A walk through Charenton and Saint-Maurice
Feb 21, 2014 12:55:53 GMT
Post by mrsfm on Feb 21, 2014 12:55:53 GMT
This walk through the Paris suburbs will take us south east of the Périphérique across from the Bercy district to the towns of Charenton and Saint-Maurice which stretch along the southern edge of the Bois de Vincennes public park. Most of the pictures were taken on the long and sunny last weekend of May 2012.
Charenton-le-Pont
Population: 29,000
Transportation from Paris: Charenton is served by two métro stations along line 8: Liberté and Charenton-Ecoles. It has 6 vélib' stations.
Charenton is one of the rich suburbs bordering the Bois de Vincennes, Paris's largest wooded park. The two major geographic assets of the inner eastern suburbs are the wood and the banks of the river Marne, which provide an oasis of greenery and peace in the hectic, densely built Parisian landscape so living along either greatly increases location desirability. The Bois de Vincennes is lined with some impressive mansions but even in the more modest looking condo buildings the square meter comes at a hefty price tag as a result. Not to mention that the métro, shops and all services are right behind these buildings and Paris is within walking distance (a short, pleasant walk through the wood) so you can understand why this is a very sought after neighborhood.
Let's get to know Charenton a little better. Starting from Place de la Bastille in Paris, left of the Opera House, is a street heading south east called rue de Charenton. This street runs along a former Roman road that led – and still does - to the Pont de Charenton, then a fortified Roman bridge which gave its name to present-day Charenton-le-Pont. So if you walk down that street all the way across the Périphérique, you will arrive in Charenton where the street will logically turn into rue de Paris. Rue de Paris is the central artery of the city. The western part of the street, served by métro Liberté (just behind the buildings above) is now a wide busy commercial avenue but if you continue down to the eastern end, you arrive in the old village of Charenton where the street narrows down into what looks like the main street of a small provincial town lined by 17th century buildings and paved with cobble stone. Coming by métro line 8, I would suggest getting off at métro Charenton-Ecoles to explore the charming old town.
As soon as you exit the métro station facing east, you will see a Monoprix on your right, the street leading to Paris behind you and a large square on your left, Place Aristide Briand, where people like to sit and relax on sunny days. Ahead of you is the old town center. The next two pictures are respectively from Google Street view and Wikipedia as I was blinded by the sun and didn't realize my pictures didn't turn out good.
This is Place Aristide Briand:
Past the square on your left stands the 19th century Eglise Saint-Pierre on the site of the former Saint-Pierre-de-Conflans church.
Let's continue walking east towards the older part of town.
The first remarkable building you will see on your left is a 1612 mansion named Pavillon Antoine de Navarre which now houses the Town Hall. Those familiar with Place des Vosges in the Marais district of Paris will recognize the typically late Renaissance architecture.
Who's the guy in the strange pose? Well, it's King Henri IV (reigned 1589 – 1610) who would often stay at the Château de Conflans, a Royal castle that used to be in Charenton and where King Philippe de Valois lived in 1339. Here again, I replaced my blurry photo by one from Google Street view, which explains the difference in weather.
But Henri IV has a lot more to do with Charenton's history. The fortified Roman bridge that gave its name to the city was a strategic point in several battles and wars ranging from Viking invasions to the Napoleonic Wars and Henri IV's troops fought on this bridge during the French wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants.
This is a painting showing the Château de Conflans along the Seine in the south of Charenton:
Back to the town hall: here is the entrance on rue de Paris.
Across from it is a public park with a boule court, tennis courts, a children's playground and terraced gardens going down to the lower part of town which is now bordered by the A4 autoroute (the highway connecting Paris to Eastern France). Unfortunately, because of the highway running between the town and the rivers Seine (western Charenton) and Marne (eastern Charenton), Charenton no longer has river banks to stroll along.
Here are some views of the town hall seen from the public garden:
It is just past 2 pm and no one is playing boules yet:
But the heat won't stop these young tennis players:
Down behind the tennis courts you will find some terraced gardens that you can walk through a number of little alleys and stairs:
That was a nice little walk, now let's walk back up to rue de Paris:
Why put only one 'do not enter' sign when you can afford four? Actually, the traffic direction had recently been modified, which explains why the signage may seem a little over the top.
