Boulevard des Capucines

Last updated

Boulevard des Capucines
INCONNU 4065 - PARIS - Boulevard des Capucines.JPG
Boulevard des Capucines at the start of the 20th century
Paris department land cover location map.svg
Reddot.svg
Shown within Paris
Length440 m (1,440 ft)
Width35.40 m (116.1 ft)
Arrondissement 2nd, 9th
Quarter Madeleine . Chaussée-d'Antin
Coordinates 48°52′16″N2°20′01″E / 48.87111°N 2.33361°E / 48.87111; 2.33361
Fromrue Louis-le-Grand, rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin
Torue des Capucines, rue de Caumartin
Construction
Completionsince 1685
___
Located near the Métro stations:  Opéra  and  Madeleine .

The Boulevard des Capucines is a boulevard in Paris. It is one of the 'Grands Boulevards' in Paris, a chain of boulevards built through the former course of the Wall of Charles V and the Louis XIII Wall, which were destroyed on the orders of Louis XIV.

The name comes from a beautiful convent of Capuchin nuns whose garden was on the south side of the boulevard prior to the French Revolution.

The former name, Rue Basse-du-Rempart ("bottom-of-the-wall street" in French), suggests that, in the beginning, the street paralleled the city wall of Paris. Then, when the wall was destroyed, the street was widened and became a boulevard.

Notable places

At No. 1 stood the Neapolitan Café, famous for the writers, journalists, and actors who were its patrons, such as Catulle Mendès, Jean Moréas, Armand Silvestre, and Laurent Tailhade.

Gaumont Opera Cine Gaumont Opera.jpg
Gaumont Opéra
Very first movies Plaque Lumiere2.jpg
Very first movies

No. 2, at the junction with the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, was the site of the former Hotel de Montmorency, then Théâtre du Vaudeville 1869, later Paramount Opéra movies in 1927 and Gaumont Opéra since 2007. The main hall was the 'grand salon' of the hotel in the 18th century. The rotunda on the facade has been kept.

No. 5 was the location of the photographic studio of Pierre-Louis Pierson (later associated with the Mayer brothers), who was the photographic collaborator of Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione.

At No. 7, the Georama was erected in 1825: it was possible to see "the whole earth" inside a sphere 14 meters in diameter.

At No. 8, Jacques Offenbach lived from 1876 and died in 1880.

At No. 12, the Grand Hotel was built on a former swamp-garden.

No. 14 was the site of the Hotel Scribe and the location of the former Grand Café where the first public showing of movies by Auguste and Louis Lumière took place in the Salon Indien on 28 December 1895. Here, too, X-ray light experiments were carried out by Dr. Wilhelm Röntgen.

From No. 16 to No. 22 stood the buildings of the former newspaper L'Évènement, founded by Victor Hugo.

Mistinguett Plaque Mistinguett.jpg
Mistinguett

At No. 24, Mistinguett lived from 1905 to 1956.

No. 25 was the former location of the Musée Cognacq-Jay set up in 1931.

At No. 27 stood the former store, the Samaritaine de Luxe, built by Frantz Jourdain, a specialist in Art Nouveau.

Paris Kiosk (Boulevard des Capucines). The Walters Art Museum. Jean Beraud - Paris Kiosk - Walters 371055.jpg
Paris Kiosk (Boulevard des Capucines). The Walters Art Museum.

No. 28 was the location of a roller coaster called montagnes russes (Russian mountains) in 1889. It was replaced in 1893 by the Olympia theater, a famous music hall founded in 1888 by Joseph Oller and taken over in 1952 by Bruno Coquatrix.

No. 35 was where Nadar had his photography studio, and was previously the studio of Gustave Le Gray, the central figure in French photography of the 1850s — an artist, teacher, and the author of several widely distributed instructional manuals on photography. And it here that at Nadar's invitation, the First Impressionist Exhibition was held on 15 April 1874, exhibitors included Renoir, Édouard Manet, Pissarro, and Claude Monet. The painting by Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise , gave the exhibitors the name of Impressionists. Another of Claude Monet's paintings painted from a window in Nadar's studio is entitled Boulevard des Capucines , and is now visible in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow or the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.

From No. 37 to No. 43 was the former location of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1820 to 1853. On 23 February 1848, a battalion of the 14th regiment blocked the boulevard to protect François Guizot. In the evening, a crowd of demonstrators tried to break down the barricade. The soldiers fired, killing 35 people and wounding 50. The demonstrators put the corpses in a dumper and called the people of Paris to arms. It was the beginning of the revolution which ended the reign of Louis-Philippe the next day.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impressionism</span> 19th-century art movement

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities, ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadar</span> French photographer and balloonist (1820–1910)

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person to take aerial photographs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustave Caillebotte</span> French painter

Gustave Caillebotte was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early interest in photography as an art form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9th arrondissement of Paris</span> Municipal arrondissement in Île-de-France, France

