french author allan kardec's grave in pere lachaise cemetery

Paris Neighborhood Guide: the 20th Arrondissement, Part 2

Note from the editor: Be sure to read Paris Neighborhood Guide: the 20th Arrondissement, Part 1 if you haven’t already — MS

In 1859, the 20th arrondissement was the last of the outlying neighborhoods to be integrated into Paris. It is the highest of the Paris arrondissements and is even higher than Montmartre — the reason the first telegraph was built here and why the metro stop nearby has been named “Télégraphe.” 

Here I have been living for most of my Paris life and have no plans of moving until I go out feet first, and even then considering that Père Lachaise cemetery is also located in this arrondissement, I hope to stay around.

Père Lachaise and a Little-known Cemetery

Père Lachaise is the 20th arrondissement’s most famous and visited landmark. The cemetery is enormous and is worth an afternoon’s walk. It is built on a hill, with the main entrance on the rue de Repos at the highest point near the Gambetta metro station. The Père Lachaise metro station is at the lowest point on the boulevard Mesnilmontant. To plan a visit to the resting place of the celebrities buried here it is recommended to have a map of the cemetery. An official map of graves is free to take at the Conservation Center inside the cemetery near the Mesnilmontant entrance. Many maps are also available online.

Graves are scattered throughout the cemetery with no division among religion or nationality. On the other hand, there is a section reserved for homage to those murdered in the concentration camps of World War II and to those who died during the Commune

Among the many famous buried here are Edith Piaf, Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt Alain Kardec the spiritist… the avenue where Delacroix is buried is named after him. Once I had an enlightening morning on a tour of Proust and his friends, along with those who served as the exemplars of his characters. 

Women had been kissing the Sphinx sculpture on Oscar Wilde’s grave, dirtying it with their lipstick marks in the hope of having a wish come true, for years. Ultimately, the tomb was cleaned up and a plexiglass protection was put in front of it to keep it clean. Lipstick kiss marks are now to be found on the easily cleaned plexiglass protection. 

Sadly, Jim Morrisson’s tomb is surrounded by barriers and you cannot get very close. When I first visited it in 1980 on a sunny, untouristic weekday, autumn afternoon, I found two guys having a picnic on his tomb. I wished them “bon appétit” and continued my tour. I do not think he would like to know that he has been so isolated from his fans.

Looking at the names and dates can be amusing: on my first visit, I found a Mr. Boney. Unfortunately, this was long before digital cameras so I have no picture and no idea where to find him now.  

From an art point of view, there are beautiful constructions of chapel-sized monuments with stained glass and handsome sculptures to appreciate.

On the subject of cemeteries, the Église St Germain is the last church in Paris to still have a cemetery attached to it. A pleasant visit will take you up and up from the rue de Bagnolet to the rue Stendahl and to the entrance of the Ferme de Charonne

La Petite Ceinture

This is the name of the former railway line that went around Paris. In various areas of the outer arrondissements of the city, the abandoned tracks are still visible. The land has been left fallow for the sake of bio-diversity and, where open, the track lines are inviting areas for a stroll. For the moment it is not possible to follow the former track line uninterruptedly around the city but it is exactly to this end that the association promeneurs de la Petite Ceinture are battling for.

The tracks are visible in three different areas of the 20th arrondissement. From street level over a bridge on the rue Menilmontant, they can be viewed and then accessed by a stairway at number 79 or by the stairless but sloping street at 11 Rue de la Mare. Just before the liberation of Paris, the French resistance attacked two Nazi trains and forced the soldiers to surrender at precisely this section of track. 

Over the tracks, at 102 bis rue de Bagnolet La Fleche d’or cultural center has taken up residence in the former Gare de Charonne station of La Petite Ceinture. The tracks can be seen from an inside window above, but there is no access down.

A second access to the abandoned railway is through the recently created Jardin de la gare de Charonne. An easy entrance through the park toward the tracks for those with reduced mobility and prohibited bicycles (but…) is at 63 boulevard Davout. 

Waterways

Another curiosity is the vestiges of an underground medieval water system permitting water to flow down from the higher hamlets of Mesnilmontant and Belleville in the east of Paris into the city. Two of the small structures built to monitor water flow and quality as well as the workings of the system can still be seen. On the rue des Cascades, just at the corner of the rue de Savies stands the Regard St Martin. Right next to it is the staircase street rue Fernand Raynaud, which runs along the Jardin des Petites Rigoles from the rue des Cascades to the rue de l’Hermitage. In a far corner of this tiny park can be perceived the Petite Rigole, a particularly small,  fenced-in water monitoring structure (un)reachable via a locked staircase. 

Guided tours of the arrondissement’s waterways are sometimes offered by the association AHAV, (Association d’Histoire et d’Archéologie du Vingtième Arrondissement) for members only, during the year and the Journées du Patrimoine for the general public. 

Art

At the corner of Mesnilmontant and Pyrénées street is the town hall’s free cultural center, Le  Pavillon du Carré de Baudouin. Before entering through the small garden, its outside walls typically host a photography exhibit. Inside, it accommodates an art gallery and an auditorium. Here can be seen art linked to the 20th arrondissement, whether by theme or by the artist’s attachment to the quarter.  The auditorium serves as a place for free talks and films. 

Tucked away on the little street for which it is named, the Espace Monte Cristo houses wonderful themed exhibitions centered around the Collection Fondation Villa Datris whose main and sister institution is located in the south of France in the Vaucluse départemement somewhat east of Avignon. Exhibitions are always free and the guided tours offer significant insight into the chosen theme, the artworks, and the artists who created them. Besides works from the Datris collection, the exhibitions often include works lent from collectors, galleries, and the artists themselves. Most of the works on temporary display are by living artists who sometimes offer a hand to install their works.  

Le Grand Belleville brings together a young community of art to be found in the 19th, 20th, and 11th arrondissements.

In the 20th there are two emerging galleries to be found. The Crevecoeur gallery is located in a lovely courtyard with its own patio sporting tables and chairs. The gallery space is luminous on a sunny day with its skylights and picture windows. The Marcelle-Alix gallery, just off the rue de Belleville offers installations and other works on its ground floor and a basement that can be reached by a wonderful staircase, which has mirrored floors as landings. There, when I admitted that I was not much into installations,  I was informed that this art has been around for the past 50 years. Not far, on rue Francis Picabia is the “Atelier des Artistes.” 

Once a year, typically in May, the artists of the Belleville area celebrate Portes Ouvertes. On this weekend they open the doors to their studios whereby the general public can come, visit, see (and purchase if they like) the artists’ works. 

Albeit somewhat removed from Paris’ illustrious center, this seldom-visited arrondissement has much to contribute to the city’s culture.

Photo of French author and educator Allan Kardec’s grave taken in Père Lachaise cemetery.

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