| Square du Vert-Galant | |
|---|---|
 View from Pont des Arts | |
  Location within Paris | |
| Type | Urban Park |
| Location | 1st arrondissement, Paris |
| Coordinates | 48°51′26″N2°20′24″E / 48.85722°N 2.34000°E |
| Area | 1,642m2 [1] |
| Created | 1884 |
The Square du Vert-Galant is a small, triangular park pointing downstream located at the western tip of the Ile de la Cité, next to the Pont Neuf, in the First Arrondissement of Paris. It was created in 1884 by joining two small islands to the larger island. [2]
The Square du Vert-Galant earns its name from Henry IV of France, who was nicknamed Vert-Galant (Green Gallant) due to having numerous mistresses despite his advanced age at the time. Additionally, there is the large bronze Equestrian statue of Henry IV overlooking the square, now oxidized to a green hue. [3]
In 1585, the Pont Neuf began construction over the farthest west point of Île de la Cité, [4] The Pont Neuf, completed in 1606, was the first bridge in Paris to cross the entire length of the Seine, and was the first that was not lined with houses. [5] It was the project of Henry IV. In 1607, Henry IV gave up the royal garden on the island's west end to allow for the construction of the Place Dauphine to the east of the Pont Neuf, and the Square du Vert-Galant to its west. [6] After his assassination, his statue was placed on the bridge. The original Equestrian statue of Henry IV was erected on west side of the Pont Neuf in 1618, and overlooked the Square du Vert-Galant and the future park. However, it was destroyed on August 11, 1792, during the French Revolution, with some surviving pieces relocated to the Louvre, where they can still be seen today. The current version, recast in 1818 by François-Frédéric Lemot after the Bourbon Restoration in France, and uses a copy of the original mold, although varies in a few details. [3]
When the Pont Neuf, was completed the bridge was at the west end of the Ile de la Cité, overlooking the river. Two small islands originally lay just west of the bridge; the Île à la Gourdaine or Island of the Patriarch, and the Ile aux Juifs, which had been the site of the persecution and execution of Jews, and which in 1314 had been the execution site of Jacques de Molay, the head of the Knights Templar, as well as another Templar leader, Geoffroi de Charney. [5] Both were burned at the stake for heresy. A plaque commemorating Molay's execution sits at the entrance to the square, which now occupies the land. [6]
Before becoming a public square, the area of Square du Vert-Galant housed baths by about 1765, with a cafe with live music being built in 1865. [7] However, due to the area's low lying level, this was destroyed by a flood in 1879, and the land was sold to the city of Paris in 1884 to be made a green space.[ citation needed ]. The square was painted by Pissarro in 1902.
In 2007, Square du Vert-Galant obtained the label 'Espace Vert Écologique' (Ecological Green Space). [8]
The square has an area of 1,642 square meters, or just four-tenths of an acre. It is planted with chestnut trees, taxus or yew trees, prunus pissardii or plum trees; black walnut trees, érables negundo, flowering apple trees, Salix babylonica or weeping willows, Olive trees from Bohemia, Sophora trees, catalpa, robiniers, and Ginkgo biloba. When the Seine rises to an unusual height, as in January 2018, the park is submerged.
Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.
Jacques de Molay, also spelled "Molai", was the 23rd and last grand master of the Knights Templar, leading the order sometime before 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1312. Though little is known of his actual life and deeds except for his last years as Grand Master, he is one of the best known Templars.
The Pont Neuf is the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. It stands by the western (downstream) point of the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river that was, between 250 and 225 BC, the birthplace of Paris, then known as Lutetia and, during the medieval period, the heart of the city.
Île de la Cité is an island in the river Seine in the center of Paris. In the 4th century, it was the site of the fortress of the area governor for the Roman Empire. In 508, Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, established his palace on the island. In the 12th century, it became an important religious center, the home of Notre-Dame cathedral, and the royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, as well as the city hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu. It is also the site of the city's oldest surviving bridge, the Pont Neuf.
The oldest traces of human occupation in Paris are human bones and evidence of an encampment of hunter-gatherers dating from about 8000 BC, during the Mesolithic period.
Île Saint-Louis, eleven hectares in size, is one of two natural islands in the Seine river, in Paris, France. Île Saint-Louis is connected to the rest of Paris by four bridges to both banks of the river and to the Île de la Cité by the Pont Saint-Louis.
