Montparnasse

Since I have started strolling in Paris following Atget's footsteps, the bare minimum is to visit the street where he lived, rueCampagne-Première in the district of Montparnasse. Thus, this is where we will start. Digging into his work more and more frequently, Atget's photographs have become more and more familiar to my eyes, and a peculiar link seems to have bound me to his work, through time and space. So familiar to me, his largephoto albums somehow feel part of my memory albums. Could it be a Freudian transfert, as my Parisian grand-father used the same photographic chamber.

Honoré de Balzac, Emile Zola and Walter Benjamin have described the 14th district in a way that is not really inspiring. It is true that in their time, this district was essentially devoted to hospitals, from maternity hospitals to elderly homes, as well as orphanages and convents. It was before Montparnasse became the center of the Parisian artistic and cultural life, in the 1920's, when the artists moved away from Montmartre to Montparnasse, making the fame of cafes and restaurants like Closerie des Lilasand la Coupole.
This is where the Catacombes,one of the most visited place in Paris, are located …

- Starting point at the metro station Raspail or bus line 68
- Rue Campagne-Première where lived Eugène Atget and Man Ray. Towards boulevard Raspail via the quiet passage d’Enfer and place Denfert-Rochereau where the Catacombes are located
- Boulevard René Coty (old Water manhole), rue Hallé (Houses), boulevard du Général Leclerc towards boulevard Arago and rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques (Observatoire de Paris Garden)
- Rue Cassini (Observatoire de Paris)
- Port-Royal, today a maternity hospital, was in the past a convent playing a major role in a French theological movement called Jansenism
- Val-de-Grâce Church
- Luxembourg Garden and Great Explorer’s Garden (Jardin des Grands Explorateurs)
- Boulevard de Montparnasse (famous Cafes and brasseries)

Rue Campagne-Première

In 1899, EugèneAtget rented an apartment at 17 bis rueCampagne-Première. He was then 42 years old and had just stopped acting, as he used to be in a theatre troop. His partner, Valentine, actress as well, kept busy with her theatre activities until 1902 when she decided to move to Paris and live with him. Being a true artist at heart, he started practicing painting before photography. His first photographs were landscape pictures that he was selling to painters.

Then, working with the Commission du Vieux Paris (Municipal Commission of Old Paris), he became a photographer of Paris. He sold his negative glass plates not only to the Commission but to many other organisations, like Musée Carnavalet, the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, today my precious sources.
I can imagine him, leaving his apartment, at dawn of day, with his heavy and bulky equipment; walking around in the streets holding a 13x18 camera with big bellows, a heavy wooden tripod and glass plates, walking around in the streets.

It is also in this street that Man Ray moved to Paris, around 1921, and rented a ground-floor studio at 31 bis rue Campagne-Première. He had then the opportunity to meet with his neighbor, Eugène Atget, whose photographs appeared to him remarkably modern, even surreal, though the technique he used was old-fashioned.
It is how, Man Ray's young American assistant, Berenice Abbott, met Atget and took his two portraits before his death in 1927. When the young American photographer came back to the United States, she brought back several thousand of Atget's negative glass plates. To a very large extent, recognition of Atget is due to Berenice Abbott, especially with the publication of a book in 1930: Atget,photographe de Paris. Though Atget was working with several Parisian institutions, he did not get any recognition during his lifetime and his posthumous recognition came from the United States.
Inspired by Atget who was claiming his photographs as just documents, Berenice Abott dedicated her career to exploring strength of photography when it can combine both notions of documentary and aesthetic.

Let’s walk back on our steps going through Passage d’Enfer which opens at 21 rue Campagne-Première to go back to boulevard Raspail. This is a private quiet passage, where we can see the back of the building with ceramics located at 31 rue Campagne Première. Let’s turn left onto boulevard Raspail heading up to Place Denfert-Rochereau.