As soon as you enter the semi-pedestrian part of the street with its 17th century façades on your left, you will see on your right the little Place de Valois square (remember King Philippe de Valois lived in Charenton) in front of some modern blocks of flats whose architecture echoes the late Renaissance style of the town hall just across:
I wonder what is at the end of this little alley...
The métro line! I had no idea the métro railway was running under Place de Valois.
Back to the Place de Valois Square:
I am quite sure this wasn't the intended purpose of this architectural metal structure but it obviously makes a great climbing cage for the local kids (his friend was climbing the other side of the arch):
If you zoom in to see what is in the distance behind the block of flats you can see the Chinese Pagoda-style Chinagora, which is visible from the A4 autoroute as you drive east out of Paris:
Chinagora was a mall built in 1992 in the town of Alfortville across the river and which used to house Asian stores and restaurants. While I went a couple of times I never fully understood what the concept was. I suppose I wasn't the only one to find this place confusing as it failed to attract customers and eventually closed down. It is now awaiting a new life with the construction of a luxury hotel and touristic resort within the existing building.
Let's continue walking down rue de Paris which is rather quiet today as it is a sunny 3-day weekend, meaning most people have either gone to the beach in Normandy or are enjoying the nearby Bois de Vincennes. Moreover, half of the many stores and eateries lining the street were closed on this post lunch time Saturday afternoon. The closing of the mom and pop stores between 1pm and late afternoon is traditionally observed throughout France.
And this is where rue de Paris ends (well, technically this is where it starts as it ends at the Périphérique). The historic but now unremarkable Pont de Charenton bridge is on the right of the intersecting street which separates Charenton from its eastern neighbor Saint-Maurice.
But let's take one last look at rue de Paris. Did you notice a recurring feature in several of the photos? Look closely:
Yes, the wine barrel. So why does Charenton use wine barrels as a decorative feature? Well, western Charenton lies on a territory that used to be known as Bercy, and Bercy was once known as the world's wine capital. Those of you familiar with Paris know the Bercy district in the 12th arrondissement of the capital. Some of you even know that, like most of the districts located in the outer arrondissements of Paris, Bercy used to be an independent village outside the Paris city limits until it was annexed to the City of Paris in 1860. Now when Bercy was dismantled, only its western part was annexed to Paris while the eastern part – whose boundaries lay where present day métro Liberté is - was annexed to the town of Charenton.
The reason Bercy was known as a wine capital is that wine barrels from all over France were shipped along the Seine to Bercy and stored in warehouses before being bottled and sold. This flourishing commerce lasted a century. But the love story between Charenton and wine didn't end there as until the 1990's Charenton still had a busy wine industry before the local economy shifted towards services. But it is still the headquarters of La Martiniquaise, France's second liquor production and distribution corporation.
As a hommage to this wine-making past, Italian-born artist Louis Toffoli who settled in Charenton in 1934 until his death in 1999 gave the city a monumental mosaic named Les Tonneliers (the barrel makers) which is visible on the wall of a building on rue des Bordeaux - a wine-related street name. I didn't walk in that direction as my walk was pretty much linear along the eastern part of rue de Paris so these are pictures from the web.
This is the A4 autoroute, facing east as I am standing on the bridge. The buildings on your left are in the next town, Saint-Maurice:
And seen from the bridge also, these buildings are on the Charenton side. While they seem really nice, they overlook the noisy and unsightly highway. Not everyone in Charenton can have a flat overlooking the Bois de Vincennes after all. At least these are on the sunny side.
Now let's get back to where we ended our stroll in Charenton and walk across the street to Saint-Maurice.
Saint-Maurice
Population: 14,000
Transportation from Paris: Despite its position, Saint-Maurice does not have any métro line running through the town. However, western Saint-Maurice is served by the Charenton-Ecoles métro stop (line 8) located in Charenton while eastern Saint-Maurice is served by RER line A's Joinville stop in the town of Joinville. For anyone else, there is bus line 111 connecting all of Saint-Maurice to the Bercy district of Paris. Saint-Maurice also has 2 vélib' stations.
Saint-Maurice is shaped like a lying figure 8 stretching along the southern edge of Bois de Vincennes and whose 2 loops are separated by the A4/A86 autoroute interchange which cuts the city into two distinct districts. This walk will only cover the western portion of town.
