Rotonde de la Villette
The Rotonde de la Villette (also: barrière Saint-Martin ) is a classicist rotunda built in 1788 in the 19th arrondissement of Paris . The building, now protected as a Monument Historique , was designed as a customs house by the architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux .
location
The Rotonde de la Villette is located on the Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad at the southwest end of the Bassin de la Villette . In front of the building is the border between the 10th and 19th arrondissements, which was part of the city limits of Paris until 1860. To the east of the rotunda is the upper entrance of the Canal Saint-Martin .
history
Construction as a customs post
The rotunda was built from June 1786 to March 1788 in major parts. As a barrière d'octroi (customs post ) it was planned by Ledoux as the center of an ensemble with four larger guard houses ( guérites ). These were to be on both sides of the Chemin de Pantin (today Avenue Jean Jaurès / Rue La Fayette ) and the Chaussee de la Villette ( Avenue de Flandre / Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin ), but were only partially realized. Bad financial planning and the French Revolution delayed construction. In 1791 more than 110 thousand livres were estimated to complete the rotunda.
The customs post was part of the wall of the general tenants ( Mur des Fermiers généraux ), a Paris city wall built from 1785 to 1787 . Whoever wanted to import goods had to pay excise ( octroi ) here .
From January 1791 the customs post was inoperative for seven years because the octroi was abolished after the revolution. It was not until October 1798 that the Directoire reintroduced customs. In the same year and again in 1804, apartments on the upper floor of the rotunda were expanded for the customs officers.
19th century until today
The rotunda became the symmetry point of the urbanization of the quarter in the 19th century. From 1805 to 1808 the 700 by 70 meter large Bassin de la Villette was built northeast of the Rotonde and aligned with it. Between 1808 and 1825, before it was opened to shipping, the basin, including the rotunda, was a popular excursion destination and a recreational area close to the city. Numerous paintings and engravings from the period show the rotunda in the middle of a symmetrical idyll. After his coronation in Reims in 1825, Charles X chose this city gate for his entry into Paris as King of France.
The industrialization of the area began with the opening of the Canal Saint-Martin in 1825. The rotunda was surrounded by docks and warehouses, which benefited from the duty-free location outside the city. From 1830 to 1865 it served as a barracks for the municipal guard . In the 1860s a huge warehouse was built between the rotunda and the basin. In 1871, during the Paris Commune , the majority of the new buildings burned down again, only the rotunda remained, as one of the few.
In 1903 the building housed the Compagnie des Entrepôts et Magasins Généraux , which ran the warehouses and customs offices.
In 1921 the rotunda served as a salt store and from 1978 to 2001 as the seat of the Commission du Vieux Paris , whose publication was called Cahiers de la Rotonde .
After a long period of vacancy, the Rotonde de la Villette was reopened as a brasserie and bar in 2011.
Transport links
The closest stations to the Métro are Stalingrad (lines 2 , 5 and 7 ) and Jaurès (lines 2 , 5 and 7bis ).
Further information
The Rotonde de la Villette inspired the architect Gunnar Asplund to create the Stockholm City Library built in 1928 .
literature
- Potier, Baptiste: La rotonde de la Villette, histoire d 'un catalyseur urbain. Paris, 2011. (PDF; 1.3 MB)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Potier, Baptiste: La rotonde de la Villette, histoire d'un catalyseur urbain. Paris, 2011. p. 43.
- ↑ Potier, Baptiste: La rotonde de la Villette, histoire d'un catalyseur urbain. Paris, 2011. pp. 47f.
- ↑ Potier, Baptiste: La rotonde de la Villette, histoire d'un catalyseur urbain. Paris, 2011. pp. 55-57.
- ↑ Potier, Baptiste: La rotonde de la Villette, histoire d'un catalyseur urbain. Paris, 2011. p. 65.
- ↑ Potier, Baptiste: La rotonde de la Villette, histoire d'un catalyseur urbain. Paris, 2011. p. 73.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on January 16, 2012)
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on January 16, 2012)
Coordinates: 48 ° 53 ′ 0 ″ N , 2 ° 22 ′ 10 ″ E