Square des Batignolles
Encyclopedia
The Square des Batignolles, which covers 16,615 square metres of land (approximately four acres), is the largest green space in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Designed in the naturalistic English-garden style, it lies in the district (quartier) of Batignolles
, near the new Parc Clichy-Batignolles.
, at the request of Baron Haussmann
, who fulfilled the desire of Napoleon III to establish several English-style gardens in the capital. Napoleon III had acquired a taste for the English garden
during his exile in England, prior to 1848.
The Square des Batignolles was created by Jean-Charles Alphand
, assisted by the engineer, Jean Darcel, the architect, Gabriel Davioud
, and the horticulturist, Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, on a tract of land that had been described as "a vast wasteland". This was the same team that had been assembled to design and execute the Bois de Boulogne on the western edge of Paris.
In 1860, Napoleon III annexed the district of Batignolles
to Paris. In 1862, Jean-Charles Alphand designed and created the Square des Batignolles. Alphand was the engineer for most of the parks built at this time, including the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Parc Montsouris, and others.
Currently, the mayor of Paris is trying to maintain the Square des Batignolles in the pure Haussmann-Alphand style. This style is most visible in small bridges, concrete designs with plant motifs, and faux rocks with the appearance of stratification (as at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont).
.
, and the artificiality of their topiary
, which reflect an attempt to impose the gardener's will on Nature, the English garden adopts a more cooperative or collaborative approach. The English gardener and landscape architect, Capability Brown
, compared his role as a garden designer to that of a poet or composer: "Here I put a comma, there, when it's necessary to cut the view, I put a parenthesis; there I end it with a period and start on another theme.".
The English-garden style also relies heavily on symbol
ism by using objects that are clearly man-made (called architectural follies
) as focal points for gazing at the overall landscape. These human touches usually take the form of sham ruins; this is to demonstrate the impermanence of man’s achievements in comparison to those of Nature. Other man-made features typically used in these gardens are temples, tea-houses, belvederes, pavilions, and gazebos whose placement invites the visitor to engage the landscape from the most aesthetically-pleasing vantage points. These locative devices are usually supplemented by vast rolling lawns, well-placed copses of trees, quaint stone bridges, pieces of statuary casually installed in the landscape, grottos, strategically located ponds and watercourses, small waterfalls, and artificial cascades. Exotic vegetation was also planted, both to amaze the senses but also to display the power and reach of the Second Empire
, which was capable of gathering and nurturing living species from all over the world.
True to the archetype, the Square des Batignolles features extensive rolling lawns and a large pond that is fed by a natural stream that courses through the park. The pond is home to large red Japanese carp, known as koi
, and over three hundred ducks of various species. In the middle of the pond stands a statue created by Louis de Monard in 1930 called Vautours (Vultures). Elsewhere in the Square is a bust of the poet, Léon Dierx
(1838–1912), created by Bony de Lavergne in 1932.
which acts as a greenhouse for a solitary tropical palm tree.
The following tree specimens can be found in the square :
Square des Batignolles is popular with children. There are several playgrounds, sand-boxes, swings, a carousel with old-fashioned wooden horses, an area for roller skating, and ping-pong tables. There are also areas for adults who wish to play pétanque
, or boules
.
It is served by lines 2, 3, and 13.
Batignolles
Batignolles is a neighborhood of Paris, a part of the 17th arrondissement of the city. The neighborhood is bounded on the south by the Boulevard des Batignolles, on the east by the Avenue de Clichy, on the north by the Rue Cardinet, and on the west by the Rue de Rome.-History:Batignolles was an...
, near the new Parc Clichy-Batignolles.
The name
The origin of the name "Batignolles" may be the Latin word, "batillus", meaning "mill", or, it may be derived from the Provençal word, "bastidiole", meaning "small farmhouse".History
Until the early nineteenth century, the area was largely deserted countryside with a few scattered farms. The square was established under the Second EmpireSecond French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, at the request of Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
, who fulfilled the desire of Napoleon III to establish several English-style gardens in the capital. Napoleon III had acquired a taste for the English garden
English garden
The English garden, also called English landscape park , is a style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The...
during his exile in England, prior to 1848.
The Square des Batignolles was created by Jean-Charles Alphand
Jean-Charles Alphand
Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, born in 1817 and died in 1891, interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery , was a French Engineer of the Corps of Bridges and Roads...
, assisted by the engineer, Jean Darcel, the architect, Gabriel Davioud
Gabriel Davioud
Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud was a French architect.Davioud was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Léon Vaudoyer...
, and the horticulturist, Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamps, on a tract of land that had been described as "a vast wasteland". This was the same team that had been assembled to design and execute the Bois de Boulogne on the western edge of Paris.
Batignolles
Batignolles is a neighborhood of Paris, a part of the 17th arrondissement of the city. The neighborhood is bounded on the south by the Boulevard des Batignolles, on the east by the Avenue de Clichy, on the north by the Rue Cardinet, and on the west by the Rue de Rome.-History:Batignolles was an...
to Paris. In 1862, Jean-Charles Alphand designed and created the Square des Batignolles. Alphand was the engineer for most of the parks built at this time, including the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, Parc Montsouris, and others.