The Place Vendôme, earlier known as the Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as the Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is the starting point of the Rue de la Paix. Its regular architecture by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and pedimented screens canted across the corners give the rectangular Place Vendôme the aspect of an octagon. The original Vendôme Column at the centre of the square was erected by Napoleon I to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz; it was torn down on 16 May 1871, by decree of the Paris Commune, but subsequently re-erected and remains a prominent feature on the square today.
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.
The Square du Temple is a garden in Paris, France in the 3rd arrondissement, established in 1857. It is one of 24 city squares planned and created by Georges-Eugène Haussmann and Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand. The Square occupies the site of a medieval fortress in Paris, built by the Knights Templar. Parts of the fortress were later used as a prison during the French Revolution, and then demolished by the mid-19th century.
The Place des Victoires is a circular place in Paris, located a short distance northeast from the Palais Royal and straddling the border between the 1st and the 2nd arrondissements. The Place des Victoires is at the confluence of six streets: Rue de la Feuillade, Rue Vide Gousset, Rue d'Aboukir, Rue Étienne Marcel, Rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, and Rue Catinat.
The Palais de la Cité, located on the Île de la Cité in the Seine River in the centre of Paris, is a major historic building that was the residence of the Kings of France from the sixth century until the 14th century, and has been the center of the French justice system ever since, thus often referred to as the Palais de Justice. From the 14th century until the French Revolution, it was the headquarters of the Parlement of Paris. During the Revolution it served as a courthouse and prison, where Marie Antoinette and other prisoners were held and tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal. Since the early 19th century, it has been the seat of the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris, the Court of Appeal of Paris, and the Court of Cassation. The first of these moved to another Parisian location in 2018, while the other two jurisdictions remain located in the Palais de la Cité as of 2022.
The Place Dauphine is a public square located near the western end of the Île de la Cité in the first arrondissement of Paris. It was initiated by Henry IV in 1607, the second of his projects for public squares in Paris, the first being the Place Royale. He named it for his son, the Dauphin of France and future Louis XIII, who had been born in 1601. From the "square", actually triangular in shape, one can access the middle of the Pont Neuf, a bridge which connects the left and right banks of the Seine by passing over the Île de la Cité. A street called, since 1948, Rue Henri-Robert, forty metres long, connects the Place Dauphine and the bridge. Where they meet, there are two other named places, the Place du Pont-Neuf and the Square du Vert-Galant.
Île aux Juifs, Paris, also called Île des Templiers, was a small island on the Seine in Paris situated just west of the Île de la Cité. The island was named for the number of executions of Jews that took place on it during the Middle Ages. It was on this island that Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and another Templar leader, Geoffroi de Charney, were burnt to death for heresy on 18 March 1314. The island, along with two other small islands next to it, were joined to the Île de la Cité when the Pont Neuf was built across it between 1578 and 1604.
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.
Paris today has more than 421 municipal parks and gardens, covering more than three thousand hectares and containing more than 250,000 trees. Two of Paris's oldest and most famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden, created in 1564 for the Tuileries Palace, and redone by André Le Nôtre in 1664; and the Luxembourg Garden, belonging to a château built for Marie de' Medici in 1612, which today houses the French Senate. The Jardin des Plantes was the first botanical garden in Paris, created in 1626 by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the cultivation of medicinal plants. Between 1853 and 1870, the Emperor Napoleon III and the city's first director of parks and gardens, Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, created the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois de Vincennes, Parc Montsouris and the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, located at the four points of the compass around the city, as well as many smaller parks, squares and gardens in the neighborhoods of the city. One hundred sixty-six new parks have been created since 1977, most notably the Parc de la Villette (1987–1991) and Parc André Citroën (1992).
During the 16th century, Paris was the largest city in Europe, with a population of about 350,000 in 1550.
The equestrian statue of Henry IV is a bronze equestrian statue completed by Pietro Tacca. The statue, which now stands on the bridge Pont Neuf, was indirectly commissioned by Marie de Médicis for her husband, King Henry IV of France. The original commissioned artist, Giambologna, died before its completion, and Pietro Tacca took over the commission. The statue was erected in 1614, torn down in 1792 during the French Revolution, and rebuilt by 1818.
Vert-Galant station is an RER station in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, a northeastern suburb of Paris. It is on RER B between Villeparisis – Mitry-le-Neuf and Sevran–Livry.
Île à la Gourdaine is a former eyot (islet) in the river Seine in central Paris. It was built over in 1607 to create the current Place Dauphine.