Walking straight from Charenton's rue de Paris, you will find yourself on rue du Maréchal Leclerc in Saint-Maurice which is lined on the left by tall modern apartment buildings from the 70's and 80's but a few steps farther you will notice a small historic building on your left:
This was the birthplace of famous French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix whose works many of you have seen at the Louvre and other museums.
Not only was Delacroix born here but French scientist Edmond Nocard later lived and died here in 1903. Edmond Nocard was a veterinarian and microbiologist who studied veterinary medicine at the Ecole Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort, located just across the river from the street we are on now, which explains why he chose to reside in this house. Maisons-Alfort's Veterinary School is the second oldest veterinary school in the world, the first being the one in Lyon. The school houses one of the most wonderful little museums of anatomy, the Musée Fragonard, one of the oldest French museums: musee.vet-alfort.fr/ Nocard was an assistant of Pasteur and discovered the Nocardia bacteria which is named after him. His name was also given to Saint-Maurice's Collège (junior high school for grades 6 to 9).
The place now houses a library and media center. In the courtyard, Delacroix's bust overlooks the modern cultural center named after him:
Let's continue walking eastward. Here comes bus 111 in the direction of the Terroirs de France terminus in the Bercy district of Paris (remember, the wine barrel place):
But as I have just walked across the intersection a small monument draws my attention:
The plaque tells me that on this site, from 1606 to 1685 used to stand the only Church granted to Parisian Protestants by the Edict of Nantes. Remember the Wars of Religions I mentioned when we passed by Henri IV's statue outside the Charenton Town Hall? King Henri IV was born a Protestant but had to convert to Catholicism for strategic reasons. To French Protestants (only 1.5% of the French population) he is remembered as the King who protected them from religious persecution via the Edict of Nantes, issued in 1598 and which gave Protestants religious freedom. However the Edict was revoked at Fontainebleau in 1685 by Louis XIV who declared the Protestant faith illegal. This explains why their only legal place of worship no longer stood there after 1685.
The church was large enough to accommodate a few thousand worshippers at a time. However the very fact that it was erected several kilometers outside the city limits rather than in Paris itself tells me that even while the Edict of Nantes was in effect, acceptance of the dissident religion must have been limited. Actually the church was set ablaze by Catholics in 1621 before being rebuilt two years later. They tried to burn it again in August 1685 before the October 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau (which suppressed religious freedom again) allowed them to dismantle it. It only took 5 days to reduce the huge building to dust.
Let's continue walking down rue du Maréchal Leclerc. On your right there is a little stream (an arm of the river Marne) running down below but the dense vegetation blocks most of the view and access to the river is blocked by a tall fence.
On your left you will walk past one of Saint-Maurice's elementary schools. The metal panels in front of it are set up for the upcoming legislative elections of June 10th and June 17th. They are posted outside every polling station to display the posters of the candidates.
Soon after the school you'll notice the small town hall:
But one of the most famous and historically charged monuments still standing in the town stretches along most of the street after the town hall. This place is now known as the Esquirol Hospital but was known for centuries as the Charenton insane asylum. For many decades, in colloquial language, telling a French person he would end up in Charenton meant he was good for the nuthouse. So why Charenton if it is actually located in Saint-Maurice? Because for a long time Saint-Maurice was called Charenton – St-Maurice until its name was simply shortened to Saint-Maurice.
The asylum was founded in 1645 by a religious and humanitarian brotherhood known as Frères de la Charité to take care of people who didn't have all their wits. It is known as one of the oldest mental hospitals and had a few famous residents among whom Marquis de Sade and Latude, one of his contemporaries. Actually pretty much anywhere you go to in France that had a prison or mental institution can claim to have hosted Marquis de Sade. The guy got locked up in so many places he could have written a guidebook on 'Where to Stay if you are Somewhat Disobedient or Deviant'. Anyway, it is behind these walls that Sade spent the last 13 years of his life from 1801 to 1814.
