Grand Place is a village in the commune

La Possession La Possession () is a commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the northwest side of the island of Réunion, between the capital of Saint-Denis and the commune of Le Port. To the territory of this commune belo ...

in the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

overseas department The overseas departments and regions of France (french: départements et régions d'outre-mer, ; ''DROM'') are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainlan ...

La Réunion LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

, an island in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

. The hamlet (fr. îlet = little island) is situated in the

Cirque de Mafate The ''Cirque de Mafate'' is a caldera on Réunion Island (France; located in the Indian Ocean). It was formed from the collapse of the large shield volcano the ''Piton des Neiges''. The very remote and inaccessible cirque was settled in the 19 ...

, a caldera of the

Piton des Neiges The Piton des Neiges (Snow Peak) is a massive 3,069 m (10,069 ft) shield volcano on Réunion, one of the French volcanic islands in the Mascarene Archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean. It is located about east of Madagascar. ...

volcano, which is part of the

Réunion National Park Réunion National Park (french: Parc national de La Réunion) is a National Park of France located on the island of Réunion, an overseas department in the western Indian Ocean. Established on 5 March 2007, the park protects the endemic ecosys ...

. It is accessible only on foot or by helicopter.

Village structure

Grand Place is one of the settlements in the Mafate cirque with the largest surface area and stretches on a sloped plane that reaches from 520 m up to ~1000 m in the shadow of Piton Calumet (height 1616 m). Therefore it may be separated into three "districts": * Grand Place les Hauts, * Grand Place École, * Grand Place les Bas aka "Cayenne". Nearby, the Rivière des Galets flows northward and drains the caldera. The îlet's small church ''Notre Dame de Lourdes'' is located in Cayenne. The current building had been rebuilt and inaugurated in 1970. The little belltower carries a bell which seems to be cast with the inscription "Jesus, Maria, Joseph" in 1745.

Education

The first school (and then the only one in Mafate) was erected in Cayenne in 1923, but this building is not more in use although still standing. In 1996 the small elementary school ''Leonard Thomas'' was established in Grand Place École. It has a capacity of 10-20 pupils which originate not only from Grand Place itself, but also from nearby hamlets (îlets). The teacher usually stays during the week in a room of the small complex, and there is also a canteen option for the kids to have a warm meal during the lunchbreak.

Notable people

A basalt statue of Yvrin Pausé (1928-2019), created by sculptor Marco Ah Kiem, was installed in the village in 2016, to honour the mailman of the Mafate mountains. He served from 1951 until 1991 the area by foot and walked about a quanter million kilometers in his duty years. Also the postal sorting center in Le Port bears his name, and he received a

medal of merit Several countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit: * Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) * Medal of Merit (Denmark) * Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman * Medal of Merit of the National People's Army (East Germany) * Medal of M ...

in 1993 for his accomplishments. Grand Place was his birthplace, where he lived his live and worked, including a grocery store which he operated with his wife since 1960 and a lodge ''Le Bougainvillier'' which he opened at age 71.

References

Populated places in Réunion {{Réunion-geo-stub