Place de la Contrescarpe
| Place de la Contrescarpe | |
|---|---|
| location | |
| Arrondissement | 5. |
| quarter | Saint-Victor Jardin-des-Plantes Val-de-Grace Sorbonne |
| history | |
| Emergence | 1852 |
| Coding | |
| Paris | 2299 |
The Place de la Contrescarpe is a place steeped in history in the 5th arrondissement of Paris .
location
The square is on Rue Mouffetard , at the mouth of Rue Blainville (west); rue Lacépède and rue du Cardinal-Lemoine go off to the south . It is a center in the 5th arrondissement , because it is in the center of four administrative districts ( French quarter ): Saint-Victor , Jardin-des-Plantes , Val-de-Grâce et Sorbonne .
The square has a diameter of about 40 m, in the center of which there was a green area with a fountain.
The square is a tourist attraction with many more recent cafes. However, some facades still retain memories of an earlier time.
On the west side of the square was the former Au Nègre joyeux café . - Only the sign still exists, but it should also disappear.
Fountain of the Place de la Contrescarpe
Place de la Contrescarpe at Christmas time
Cafes
Facade of the Au Nègre joyeux
Name origin
The name of the square is a technical term from fortress construction, the so-called Contrescarpe . This is the outer wall or embankment of a moat that is the first obstacle for the attacker. When the trenches are dry, there is sometimes a passage ( gallery ) behind it , from which the trench can be taken under fire. He refers to the Rue de la Contrescarpe , today's Rue Blainville .
History, stories and meaning
The square was created in 1852 by demolishing a block between Cardinal-Lemoine , Lacépède and Mouffetard streets .
The square is located in the northern part of Rue Mouffetard ( moufette , old French for "skunk"; the unpleasant smell came from the former course of the Bièvre (Seine) nearby, which runs underground here). The rue du Cardinal-Lemoine , rue Blainville and rue Lacépède also flow into the square. The Place de la Contrescarpe forms the axis of the former working-class district Faubourg St. Médard . Among the many pubs, called cabarets here , the most famous is La Pomme de Pin , the name of which is still affixed to House 1 in the square in Gothic script. From 1530 writers of the Pléiade such as Molière , Jean Racine , Pierre de Ronsard , Joachim du Bellay , François Rabelais and Pontus de Tyard were guests here. This area did not belong to Paris at that time and was too remote from Baron Haussmann's building plans, so that it was not included in his renovation plans and has therefore retained much of its medieval charm. The square has only been within the city limits since July 18, 1724, when King Louis XV. set the boundaries of Paris. Since October 23, 1852, it has been officially referred to as a square after its completion.
Here Ernest Hemingway often spent his free time in the cafés. He lived here from January 9, 1922, three weeks after his arrival from the United States, until August 1923. Hemingway was an employed foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star . He avoided the Café des Amateurs (house 2-4) because for him it was “the cesspool of the rue Mouffetard”, the cesspool of the Rue Mouffetard: “The Café des Amateurs was the cesspool of the Rue Mouffetard, that wonderful, narrow one , teeming market street that leads to Place Contrescarpe. ”“ At night we had to close the windows because of the rain, and the cold wind blew the leaves from the trees on Place Contrescarpe. ”Today, this is where the Café Delmas , used by students, is located the nearby lyceums is popular. In the Rue du Cardinal Lemoine 74 lived Hemingway on the third floor with his young wife Hadley. He later stayed in a hotel on nearby rue Descartes 39, the northern extension of rue Mouffetard . - The poet Paul Verlaine died in the same house on January 8, 1896.
Today, Judas trees frame a fountain that forms the center of the square. Right on the square, but belonging to Rue Mouffetard 14, a painting that can be seen from afar is presented on a house. This is reminiscent of the former music club Au Nègre Joyeux ("To the happy negro"), which Hemingway also mentions.
The Place de la Contrescarpe was the short-term location of the feature film Snow on Kilimanjaro , in which Gregory Peck played the role of Hemingway, which was released in Germany on March 13, 1953 . The film is based on the story by Hemingway published in Esquire magazine in August 1936 under the title The Snows of Kilimanjaro .
Last but not least, the "Contrescarpe" appears twice in the award-winning hymn to the French language "La langue de chez nous" by the popular and highly decorated chansonnier and author Yves Duteil as a literally defining, meaningful place in France.
Newer development
The sidewalks are no longer able to cope with the number of visitors to the square; Café terraces together with passers-by can hardly exist here. There is also the noise from the night owls.
In 2016 it was decided to clear the square of chains and hedges in order to get to the center. The chaotic parking of two-wheelers on the square should also be prevented.
It was intended to classify the square as a meeting point (at 20 km / h), but this is rejected by the district mayor, as there are fears of an increase in the prices in the cafes.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Jacques Hillairet, Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris , Paris, Les Éditions de Minuit, 1972, 1985, 1991, 1997 etc. (1st edition 1960), 1476 pp., 2 volumes, ISBN 2-7073-1054 -9 , OCLC 466966117 , Vol. 1, p. 386
- ↑ Changed with the place renewal from 2016.
- ↑ a b La place de la contrescarpe va s'offrir un lifting
- ↑ www.leparisien.fr : Paris: l'enseigne Au Nègre joyeux sera décrochée de la façade
- ↑ Gabriele Christine Schenk-Sedlmeier, Paris , 2006, p. 118
- ↑ M-. Walker, COLLECTION COMPLETE PAR ORDRE CHRONOLOGIQUE, DES LOIS EDITS, TRAITES DE PAIX , 1836, p. 254
- ↑ a b Rowohlt: Reading sample from Hemingway, Paris - a festival for life ("Paris: A Moveable Feast") , 1965, p. 9 f. (PDF; 130 kB)
- ↑ Des pavements plus larges pour qui?
- ↑ Terrasses et appartements ne font pas bon ménage
- ↑ La place vegetalisée
- ↑ La place de la Contrescarpe restera en zone 30
Coordinates: 48 ° 50 ′ 40.1 ″ N , 2 ° 20 ′ 57.8 ″ E