Place Denfert-Rochereau

In French, place Denfert-Rochereau, also sounds like a pun. Denfert, sounds like d'Enfer, which was the older name of that same area. In the past, it was barrière d'Enfer. Barrière d'Enfer was a toll house through the Farmers General Wall. And in French it sounds like gate of hell. Quite an appropriate name for an area which collapsed a fateful day of December 1774. The accident which destroyed several houses recurred later in April 1777.
It was a part of the stone quarries which collapsed. The stone quarries beneath Paris were used in the past during several centuries to extract the lime stone. King Louis XVI appointed Guillaumot, an engineer, to a huge and tedious task of classifying and consolidating the underground galleries of the Parisian quarries.
Though not an entrance to hell, when accessing the Catacombes, today one of the most visited places in Paris, the visitors are welcomed by these words: «Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la mort!» (Halt! This is the Empire of Death). When the Holy Innocents cemetery near the Halles was condemned for causing major health problems, it was decided to exhume and move the remains of bodies, more or less in decay, into the quarries recently consolidated. I can hardly imagine the gruesome carriages through Paris transferring the dead at night to the old quarries transformed into catacombs. Later, other Paris' dead from other condemned cemeteries were moved between 1786 and 1860.

The entrance to the Catacombes is located in one of the two toll houses built by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux through the former Farmers General Wall. The other toll house, across the street, shown on Atget's photo, is today near the metro station. There were fifty monumental toll houses all around this wall closing Paris. Few of them were kept, like the ones place Denfert-Rochereau, the two Rotondas de la Villette and ParcMonceau, and the two columns place de la Nation. It was a wall, 24 kilometers long, not intended to defend Paris, but only to force payment of tolls on goods entering Paris. It was demolished in 1860 and we roughly follow its former layout when we take the aerial metro on lines 2 and 6.

Avenue René Coty - Regard des Eaux

We now walk in front of the Denfert-Rochereau railway station, the oldest in Paris. It was opened in 1846, for the first railway line between Paris and Sceaux.

Let’s go to avenue René Coty.

In Belleville, we have the opportunity to see several manholes giving access to the underground pipelines formerly supplying spring water.

Manhole (Regard XXV), located avenue René Coty on the grounds of the hospital de la Rochefoucauld, sits above the Medici underground aqueduct which used to supply Paris withspring water collected in Rungis and brought to a building called la Maison du Fontainier. This building can be visited on request or during the Heritage Days. We will later pass-by this building, when we will be in rue Cassini and rue de l'Observatoire.

King Henry IV, concerned by the lack of safe water for Parisians, formed the project of re-establishing the former Roman aqueduct. He therefore asked his minister Sully to rebuild the old aqueduct built in the 2^ndcentury which was supplying the Gallo-Roman baths in Cluny. But, the brutal death of the king stopped the project. It was renewed later by the queen Maria de Medici to supply water to the fountains and basins of her new Luxembourg Palace.
After ten years of work, the new aqueduct was completed in 1623 and was supplying water to Paris from Rungis. The water was brought to the building, la Maison du Fontainier, from where the water was supplied firstly to the Luxembourg Palace and later to the public fountains. The aqueduct supplied water until mid 19^thcentury and was fully disused in 1904, except one conduct supplying the lake and the cascade in the Parc Montsouris.

Let’s walk up to rue Hallé on our right, then rue Sophie Germain and avenue du Général Leclerc on our right.
Rue Hallé, we will see a small shop selling many art supplies for drawing and painting. Recently opened, it is a subsidiary of the very old and famous Sennelier shop, opened in 1887 close to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

A little bit further, we will see a group of houses with their charming gardens built in 1830, called the Village of Orléans.

Avenue du Général Leclerc - Hospice de la Rochefoucauld

At the end of rue Sophie-Germain, let's turn to the right into avenue du Général Leclerc. At N°15, behind the straight tree lined alley, we can see the retirement home de la Rochefoucauld. We saw its rear facade when we stopped in front of the man hole, in avenue RenéCoty. When this royal hospital was founded in 1780, it was dedicated to sick and poor old military and clergy men; it is today a geriatric home.

