Café Voltaire, named after the writer and philosopher

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

, was a former

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

and

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

located on

Place de l'Odeon Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own Municipality, municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road ...

in the

6th arrondissement The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''. The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The café was open from the early 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. It served as a gathering place for artists and students. The site is currently the headquarters of the literature department of the publishing house Groupe Flammarion (''Flammarion Editions'').

Right-bank café

Around 1790–1794, historical records show that a Café Voltaire existed in Paris. That café was located on the right bank of the Seine River, in Cours Saint-Martin, near the gate that bears the same name.

Left-bank establishment

The left-bank establishment was located next to the former house of Lucile and

Camille Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. Desmoulins was tried and executed alongside Georges Danton when the Committee o ...

who, according to G. Lenotre, lived on the first floor at the time of their arrest for counter-revolutionary conspiracy in 1793. The

Place de l'Odéon The Place de l'Odéon (English: Odeon Square) is a semicircular plaza in the Odéon Quarters of Paris, quarter in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Description Place de l'Odéon is in the 6th arrondissement ...

became the Rue de Voltaire, which later became Rue Casimir-Delavigne in 1864. After the fall of the

First Empire First Empire may refer to: *First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 *First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes use ...

, as the ''Paris Commercial Directory'' indicates, the establishment took the name Café Voltaire, and was run by a manager named Gache, at least until 1826.

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

had lunch at the café in May 1824, as indicated by an entry in his ''Journal''. In the year 1837, Café Voltaire was described in Balzac's philosophical study ''Les Martyrs ignorés.'' At that time, the district also featured Café Racine (now Bouillon Racine) and Café Molière (near Café Procope).

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

students met in all three establishments.

Charles Philipon Charles Philipon (19 April 1800 – 25 January 1861) was a French lithographer, caricaturist and journalist. He was the founder and director of the satirical political journals '' La Caricature'' and of ''Le Charivari''. Early life Cha ...

illustrated scenes of the Café Voltaire around 1842 in his ''Museum'' or ''comic store''. The café had a terrace, a mezzanine, two upper floors, a billiard table, the quality of which

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

praises in ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

'', and celebrated events by "serving the punch". Before 1850, the place was run by a manager named Ronquier, and the theatre opposite gave rise to heated discussions between critics. In 1855, the reading room of Madame Grassot, a former actress, was annexed by the café and transformed into a new room. At the end of the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, Ga ...

and

Jules Vallès Jules Vallès (11 June 1832 – 14 February 1885) was a French journalist, author, and left-wing political activist. Early life Vallès was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. His father was a supervisor of studies (''pion''), later a teac ...

were regulars there. Around 1880, Café Voltaire was frequented by senators living nearby, as well as political and literary personalities:

Verlaine Verlaine (; wa, Verlinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density of 145 inhabitan ...

left debts there, while

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, to the advent o ...

Jean Moréas Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek ...

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

Alfred Vallette Alfred Vallette (1858, Paris – 1935) was a French man of letters. He founded (in 1890) and edited the ''Mercure de France'', a Symbolist review publication. His wife, Rachilde Rachilde was the pen name and preferred identity of novelist a ...

, and

Rachilde Rachilde was the pen name and preferred identity of novelist and playwright Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (11 February 1860 – 4 April 1953). Born near Périgueux, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France during the Second French Empire, Rachilde went on t ...

were frequent customers. Subsequently, the

Symbolist poets Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

took up residence at the café,

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetism, Synthetist style that were d ...

alongside

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

, who wore "a Basque beret, an unspeakable mac-farlane and sculpted clogs". The Paris chapter of the

Félibrige The ''Félibrige'' (; in classical Occitan, in Mistralian spelling, ) is a literary and cultural association founded in 1854 by Frédéric Mistral and other Provençal writers to defend and promote the Occitan language (also called the ) and ...

s also met there. In 1894, meetings were held at Café Voltaire by a student committee preparing the procession of the Mi-Carême (mid-Lent) cavalcade in the

Paris Carnival The Paris Carnival (french: Carnaval de Paris) is an annual festival held in Paris, France. The carnival occurs after the Feast of Fools and has been held since the 16th century or earlier, with a long 20th century interregnum. History of Ca ...

. In the 1920s, the café was frequented by Americans of the

Lost Generation The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort in the Western world that was in early adulthood during World War I. "Lost" in this context refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" spirit of many of the war's survivors in the ...

Sale to Groupe Flammarion

The café was sold again in 1956, to Groupe Flammarion (''Flammarion Editions''). A Panel Histoire de Paris pays homage to the Café Voltaire.

References

{{coord, 48.85004, 2.33903, display=title Year of establishment missing Year of disestablishment missing Buildings and structures in the 6th arrondissement of Paris Restaurants in Paris Defunct restaurants in France Voltaire