24/4/23 - Heritage - Paris, Jardin de l’Archevêché - The disappearance of Paris, which we denounced in our book published last year, far from slowing down, is accelerating, as if the ever-stronger opposition of its inhabitants made the municipality even more dangerous, in a drift that we often see at the end of a reign. This town hall, which only talks about consultation and democracy, is becoming more and more entrenched in a stubbornness that denies all the principles it dares to promote. Thus - and we have already spoken about this on several occasions here - the square Jean XXIII, for which we prefer the historical and much more beautiful name of the Jardin de l’Archevêché, is still under threat of destruction.
-
- 1. Jardin de l’Archevêché (15 March 2011)
Photo : Viault (CC BY-SA 3.0) - See the image in its page
The town hall had therefore launched a "consultation", the result of which was unambiguous, as we wrote in this news item of 10/11/21: the wishes that the square be restored to its original state and that nothing change were the subject of 1204 votes out of a total of 1486. That is to say a total of 81% in favour of the statu-quo, for a historic garden created in 1844, and protected by its presence on the outskirts of Notre-Dame and in an area classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
What do you think happened? The town hall did not care about the public opinion it had sought, and was totally indifferent to the historical character of the garden and its heritage qualities. It launched a competition without taking this into account, and chose a project that will result in the destruction of the Jardin de l’Archevêché as we know it today, to merge it with the Square de l’Île-de-France, which houses the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation, into a large space open day and night, and by doing away with the historic gates.
-
- 2. Jardin de l’Archevêché seen from Notre-Dame cathedral (26 August 2013)
Photo : Jason Riedy (CC BY 2.0) - See the image in its page
The municipality has even produced a 158-page document (!) to report on the outcome of this consultation. An example of disinformation. We learn that "The opening or closing of the park with grilles has been debated by local residents and Parisians who do not want any nuisance in the evening, but appreciate the opening of the park". Can we really talk about "debating" when the vast majority want a status quo? Similarly, it states: "As for the gardens, divergent opinions were expressed. Some people propose not changing anything, especially in the square Jean XXIII. They want the current plant heritage to be preserved and maintained, while others proposed increasing the plant density of the two squares. They propose reinforcing the vegetation in a single square with multiple uses behind the cathedral". To suggest, again, that opinions would be roughly equally divided is a blatant lie. We could go on and on with this list of lies, which are all the easier for the reader to swallow since this pamphlet never mentions the results of the votes...
The file submitted by the City to the Ministry of Ecological Transition leaves no doubt as to the intentions of the City Council: the grilles will disappear, both for the Square Jean XXIII and for the Square de l’Île-de-France [1], as well as some of the street furniture to be replaced by a new one: we know what this means in the mind of the Paris City Council.
Once again, the Ministry of Culture, which is remaining very silent on this matter, is thus becoming the accomplice of Paris City Hall. Yet it would be very simple for it to say loud and clear that this part of the cathedral’s surroundings must not be touched, since it has all the means, via the opinion of the Architecte des bâtiments de France, to oppose it. It is true that the latter is under the control of the regional prefect. We have recognised that what is planned on the parvis is acceptable, so we are not practising systematic obstruction. But the integrity of the Archbishop’s garden is not debatable.
-
- 3. Page of the petition
- See the image in its page
We therefore thank the one who prefers to work on Twitter under a pseudonym, Baptiste75004, a defender of Paris already very active for the Place de la Concorde and Ledoux’s rotunda at La Villette, who has just launched a petition (to sign it click here) so that all lovers of Paris and Notre-Dame can sign against this destructive project.
Let’s remember that the municipality had promised to contribute 50 million to the restoration of Notre-Dame. A lie, one more, since it has finally given up and decided to allocate this money to work on the surroundings. 50 million, part of which will be used to destroy the Archbishop’s Square. There are worse things than the fire: there is the Paris City Hall.