But who was Latude? Well, Latude's claim to fame is to be one of France's most famous prisoners and escapists. Quite a résumé, I know... And what caused this rather average man to get sent to prison? Let's see... He wanted to get noticed by the Marquise de Pompadour – Louis XV's chief mistress - so he had the rather twisted idea to send her an anonymous bomb so that at the last minute he could warn her of a plot against her and appear to be her savior. However, to make a long story short, his scheme failed, the fictitious plot was discovered and he was sentenced to prison at the Bastille.
Latude had the ability to just make things worse for himself every chance he got. If you remember the character from the movie Fargo (the car salesman who plots to have his wife kidnapped for the ransom), well, you get the idea. Upon his request he was transfered to the Vincennes prison from which he escaped, was caught and sent again to the Bastille. Having been sent to most of the prisons and madhouses available in the Paris region at the time, he escaped several times to end up always getting caught again. He finally requested to be transfered to Charenton as the establishment was known for its humane treatment of patients. His most famous escape from the Bastille in 1755 is immortalized by the rope ladder he built to escape down the chimney and which is visible at the Carnavalet museum in Paris. While he is not as famous a writer as Sade, Latude wrote his memoirs while in prison as well and several essays. This is the ladder Latude made to escape from the Bastille:
Esquirol Hospital is still one of the best-known psychiatric hospitals. It also has a reputed maternity section.
Right after you've walked past the long hospital wall you arrive at a little church or chapel whose plaza is used as a soccer field by local kids and which gives the town a surprisingly small provincial village look despite being only 3 km (1.8 miles) from the périphérique. This church is not listed as one of Saint-Maurice's working churches so I don't know exactly what it is called nor how old it is. The busier, more urban part of town lies further east but I will not have time to cover it today. Maybe some other time. Sade was buried just across the church, on what was then a church yard and now a baby day care center. You can see part of it on the left of the photo. No one knows where Sade's body was dumped after the cemetery was destroyed.
If you walk up the steep little street around the corner between the hospital and the church you will arrive at the Bois de Vincennes, which is technically part of Paris's 12th arrondissement.
Before reaching the top of the hill there is a little street on the right leading to the cemetery.
And you finally arrive at the Bois de Vincennes. What a good idea to have a drinking fountain at the top of the hill on a hot sunny day!
Now that we've seen the southwestern end of Saint-Maurice, let's turn left to walk back west along the wood and enjoy some of the town's architecture.
The lovely Art Nouveau style conservatory displaying Mucha's Four Seasons allegories is actually a recent addition as evidenced by the google street view of the same house taken a few years ago:
The pictures above are taken at the start of the highly prized rue du Docteur Decorse, a bow-shaped street not directly overlooking the wood. This intersection was often used by film crews when I was a child as it represents the typical suburban street as you would see in TV series and films. So let's walk down rue du Docteur Decorse to admire the elegant façades and different architectural styles:
Rue du Docteur Decorse now seen from the western end:
At the western end of the street you will see the wood on the right with a little snack kiosk:
Ahead of you is a square with a public park on the left:
A few of these British phone boxes are displayed throughout the town and other suburbs. I have always known them so they have been there at least since the 1970's. A touch of British exoticism which fascinated me as a child. I hope that now that people have cell phones they will not be removed and will at least remain in place for the sake of decoration.
Let's continue walking along the wood back towards the Périphérique, with Saint-Maurice on our left and the Bois de Vincennes on our right:
When you reach the border between Saint-Maurice and Charenton you will notice the Lac Daumesnil on your right, the largest lake in the Bois de Vincennes.
And this ends my walk in Charenton and Saint-Maurice. I didn't have time to go by what remains of the once grand 17th century Château de Bercy (along the périphérique), nor past surrealist poet Paul Eluard's last residence along the wood in Charenton (at the intersection of Avenue Jean-Jaurès). As with most poets, Paul Eluard is probably not well known to foreign speakers but if you are a fan of painters Max Ernst and Salvador Dali, you'll have bumped into him if you were reading their biographies. He was the one who nicknamed Helena Diakonova Gala. Yes, Dali's Gala was Paul Eluard's first wife. When she later fell madly in love with his best friend Max Ernst, well, no problem: the three of them happily all moved in together but when she met Dali, she left both men for good and became the Spanish painter's partner and muse till her death.
I didn't cover Saint-Maurice's cinema history either nor the eastern part of the town where I happen to work. It underwent a very successful neo-Haussmannian architectural renewal in the 1990's and is the town's more urban section, around the Place Montgolfier, the pleasant central main square of eastern Saint-Maurice.
