Le 4ème que j'aime . . .

The statue of Rimbaud by the Sculptor Jean Ipousteguy

It appears that one of the 14th 'arrondissement' council wanted to acquire Rimbaud's statue in order to place it on the Boulevard Raspail. Every thing seemed to be organized, even a base was ready to welcome the statue.

Nevertheless, the sculptor's family was not even aware of this project ! This is with a great mobilization from our 4th arrondisseent council, more specifically from the one of the Arsenal that the statue remains and will remains at its initial location : the place in front of the Arsenal.

Our residents can be reassured. This is a very good news and also a good example to remind us not to neglect our 20th century cultural heritage.

Translation : Emmanuelle

==> French version of this post.

Free Entrance for Youth Every Wednesday evening at the Centre Pompidou

Since January 2^nd 2008, the ministry of Culture and more particularly Christine Albanel its minister have decided to experiment  ‘free entrance’ in several national museum for young people aged between 18-25. Of course this applies to the 4^th ‘arrondissement’, therefore the Pompidou centre is now free for the 18-25 every Wednesday from 6pm until 9pm.

This is a very good scheme, which permits our youth to discover the permanent contemporary art collection. It is important to put an emphasis on the Pompidou centre, as its contemporary collection is one of the richest in the world. 

We also are very pleased to inform you that Christine Albanel is number 2 on Vincent Roger’s list for the town Hall election in our arrondissement. It is a great opportunity for the  ‘4eme’ that Christine Albanel well known and appreciated from the art community well before she took her responsibilities at the ministry of culture. We also invite you to take a look at Vincent Roger’s site in which a video -in French- of Christine Albanel explains her choices to be part of project 4^th arrondissement.

Translation : Emmanuelle S.

==> French version of this post.

"Pierre Au Lard" street

Here is a very small street of the 4th arrondissement : the street "Pierre Au Lard". This tiny street is shaped like an elbow at the corner of "la rue Saint-Merri" and "la rue du Renard".

Contrarily of one may think, "Pierre Au Lard" is not the medieval nickname of an inhabitant of this street (In French, Pierre is 'Peter' and "lard" means bacon so it could have been the nickname of a man called 'Peter and found of pork' : but that's wrong !).

Actually, this name "Pierre Au Lard" is a linguistic distortion over the years of "Pierre en l'air" which means "stone in the air". During the Roman time, one could have found at this specific location, a megalithic landscape outside of "Lutece". The city used to be far more developed on the left bank. It also appears that a large standing stone remained at this specific location of Paris until the Middle Ages. This is why, this little tiny street, wich used to be much longer (it was shortened when the Pompidou Center was built) is now called "Pierre Au Lard".

Nowadays, in this tiny street, one could find a charming little theatre : le théâtre de l'Essaion.

Translation : Emmanuelle

French version of this post.

About the French expression "Faire la grève" (to be on strike)

La place de Grève, Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste Raguenet (1715 - 1793)

Historically, the location of the ‘Hotel de Ville’ (town hall) was a strand. The strand was a sandy shore on which people unloaded merchandise from mother ships. It was around this rudimentary port that the Paris ‘right bank’ materialised.

The place of the ‘grève’ (strand) was for a long time the emotional heart of Paris and therefore the heart of France. It was the place of all the rebellion and also the place marking national reunification - it was marked by both grief and festivities.

Famous as a place of execution until the revolution of July (1830), in addition the ‘grève’ was a place of celebration especially on Midsummer Eve for the traditional St John fireworks. It also marked the place where on 25th August 1944 Charles de Gaulle made the renowned speech in front the Parisian crowd, in which he proclaimed: “ Paris offended, Paris martyred, but Paris freed!”

Finally, the grève was also a meeting place for the down and out and the unemployed ... this is the origin of the expression ‘faire la grève’ (to be on strike) !

Translation in English : Emmanuelle

French version of this post. Spanish version of this post.