Currently, the mayor of Paris is trying to maintain the Square des Batignolles in the pure Haussmann-Alphand style. This style is most visible in small bridges, concrete designs with plant motifs, and faux rocks with the appearance of stratification (as at Parc des Buttes-Chaumont).
Description
The Square des Batignolles was designed as an English garden (or landscape garden), a style first made popular by the English landscape architect, Capability BrownCapability Brown
Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
.
The English landscape garden
The key to this style is naturalism, a studied, but unselfconscious, attempt to leave the impression that the grounds are untouched by human hands. The landscaper employs his artistry, through the use of various forms of asymmetric balance, to convince the visitor that the apparent wildness and randomness of the terrain is the product of artful Nature, rather than the artifice of Man. In contrast to previous formal gardens, with their geometrically-designed parterres and pathways, their severely-clipped shrubberyShrubbery
A shrubbery is a wide border to a garden where shrubs are thickly planted; or a similar larger area with a path winding through it. A shrubbery was a feature of 19th-century gardens in the English manner, with its origins in the gardenesque style of the early part of the century...
, and the artificiality of their topiary
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
, which reflect an attempt to impose the gardener's will on Nature, the English garden adopts a more cooperative or collaborative approach. The English gardener and landscape architect, Capability Brown
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
, compared his role as a garden designer to that of a poet or composer: "Here I put a comma, there, when it's necessary to cut the view, I put a parenthesis; there I end it with a period and start on another theme.".
The English-garden style also relies heavily on symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ism by using objects that are clearly man-made (called architectural follies
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
) as focal points for gazing at the overall landscape. These human touches usually take the form of sham ruins; this is to demonstrate the impermanence of man’s achievements in comparison to those of Nature. Other man-made features typically used in these gardens are temples, tea-houses, belvederes, pavilions, and gazebos whose placement invites the visitor to engage the landscape from the most aesthetically-pleasing vantage points. These locative devices are usually supplemented by vast rolling lawns, well-placed copses of trees, quaint stone bridges, pieces of statuary casually installed in the landscape, grottos, strategically located ponds and watercourses, small waterfalls, and artificial cascades. Exotic vegetation was also planted, both to amaze the senses but also to display the power and reach of the Second Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, which was capable of gathering and nurturing living species from all over the world.
True to the archetype, the Square des Batignolles features extensive rolling lawns and a large pond that is fed by a natural stream that courses through the park. The pond is home to large red Japanese carp, known as koi
Koi
or more specifically , are ornamental varieties of domesticated common carp that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens....
, and over three hundred ducks of various species. In the middle of the pond stands a statue created by Louis de Monard in 1930 called Vautours (Vultures). Elsewhere in the Square is a bust of the poet, Léon Dierx
Leon Dierx
Léon Dierx was a French poet born in the island of La Réunion in 1838. He came to Paris to study at the Central School of Arts and Manufactures and subsequently settled there, taking up a post in the education office. He became a disciple of Leconte de Lisle and one of the most distinguished of...
(1838–1912), created by Bony de Lavergne in 1932.
Vegetation
For a park of this relatively modest size (less than two hectares), there are surprisingly large undulating lawns here, and the many wandering paths are shaded by a remarkable variety of trees. There are oriental plane trees that are over 140 years old and over thirty metres in height. There is a relatively young giant sequoia, which has yet to become gigantic. There are hazelnut trees from Asia Minor, Siberian elms, Japanese cherry trees, ash trees, willows, black walnuts, and others. On top of a small rocky outcrop is a glass-walled gazeboGazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...
which acts as a greenhouse for a solitary tropical palm tree.
The following tree specimens can be found in the square :
- four hybrid trees (PlatanusPlatanusPlatanus is a small genus of trees native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae....
x Hispanica), planted in 1840 and 1880, all between 32 and 38 metres high, one of which is 5.90 m in circumference and among the largest in Paris - the purple beech (Fagus sylvatica, Fagus purpurea), one example of which is now gigantic
- the honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), native to North America
- the Chinese 'corkscrew' willow (Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa)
- the Turkish hazel (Corylus colurna)
- ash trees with aucuba-like leaves (Fraxinus aucubaefolia)
- the Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki)
- the trifolia lemon (Citrus limon)
- a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Square des Batignolles is popular with children. There are several playgrounds, sand-boxes, swings, a carousel with old-fashioned wooden horses, an area for roller skating, and ping-pong tables. There are also areas for adults who wish to play pétanque
Pétanque
Pétanque is a form of boules where the goal is, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet or jack. It is also sometimes called a bouchon or le petit...
, or boules
Boules
Boules is a collective name for games played with metal balls.Two of the most played boule games are pétanque and boule lyonnaise. The aim of the game is to get large, heavy balls as close to the 'jack' as you can. It is very popular especially in France, but also Italy, where it may often be seen...
.
Metro stations
The Square des Batignolles is:It is served by lines 2, 3, and 13.
External links
- Square des Batignolles on Paris.fr