Café Procope
The Café Procope - also called Le Procope - is considered to be the oldest existing restaurant and so-called "large coffee house " in the world, which is located in the Latin Quarter in Paris . It became known as a meeting place for writers and artists of the Enlightenment . It is still located in Paris at 13 rue de l'Ancienne Comédie. For over two centuries, everyone with a reputation in the world of art, politics, science, or literature visited Café Procope.
Beginnings
In 1686 it was bought by the Italian nobleman (born Sicily) Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli (1651–1727) (or Procopio Cutò, also Francesco Procopio Cutò, who called himself François Procope in France) in the Rue des Fossés Saint-Germain (today's n ° 13 rue de l'Ancienne Comédie ) opened. It was the first coffee house in Paris . The great success of the restaurant quickly led to coffee houses establishing themselves as a Parisian institution. In addition to coffee , another novelty was served in the Procope, ice cream . The ladies of the bourgeoisie also stopped here in their carriages to have coffee brought to the carriage on a silver tray.
Because of the elegant but cozy ambience, the pleasant surroundings (the Salle des Fossés-Saint-Germain , seat of the Comédie-Française until 1770 , is nearby) and not least because of the delicious food and drinks on offer, the café was created soon a popular meeting place for Parisian society. Mainly, however, it became a discussion forum for writers and philosophers, so that the café soon developed into the very first literary café and was regarded as a point of observation for intellectual life.
The café in the 18th century
When Francois Procope died, his son took over the café.
In addition to the artists' meeting, the café developed as a place of political exchange. It was popular with philosophers of the time, so the Enlightenment philosophy of France developed here in the 18th century . From Voltaire to Rousseau and his friend Diderot , Beaumarchais , Balzac , Victor Hugo and Verlaine to Anatole France and other important and less important philosophers of the Parisian scene - they all frequented the café as did Napoléon Bonaparte . The café is even associated with the creation of the basic ideas of the French Revolution .
In the course of the 18th century, also because it was located opposite the Comédie-Française , the establishment continued to attract writers, philosophers, actors and musicians. The Procope also became a meeting point for the political and intellectual opposition, which led to the royal family having its guests spied on regularly. The French historian Jules Michelet wrote that "those who gathered day after day at the Procope saw with piercing gaze in the depths of their black drink the years of the Revolution".
The café in the 19th century until today
In the 19th century, the importance of the Procope as a literary café decreased. Later owners converted it into a pump room. After that it was operated as a vegetarian restaurant.
Today it is a well-known specialty restaurant in the Latin Quarter, which tries to preserve the connection to the past of the 17th and 18th centuries with the detailed furnishings of the rooms.
Known guests
- Denis Diderot
- Benjamin Franklin
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Voltaire
- Marquis de Condorcet
- Alexander von Humboldt
See also
literature
- Merian-Verlag: Paris , Issue 9 / XXII, pages 110-111.
Web links
- official site (French)
- Scene from the cafe. THE CAFÉ DE PROCOPE IN 1743 From an engraving by Bosredon. From 1 1. HISTORY OF THE EARLY PARISIAN COFFEE HOUSES
Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 11 " N , 2 ° 20 ′ 19.5" E
Individual evidence
- ↑ Priebe, Carsten: A journey through the enlightenment. BoD, Norderstedt (2007) ISBN 978-3-8334-8614-2 , p. 59
- ↑ 11. HISTORY OF THE EARLY PARISIAN COFFEE HOUSES. The Progenitor of the Real Parisian Café in English
- ↑ Andrea Wulf: Alexander von Humboldt and the invention of nature. C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2016