At the end of rue Sophie-Germain,let's turn to the right into avenue du Général Leclerc. At n°15, behind the straight tree lined alley, we can see the retirement home de la Rochefoucauld. We saw its rear facade when we stopped in front of the man hole, in avenue René Coty. When this royal hospital was founded in 1780, it was dedicated to sick and poor old military and clergy men; it is today a geriatric home.

On our left, we walk in front of the lively pedestrian market street, rue Daguerre. We will miss now the small silhouette of the film maker Agnès Varda who lived in this street.

Let's continue walking up to placeDenfert-Rochereauthat we will cross to arrive in boulevard Arago.

Boulevard Arago - Jardin de l'Observatoire

Rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques - Hôtel de Massa

The photo taken by Atget shows the Hôtel de Massa, located elsewhere, more precisely at the intersection of Champs-Elysées and rue de laBoétie. It was a former countryside house (in French a folie) built in 1777 which would have hosted the romances of the Comte d'Artois,brother of the King Louis XVI.
Seven months before the Storming of the Bastille, the house was sold to the Duke of Richelieu still using it as a place of pleasure. The house was abandoned during the French Revolution period, during which Alexandre Lenoir (who saved many art objects during the Revolution) saved two statues made by Michelangelo: the Dying Slave and the Rebellious Slave, today held at the Louvre.
As the house of the Italian Ambassador during the French Empire, it recovered its past splendor. It has its name from the Duke of Massa, host of many receptions during the Second Empire.
In 1926, the house was bought by the owner of the GaleriesLafayette. The project was to demolish it and replace it by a shopping center. Instead, the building was moved stone by stone in 1928 and rebuilt here in the Garden of the Paris Observatory.
Ever since then, it is the head office of the Société des Gens de Lettres, a public utility association founded in 1838 upon instigation of Honoré de Balzac, advocating today author's rights.
An Art Deco building is standing where was the HôteldeMassa in ChampsElysées. It was built by the National City Bank ofAmerica. And by a funny twist of history, the building has been fully restored for the concept store just opened in March 2019 by Galeries Lafayette…

Let’s turn on the left into rue Cassini.

Rue Cassini

Giovanni Domenico Cassini, recruited in 1669 was the first of a family dynasty of Paris Observatory Directors, during one hundred and twenty five years up to the French Revolution.

François Arago, director of the Paris Observatory from 1843 to 1853 said these words about his neighbor, the writer Honoré de Balzac who also lived rue Cassini: "...From my window, I could see him by the flickering light of candles: we were two night workers, myself with the eyes directed into the space, himself with the head downward his paper. And I am not sure that the one able to see the farthest was the astronomer! ..."

It was certainly no pleasure for Balzac to settle in this district, that he described in his novel History of the Thirteen, Ferragus:
"There in fact, Paris has ceased to be; and yet Paris is still there. This place smacks at one and the same time of the city square, the street, the boulevard, the fortification, the garden, the avenue, the highway, the province and the capital; certainly it has something of all that but is nothing of all that: it is a desert."
However, he had to flee away from his creditors who were waiting for him rue des-Marais-Saint-Germain (today rue Visconti) where he had his printing press. He therefore settled in a house at N°4 to 8 rue Cassini (cf: Connaissance du VieuxParis – J.Hillairet), under the name of Surville,his brother-in-law.

A series of three amazing and different villas for artists, built between 1903 and 1906, by Louis Süe, painter and architect can be seen at nr 3bis, 5 and 7.

The Paris Observatory can be seen at the end of the street. Their website offers a large set of astronomy learning services and resources.