The 9th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as le neuvième.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giverny</span> Commune in Normandy, France

Giverny is a commune in the northern French department of Eure. The village is located on the "right bank" of the river Seine at its confluence with the river Epte. It lies 80 km (50 mi) west-northwest of Paris, in the region of Normandy. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musée Carnavalet</span> History Museum, Art museum, Historic site in Paris, France

The Musée Carnavalet in Paris is dedicated to the history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, the civil servant who transformed Paris in the latter half of the 19th century, the Hôtel Carnavalet was purchased by the Municipal Council of Paris in 1866; it was opened to the public in 1880. By the latter part of the 20th century, the museum was full to capacity. The Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau was annexed to the Carnavalet and opened to the public in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boulevard Saint-Michel</span> Street in Paris, France

Boulevard Saint-Michel is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris, France, the other being Boulevard Saint-Germain. It is a tree-lined boulevard which runs south from the Pont Saint-Michel on the Seine and Place Saint-Michel, crosses Boulevard Saint-Germain and continues alongside the Sorbonne and the Jardin du Luxembourg, ending at the Place Camille Jullian just before the Port-Royal RER station and the Avenue de l'Observatoire. It was created by Baron Haussmann to run parallel to Rue Saint-Jacques which marks the historical north-south axis of Paris. It is known colloquially as Boul'Mich' in French.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin</span>

This "quartier" of Paris got its name from the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It runs north-northwest from the Boulevard des Italiens to the Église de la Sainte-Trinité.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rue Saint-Honoré</span> Street in Paris, France

The rue Saint-Honoré is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rue du Bac, Paris</span> Street in Paris, France

Rue du Bac is a street in Paris situated in the 7th arrondissement. The street, which is 1150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Voltaire and Anatole-France and ends at the rue de Sèvres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Empire style</span> 1865–1880 French architectural and art style

Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as iron frameworks and glass skylights. It flourished in the Second French Empire during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III (1852–1870) and had an important influence on architecture and decoration in the rest of Europe and North America. Major examples of the style include the Opéra Garnier (1862–1871) in Paris by Charles Garnier, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Church of Saint Augustine (1860–1871), and the Philadelphia City Hall (1871–1901). The architectural style was closely connected with Haussmann's renovation of Paris carried out during the Second Empire; the new buildings, such as the Opéra, were intended as the focal points of the new boulevards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maison dorée (Paris)</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rue de Caumartin</span>

The Rue de Caumartin in the 9th arrondissement of Paris received its name from Antoine-Louis Lefebvre de Caumartin, marquis de Saint-Ange, Comte de Moret (1725-1803), who was prévôt des marchands (1778-1784). He gave the authorization to open the street on 3 July 1779. Opened in 1780, the street extended from the rue Basse-du-Rempart located at the foot of the rampart to rue Neuve-des-Mathurins through land acquired from the priests mathurins by Charles-Marin Delahaye, general-farmer. Further on the north, was the small street Thiroux opened in 1773 by President Thiroux of Arconvillé. And the small rue Sainte-Croix opened further on the north in 1780 through marshes and fields. The Rue de Caumartin absorbed them on 5 May 1849.

<i>Boulevard des Capucines</i> (Monet) 1873 painting by Claude Monet

Boulevard des Capucines is an oil on canvas street scene painting of the famous Paris boulevard by French Impressionist artist Claude Monet created in 1873.

This article presents the main landmarks in the city of Paris within administrative limits, divided by its 20 arrondissements. Landmarks located in the suburbs of Paris, outside of its administrative limits, while within the metropolitan area are not included in this article.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paris under Louis-Philippe</span> Aspect of history

Paris during the reign of King Louis-Philippe (1830-1848) was the city described in the novels of Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo. Its population increased from 785,000 in 1831 to 1,053,000 in 1848, as the city grew to the north and west, while the poorest neighborhoods in the center became even more crowded.

Paris in the <i>Belle Époque</i> Historical period

Paris in the Belle Époque was a period in the history of the city between the years 1871 to 1914, from the beginning of the Third French Republic until the First World War. It saw the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the Paris Métro, the completion of the Paris Opera, and the beginning of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre. Three lavish "universal expositions" in 1878, 1889, and 1900 brought millions of visitors to Paris to sample the latest innovations in commerce, art, and technology. Paris was the scene of the first public projection of a motion picture, and the birthplace of the Ballets Russes, Impressionism, and Modern Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batignolles group</span>

The Batignolles group was a group of young avant-garde painters from the end of the 19th century who gathered around Édouard Manet. The group bears its name in reference to the Batignolles district, where the artists used to meet between 1869 and 1875. Many of the artists in the group later became known for the Impressionism movement.

<i>The Cradle</i> (Morisot) Painting by Berthe Morisot

The Cradle is an oil on canvas painting by the French Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot, executed in 1872. It is on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Pierre Choumoff was a Russian–French photographer and the personal photographer of Auguste Rodin.