Place de la
République - Metro : République
This huge place located at the junction of several variously coloured
districts is not a usual goal of Parisian tourism. Encircled by le
Marais in the South, the Bastille and the cemetery of the
Père-Lachaise in the East, Belleville in North, the Grand
Boulevards in the West, the Place de la République became,
during these two last decades, the symbolic place of spontaneous
gathering of the great popular demonstrations. Formerly called Place of
the Water Tower, its current name was ratified in 1879, when a public
contest was launched for the construction of a monument dedicated to
the republic. The brothers Léopold and Charles Morice
carried
it. Their imposing sculpture, which incarnates the values of Freedom,
Egalité, Fraternité, throne today still in the
middle of
the rectangular place. Around it, we celebrate each year on July 14
there by inviting many orchestras to dance in the street. The political
character of this place whose symbolic system is strong, also attracts
the processions protestors, which they are trade-union, associative or
social. In the place of the barracks of gendarmerie located
at
the north of the place a place replaces which made run the Parisian
ones at the end of the XIXth century: famous Wauxhall where Daguerre
projected its dioramas through its magic lanterns. Ancestor of our
contemporary cinemas. A plate of honor still commemorates the
disappeared place.