Charenton-le-Pont
Population: 29,000
Transportation from Paris: Charenton is served by two métro stations along line 8: Liberté and Charenton-Ecoles. It has 6 vélib' stations.
Charenton is one of the rich suburbs bordering the Bois de Vincennes, Paris's largest wooded park. The two major geographic assets of the inner eastern suburbs are the wood and the banks of the river Marne, which provide an oasis of greenery and peace in the hectic, densely built Parisian landscape so living along either greatly increases location desirability. The Bois de Vincennes is lined with some impressive mansions but even in the more modest looking condo buildings the square meter comes at a hefty price tag as a result. Not to mention that the métro, shops and all services are right behind these buildings and Paris is within walking distance (a short, pleasant walk through the wood) so you can understand why this is a very sought after neighborhood.
Let's get to know Charenton a little better. Starting from Place de la Bastille in Paris, left of the Opera House, is a street heading south east called rue de Charenton. This street runs along a former Roman road that led – and still does - to the Pont de Charenton, then a fortified Roman bridge which gave its name to present-day Charenton-le-Pont. So if you walk down that street all the way across the Périphérique, you will arrive in Charenton where the street will logically turn into rue de Paris. Rue de Paris is the central artery of the city. The western part of the street, served by métro Liberté (just behind the buildings above) is now a wide busy commercial avenue but if you continue down to the eastern end, you arrive in the old village of Charenton where the street narrows down into what looks like the main street of a small provincial town lined by 17th century buildings and paved with cobble stone. Coming by métro line 8, I would suggest getting off at métro Charenton-Ecoles to explore the charming old town.
As soon as you exit the métro station facing east, you will see a Monoprix on your right, the street leading to Paris behind you and a large square on your left, Place Aristide Briand, where people like to sit and relax on sunny days. Ahead of you is the old town center. The next two pictures are respectively from Google Street view and Wikipedia as I was blinded by the sun and didn't realize my pictures didn't turn out good.
This is Place Aristide Briand:
Past the square on your left stands the 19th century Eglise Saint-Pierre on the site of the former Saint-Pierre-de-Conflans church.
Let's continue walking east towards the older part of town.
The first remarkable building you will see on your left is a 1612 mansion named Pavillon Antoine de Navarre which now houses the Town Hall. Those familiar with Place des Vosges in the Marais district of Paris will recognize the typically late Renaissance architecture.
Who's the guy in the strange pose? Well, it's King Henri IV (reigned 1589 – 1610) who would often stay at the Château de Conflans, a Royal castle that used to be in Charenton and where King Philippe de Valois lived in 1339. Here again, I replaced my blurry photo by one from Google Street view, which explains the difference in weather.
But Henri IV has a lot more to do with Charenton's history. The fortified Roman bridge that gave its name to the city was a strategic point in several battles and wars ranging from Viking invasions to the Napoleonic Wars and Henri IV's troops fought on this bridge during the French wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants.
This is a painting showing the Château de Conflans along the Seine in the south of Charenton:
Back to the town hall: here is the entrance on rue de Paris.
Across from it is a public park with a boule court, tennis courts, a children's playground and terraced gardens going down to the lower part of town which is now bordered by the A4 autoroute (the highway connecting Paris to Eastern France). Unfortunately, because of the highway running between the town and the rivers Seine (western Charenton) and Marne (eastern Charenton), Charenton no longer has river banks to stroll along.
Here are some views of the town hall seen from the public garden:
It is just past 2 pm and no one is playing boules yet:
But the heat won't stop these young tennis players:
Down behind the tennis courts you will find some terraced gardens that you can walk through a number of little alleys and stairs:
That was a nice little walk, now let's walk back up to rue de Paris:
Why put only one 'do not enter' sign when you can afford four? Actually, the traffic direction had recently been modified, which explains why the signage may seem a little over the top.
As soon as you enter the semi-pedestrian part of the street with its 17th century façades on your left, you will see on your right the little Place de Valois square (remember King Philippe de Valois lived in Charenton) in front of some modern blocks of flats whose architecture echoes the late Renaissance style of the town hall just across:
I wonder what is at the end of this little alley...
