Parc Monceau
The Parc Monceau is located in the 8th and 17th arrondissement of Paris, at the junction of Boulevard de Courcelles, Rue de Prony and Rue Georges Berger. At the main entrance is a historic rotunda of Claude Nicolas Ledoux, part of the former city wall " Mur des Fermiers généraux " to define the control area.
Emergence in the 18th century
The park was founded by Louis -Philippe -Joseph, Duke of Orléans, Duke of Chartres, a cousin of the 1774 crowned king Louis XVI. He gradually bought the land for the park and opened it in 1769. The gardens were designed by Louis Carmontelle.
Through continuous acquisitions of the garden grew up on 12 acres in 1778 and became known as the Folie de Chartres ( German: The madness [ the Duke of ] of Chartres ). Louis -Philippe it moved to ongoing wrangling with the French court, for example, with Marie Antoinette, more to London, where he became a close friend of the "Prince of Wales ", later George IV, King of the United Kingdom.
During this time, no later than his preference developed for all things English, the anmutete downright liberal in comparison to the crusted absolutist structure in France. Hence his goal can be explained, to create a garden in the English style in the center of Paris today. He commissioned the Scottish landscape gardener Thomas Blaikie, who gave a different shape from 1785 to 1788 the park, just prescribed the English style. Because of this style, the park was an exception in the France of his time. The more playful layout, winding paths and rather randomly placed statues distinguish it from the more traditional French gardens.
The park also includes a series of miniature versions of architectural buildings, such as Egyptian pyramids, Chinese architecture, dutch windmills and Corinthian columns. This could indicate that Louis -Philippe was a Freemason.
In the park are statues of famous French figures such as Guy de Maupassant, Frédéric Chopin, Charles Gounod, Ambroise Thomas and Edouard Pailleron.
After the execution of the liberal se Bourbons Louis -Philippe by guillotine in 1793 during the reign of terror of the French Revolution, the park passed into public ownership. The northern boundary of the park also marked the boundary of the fiscal territory of the city of Paris. Part of the now newly built city walls " Mur des Fermiers généraux " to define the control area and curb tax evasion was the rotunda was built by Claude Nicolas Ledoux.
Curiosities
On October 22, 1797, Park was the venue for the first parachute jump in Europe, when André -Jacques Garnerin jumped out of a homemade hydrogen balloon at an altitude of 400 meters and landed in front of a large crowd in the park.
Development in the 19th century
The declared during the Revolution to the national park was common in the time to a popular place for balls and popular festivals. As part of the restoration of the park was again the d'Orléans family, attributed in 1852 to half the other half to the French State. In 1860 the city of Paris then bought the site. Half the country has been declared to land for new homes and provided by the brothers Pereire with speculative edge development. The footprint of the park decreased from 19 ha to less than half. The other half was in this real estate operation - similar procedures, there was also the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes - as a green area of Baron Haussmann and expanded under the leadership of Jean -Charles Alphand to the public park, the August finally on 13 1861 by Napoleon III. opened.
In 1876, Claude Monet painted five pictures of the park, including a series of three images showing the spring in park. Hector Berlioz was also a great lover of this park.
The park today
Today, the park is a popular oasis for residents, especially for families and as a playground for children, the park is very popular.
The park is accessible via the Line 2 of the Paris Metro, at the entrance of the park on the Boulevard de Courcelles is also the entrance of the metro station named after him.
The cabaret singer Yves Duteil has a song written " Au Parc Monceau " ( album " Ses Plus Belles Chansons 20 " )
In the park you can make free use of the internet via a Wi-Fi access.