The Maison du Fontainier (meaning the house of the fountain keeper) is standing right next the Paris Observatory. I was referring to it when we were in front of the man hole on avenue RenéCoty. This is where the Medici aqueduct was arriving. The person who had the royal charge of the water supply was living in the house. The aqueduct had twenty seven man holes (Regards), as points of control and maintenance. We saw the no 25 on avenue René Coty and the Maison du Fontainier has the no 27. Under the house, in a basement, there were three basins and canals. The first was distributing the water to the Luxembourg Palace, the second to the convents and the third to several public fountains in Paris. Visits can be arranged with the association of Paris Historique.The house is generally opened during the Heritage Days.

Let’s continue in the boulevard de l’Observatoire, then rue Henri Barbusse leading  to boulevard de Port-Royal.

Boulevard de Port-Royal - Convent of Port-Royal

The convent of Port-Royal in Paris was first created as an extension of the abbey of Port-Royal des Champs (Port-Royal in the Fields), founded in 1204 in the Vallée de Chevreuse, close to Dampierre, southwest of Paris. It is possible to see today some ruins of the abbey and a museum. The marshes around the abbey became so unhealthy that the nuns moved in 1625 to a land in Paris owned by the abbess Angélique Arnaud, where the monastery of Port-Royal de Paris was built.
The name of Port-Royal is closely associated with the Jansenism, which doctrine hostile to the Jesuits was introduced in 1636 by the Abbott of Saint-Cyran, a follower of Cornelius Jansen. Blaise Pascal, engaged in the Jansenism controversy, was frequently meeting with his sister, nun at Port-Royal and wrote his famous religious libel: the Provincial letters. Port-Royal was defending a very strict catholic practice and was blaming the Jesuits and King Louis XIV for their moral laxity.
The play Port-Royal written by Henry de Montherlant takes place in the convent during one day in August 1664, with the archbishop Beaumont de Péréfixe trying to convince the nuns of signing a document in which they formally renounce at the propositions in the writings of Jansen.
The convent was converted into a prison during the French Revolution, under the name of Port-Libre (Strange name for a prison … Libre meaning Free …). Lavoisier, the famous chemist, spent his last hours in this prison before being guillotined.
In 1795, the buildings were transformed into a Maternity hospital and since 1814 is known as Maternity of Port-Royal.

The old monastery buildings as photographed by Atget are still there, the cloister and the chapel have also been preserved.

Let’s now cross the boulevard to take rue Pierre Nicole. Let’s turn on the right into rue du Val-de-Grâce.

Rue du Val-de-Grâce

In front of us, we can see the church of Val de Grace. The first symbolic stone was settled in 1645 by the young king Louis XIV, who was six years-old at the time. His mother, Queen Ann of Austria, made a vow to God to erect a beautiful temple if He gave her a child. At the age of thirty-six, she finally gave birth to Louis XIV after twenty-two years of marriage. Quite naturally, she chose the abbey of Val deGrâce, where she frequently met the abbess Marguerite d'Arbouze.
When he built the imposing church, François Mansart met huge difficulties due to the weak soil laying above several old quarries. Later in 1793, the porter of Val de Grâce went down into those quarries and got lost. His skeleton was only found eleven years later and was recognized thanks to the bunch of keys hanging from his belt. He was buried where his last remains were found, below place Louis-Marin. For the cataphiles, his grave is now a special place.

Per her vow, Ann Austria's heart of Ann was buried in the church of Val de Grâce, where other royal hearts were buried until the French Revolution. In 1793, the urns containing the Royal Hearts were profaned; per a legend told by the French historian, André de Castelot, these hearts could have been used to make a Mummy Brown. These pigments used with oil paint could provide an excellent glazing. Martin Drölling could have used it for his painting L'intérieurd'une cuisine.

The Benedictine nuns had to definitively leave their convent transformed into a military hospital during the French Revolution. Up to the 21th century, Val de Grâcekept its vocation of military medicine. However, the modern hospital built in 1979 was closed in 2016 and its services transferred to the two other military hospitals: Bégin in Saint-Mandé and Percy in Clamart. The church and the museum settled in the former monastery are open to the public. Be careful though as the museum shows a very impressive collection of casts and moulages taken from horribly mutilated faces of First World War veterans.