The métro line! I had no idea the métro railway was running under Place de Valois.
Back to the Place de Valois Square:
I am quite sure this wasn't the intended purpose of this architectural metal structure but it obviously makes a great climbing cage for the local kids (his friend was climbing the other side of the arch):
If you zoom in to see what is in the distance behind the block of flats you can see the Chinese Pagoda-style Chinagora, which is visible from the A4 autoroute as you drive east out of Paris:
Chinagora was a mall built in 1992 in the town of Alfortville across the river and which used to house Asian stores and restaurants. While I went a couple of times I never fully understood what the concept was. I suppose I wasn't the only one to find this place confusing as it failed to attract customers and eventually closed down. It is now awaiting a new life with the construction of a luxury hotel and touristic resort within the existing building.
Let's continue walking down rue de Paris which is rather quiet today as it is a sunny 3-day weekend, meaning most people have either gone to the beach in Normandy or are enjoying the nearby Bois de Vincennes. Moreover, half of the many stores and eateries lining the street were closed on this post lunch time Saturday afternoon. The closing of the mom and pop stores between 1pm and late afternoon is traditionally observed throughout France.
And this is where rue de Paris ends (well, technically this is where it starts as it ends at the Périphérique). The historic but now unremarkable Pont de Charenton bridge is on the right of the intersecting street which separates Charenton from its eastern neighbor Saint-Maurice.
But let's take one last look at rue de Paris. Did you notice a recurring feature in several of the photos? Look closely:
Yes, the wine barrel. So why does Charenton use wine barrels as a decorative feature? Well, western Charenton lies on a territory that used to be known as Bercy, and Bercy was once known as the world's wine capital. Those of you familiar with Paris know the Bercy district in the 12th arrondissement of the capital. Some of you even know that, like most of the districts located in the outer arrondissements of Paris, Bercy used to be an independent village outside the Paris city limits until it was annexed to the City of Paris in 1860. Now when Bercy was dismantled, only its western part was annexed to Paris while the eastern part – whose boundaries lay where present day métro Liberté is - was annexed to the town of Charenton.
The reason Bercy was known as a wine capital is that wine barrels from all over France were shipped along the Seine to Bercy and stored in warehouses before being bottled and sold. This flourishing commerce lasted a century. But the love story between Charenton and wine didn't end there as until the 1990's Charenton still had a busy wine industry before the local economy shifted towards services. But it is still the headquarters of La Martiniquaise, France's second liquor production and distribution corporation.
As a hommage to this wine-making past, Italian-born artist Louis Toffoli who settled in Charenton in 1934 until his death in 1999 gave the city a monumental mosaic named Les Tonneliers (the barrel makers) which is visible on the wall of a building on rue des Bordeaux - a wine-related street name. I didn't walk in that direction as my walk was pretty much linear along the eastern part of rue de Paris so these are pictures from the web.
This is the A4 autoroute, facing east as I am standing on the bridge. The buildings on your left are in the next town, Saint-Maurice:
And seen from the bridge also, these buildings are on the Charenton side. While they seem really nice, they overlook the noisy and unsightly highway. Not everyone in Charenton can have a flat overlooking the Bois de Vincennes after all. At least these are on the sunny side.
Now let's get back to where we ended our stroll in Charenton and walk across the street to Saint-Maurice.
Saint-Maurice
Population: 14,000
Transportation from Paris: Despite its position, Saint-Maurice does not have any métro line running through the town. However, western Saint-Maurice is served by the Charenton-Ecoles métro stop (line 8) located in Charenton while eastern Saint-Maurice is served by RER line A's Joinville stop in the town of Joinville. For anyone else, there is bus line 111 connecting all of Saint-Maurice to the Bercy district of Paris. Saint-Maurice also has 2 vélib' stations.
Saint-Maurice is shaped like a lying figure 8 stretching along the southern edge of Bois de Vincennes and whose 2 loops are separated by the A4/A86 autoroute interchange which cuts the city into two distinct districts. This walk will only cover the western portion of town.
Walking straight from Charenton's rue de Paris, you will find yourself on rue du Maréchal Leclerc in Saint-Maurice which is lined on the left by tall modern apartment buildings from the 70's and 80's but a few steps farther you will notice a small historic building on your left:
This was the birthplace of famous French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix whose works many of you have seen at the Louvre and other museums.
