-Vincennes , side of the Vincennes harness racing track (French)
• Hippodrome de Paris-Vincennes at the Regional Tourist Office of the Île de France (French)

Coordinates: 48 ° 49 ′ 41.1 ″  N , 2 ° 25 ′ 58.5 ″  E