Thu, 24 May 2012
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Thirza Vallois' historical and cultural tour of Paris continues in the 20th arrondissement, in 'a troublesome neighbourhood'.
And yet, in pre-industrial days this was a land of bliss, invigorated by fresh air, bathed in sunlight and watered by more rivulets and springs than the world-renowned hill of Montmartre, "a green dress crowned by lilacs", according to some poet. Neat strips of vineyards clung to its sunny slopes, alternating with fruit orchards and wild flowers. A windmill here and there completed the charming picture, which extended all the way south to the village of Charonne. Even the high and the mighty frequented or had footholds in Belleville, Henri IV, Richelieu, Mazarin among them. In the 17th century the Duchesse d'Orléans, Louis XIV's sister-in-law, was the landlady of the Château de Bagnolet, and in the 18th century, the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and the Montespan and wife of the Regent was so fond of the estate that she was willing to pay three times their value for the adjoining grounds. In order to bypass the cumbersome high street of Bagnolet, full of bustling taverns and crammed with wine-laden carts, she opened a beautiful, broad avenue shaded on either side by two rows of trees, and named it l'Allée de Madame (now rue des Orteaux). 
The final blow was dealt in 1860, when the villages of Charonne, a section of Bagnolet, Ménilmontant and Belleville were annexed to Paris as a new arrondissement. The Mayor of Charonne had sensed the disastrous outcome of the annexation act in 1859, and addressing his local councillors claimed that, "for the suburbs the era of primitive happiness was over... their balance will soon be upset." Indifferent to history and to human ties, the administrative machine sliced implacably into rue de Beleville, the village high street, splitting the village and dividing its 70,000 inhabitants, relegating the north with its church to the 19th arrondissement, the south with the Mairie to the 20th. And as the cost of living rose, due to the new taxes imposed on them as residents of Paris, ever-growing waves of hungry outsiders crammed into Belleville, trying to make a living in its workshops (mostly mechanics, but also leather and later clothing). 
This is an excerpt from Thirza Vallois's Around and About Paris series (volume 3 - New Horizons: Haussmann's Annexation). .............
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