Not only was Delacroix born here but French scientist Edmond Nocard later lived and died here in 1903. Edmond Nocard was a veterinarian and microbiologist who studied veterinary medicine at the Ecole Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort, located just across the river from the street we are on now, which explains why he chose to reside in this house. Maisons-Alfort's Veterinary School is the second oldest veterinary school in the world, the first being the one in Lyon. The school houses one of the most wonderful little museums of anatomy, the Musée Fragonard, one of the oldest French museums: musee.vet-alfort.fr/ Nocard was an assistant of Pasteur and discovered the Nocardia bacteria which is named after him. His name was also given to Saint-Maurice's Collège (junior high school for grades 6 to 9).
The place now houses a library and media center. In the courtyard, Delacroix's bust overlooks the modern cultural center named after him:
Let's continue walking eastward. Here comes bus 111 in the direction of the Terroirs de France terminus in the Bercy district of Paris (remember, the wine barrel place):
But as I have just walked across the intersection a small monument draws my attention:
The plaque tells me that on this site, from 1606 to 1685 used to stand the only Church granted to Parisian Protestants by the Edict of Nantes. Remember the Wars of Religions I mentioned when we passed by Henri IV's statue outside the Charenton Town Hall? King Henri IV was born a Protestant but had to convert to Catholicism for strategic reasons. To French Protestants (only 1.5% of the French population) he is remembered as the King who protected them from religious persecution via the Edict of Nantes, issued in 1598 and which gave Protestants religious freedom. However the Edict was revoked at Fontainebleau in 1685 by Louis XIV who declared the Protestant faith illegal. This explains why their only legal place of worship no longer stood there after 1685.
The church was large enough to accommodate a few thousand worshippers at a time. However the very fact that it was erected several kilometers outside the city limits rather than in Paris itself tells me that even while the Edict of Nantes was in effect, acceptance of the dissident religion must have been limited. Actually the church was set ablaze by Catholics in 1621 before being rebuilt two years later. They tried to burn it again in August 1685 before the October 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau (which suppressed religious freedom again) allowed them to dismantle it. It only took 5 days to reduce the huge building to dust.
Let's continue walking down rue du Maréchal Leclerc. On your right there is a little stream (an arm of the river Marne) running down below but the dense vegetation blocks most of the view and access to the river is blocked by a tall fence.
On your left you will walk past one of Saint-Maurice's elementary schools. The metal panels in front of it are set up for the upcoming legislative elections of June 10th and June 17th. They are posted outside every polling station to display the posters of the candidates.
Soon after the school you'll notice the small town hall:
But one of the most famous and historically charged monuments still standing in the town stretches along most of the street after the town hall. This place is now known as the Esquirol Hospital but was known for centuries as the Charenton insane asylum. For many decades, in colloquial language, telling a French person he would end up in Charenton meant he was good for the nuthouse. So why Charenton if it is actually located in Saint-Maurice? Because for a long time Saint-Maurice was called Charenton – St-Maurice until its name was simply shortened to Saint-Maurice.
The asylum was founded in 1645 by a religious and humanitarian brotherhood known as Frères de la Charité to take care of people who didn't have all their wits. It is known as one of the oldest mental hospitals and had a few famous residents among whom Marquis de Sade and Latude, one of his contemporaries. Actually pretty much anywhere you go to in France that had a prison or mental institution can claim to have hosted Marquis de Sade. The guy got locked up in so many places he could have written a guidebook on 'Where to Stay if you are Somewhat Disobedient or Deviant'. Anyway, it is behind these walls that Sade spent the last 13 years of his life from 1801 to 1814.
But who was Latude? Well, Latude's claim to fame is to be one of France's most famous prisoners and escapists. Quite a résumé, I know... And what caused this rather average man to get sent to prison? Let's see... He wanted to get noticed by the Marquise de Pompadour – Louis XV's chief mistress - so he had the rather twisted idea to send her an anonymous bomb so that at the last minute he could warn her of a plot against her and appear to be her savior. However, to make a long story short, his scheme failed, the fictitious plot was discovered and he was sentenced to prison at the Bastille.
Latude had the ability to just make things worse for himself every chance he got. If you remember the character from the movie Fargo (the car salesman who plots to have his wife kidnapped for the ransom), well, you get the idea. Upon his request he was transfered to the Vincennes prison from which he escaped, was caught and sent again to the Bastille. Having been sent to most of the prisons and madhouses available in the Paris region at the time, he escaped several times to end up always getting caught again. He finally requested to be transfered to Charenton as the establishment was known for its humane treatment of patients. His most famous escape from the Bastille in 1755 is immortalized by the rope ladder he built to escape down the chimney and which is visible at the Carnavalet museum in Paris. While he is not as famous a writer as Sade, Latude wrote his memoirs while in prison as well and several essays. This is the ladder Latude made to escape from the Bastille:
Esquirol Hospital is still one of the best-known psychiatric hospitals. It also has a reputed maternity section.
Right after you've walked past the long hospital wall you arrive at a little church or chapel whose plaza is used as a soccer field by local kids and which gives the town a surprisingly small provincial village look despite being only 3 km (1.8 miles) from the périphérique. This church is not listed as one of Saint-Maurice's working churches so I don't know exactly what it is called nor how old it is. The busier, more urban part of town lies further east but I will not have time to cover it today. Maybe some other time. Sade was buried just across the church, on what was then a church yard and now a baby day care center. You can see part of it on the left of the photo. No one knows where Sade's body was dumped after the cemetery was destroyed.
If you walk up the steep little street around the corner between the hospital and the church you will arrive at the Bois de Vincennes, which is technically part of Paris's 12th arrondissement.
Before reaching the top of the hill there is a little street on the right leading to the cemetery.
And you finally arrive at the Bois de Vincennes. What a good idea to have a drinking fountain at the top of the hill on a hot sunny day!
Now that we've seen the southwestern end of Saint-Maurice, let's turn left to walk back west along the wood and enjoy some of the town's architecture.
The lovely Art Nouveau style conservatory displaying Mucha's Four Seasons allegories is actually a recent addition as evidenced by the google street view of the same house taken a few years ago:
The pictures above are taken at the start of the highly prized rue du Docteur Decorse, a bow-shaped street not directly overlooking the wood. This intersection was often used by film crews when I was a child as it represents the typical suburban street as you would see in TV series and films. So let's walk down rue du Docteur Decorse to admire the elegant façades and different architectural styles:
Rue du Docteur Decorse now seen from the western end:
At the western end of the street you will see the wood on the right with a little snack kiosk:
Ahead of you is a square with a public park on the left:
A few of these British phone boxes are displayed throughout the town and other suburbs. I have always known them so they have been there at least since the 1970's. A touch of British exoticism which fascinated me as a child. I hope that now that people have cell phones they will not be removed and will at least remain in place for the sake of decoration.
Let's continue walking along the wood back towards the Périphérique, with Saint-Maurice on our left and the Bois de Vincennes on our right:
When you reach the border between Saint-Maurice and Charenton you will notice the Lac Daumesnil on your right, the largest lake in the Bois de Vincennes.
And this ends my walk in Charenton and Saint-Maurice. I didn't have time to go by what remains of the once grand 17th century Château de Bercy (along the périphérique), nor past surrealist poet Paul Eluard's last residence along the wood in Charenton (at the intersection of Avenue Jean-Jaurès). As with most poets, Paul Eluard is probably not well known to foreign speakers but if you are a fan of painters Max Ernst and Salvador Dali, you'll have bumped into him if you were reading their biographies. He was the one who nicknamed Helena Diakonova Gala. Yes, Dali's Gala was Paul Eluard's first wife. When she later fell madly in love with his best friend Max Ernst, well, no problem: the three of them happily all moved in together but when she met Dali, she left both men for good and became the Spanish painter's partner and muse till her death.
I didn't cover Saint-Maurice's cinema history either nor the eastern part of the town where I happen to work. It underwent a very successful neo-Haussmannian architectural renewal in the 1990's and is the town's more urban section, around the Place Montgolfier, the pleasant central main square of eastern Saint-Maurice.
And of course, it is right next to the Pont Nelson Mandela, which was probably the first major structure in Europe that was named after him.
Plus, from where I'll be based the M8 will be convenient at Ladru-Rollin.