Place Denfert-Rochereau, previously known as Place d'Enfer, is a public square located in the 14th arrondissement of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, in the

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

district, at the intersection of the boulevards Raspail, Arago, and Saint-Jacques, and the avenues René Coty, Général Leclerc, and , as well as the streets Froidevaux, Victor-Considérant and de Grancey. It is one of the largest and most important squares on the

left bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terra ...

of the Seine. The square is named after Pierre Denfert-Rochereau, the French commander who organized the defense at the

siege of Belfort The siege of Belfort (3 November 1870 – 18 February 1871) was a 103-day military assault and blockade of the city of Belfort, France by Prussian forces during the Franco-Prussian War. The French garrison held out until the January 1871 arm ...

during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). It is dominated by the ''

Lion of Belfort The ''Lion of Belfort'', in Belfort, France, is a monumental sculpture by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''). Overview Finished in 1880, it is made entirely of red sandstone ...

'' statue (a smaller version of the original in the town of

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Terri ...

) by

Frédéric Bartholdi Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to: In artistry: * Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator * Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor * Frédéric Bazille, Impres ...

. The square is the location of the

Paris Catacombs The Catacombs of Paris (french: Catacombes de Paris, ) are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris's ancient stone quarries. Ext ...

museum. It is frequently the place where demonstrations and protest marches in Paris either start or end. The square is also the place depicted on the backdrop at the beginning of the third act of ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...

'' by

Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

History

This "place" owes its original official recognition to letters patent dated 9 August 1760, which applied to the part of the site that was located inside the old

Wall of the Farmers-General A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

(ie: the northeastern portion of the present Place Denfert-Rochereau). The Wall of the Farmers-General, built under the ancien régime to prevent the evasion of excise taxes, separated Paris from the suburb of

Montrouge Montrouge () is a commune in the southern Parisian suburbs, located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. After a long period of decline, the population has increased again in recent years. ...

. An ordinance of the Bureau of Finances, dated 16 January 1789, recognized the southwestern portion of the "place", the part outside the wall, as part of Paris. The opening in the wall itself, which permitted entry or exit from Paris, was commonly called the

Barrière d’Enfer Barrière is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Jean-Baptiste Barrière (1707-1747), French cellist and composer *Jean-François Barrière (1786-1868), French historian * Jean de la Barrière (1554–1600), French religi ...

. It is mentioned 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 origin ...

'' by

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 ...

: :"How did those children come there? Perhaps they had escaped from some guardhouse which stood ajar; perhaps in the vicinity, at the barrière d'Enfer, or on the esplanade de l'Observatoire, or in the neighboring carrefour, dominated by the pediment on which could be read: ''invenerunt parvulum pannis involutum'' they discovered the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes" there was some mountebank's booth from which they had fled ��" Here, astride the opening in the wall, the architect

Claude Nicolas Ledoux Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...

constructed two tollhouses to be used for the collection of the

octroi Octroi (; fro, octroyer, to grant, authorize; Lat. ''auctor'') is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption. Antiquity The word itself is of French origin. Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, bein ...

, a local tariff levied on products entering Paris. At the center of the present square, these two pavilions once framed the opening in the wall, and now, oddly, the entrance to the underworld of the catacombs lies next to the western one of them, the pavilion at the barrière d'Enfer ("barrier of Hell").

Former name

Traditionally called by the rather unattractive name of Place d’Enfer (Place of Hell), the square had the name of Denfert-Rochereau ascribed to it through a sort of "municipal pun". The Franco-Prussian War had demoralized the French populace, and there was widespread damage all over northeastern France and to Paris itself. Anxious to put a positive spin on the defeat, the French authorities were looking for heroes to glorify. (At this time, for example, the village of

Bitche Bitche ( , ; German and Lorraine Franconian: ) is a commune in the Moselle department, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It is the Pays de Bitche's capital city and the seat of the Canton of Bitche and the communauté ...

, located near the German border on the

Orne Orne (; nrf, Ôrne or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.

Places of interest

The main square, Place Denfert-Rochereau, is planted with trees, mostly

horse chestnut The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species n ...

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

s, and

locust Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstanc ...

s, and there are three named ''green spaces'' within it as well: Square

Abbé Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a ...

, Square

Jacques Antoine Jacques Antoine (14 March 1924 – 14 September 2012) was a French creator and producer of game shows. His most famous creations include ''Treasure Hunt (UK game show), Treasure Hunt'', ''Interceptor (game show), Interceptor'', ''Fort Boyard (ga ...

, and Square

. At the center of the square, in the midst of the traffic circulation, is a one-third-scale replica of the

statue by Bartholdi, symbolizing the courage of the resistance raised by Colonel Denfert-Rochereau at Belfort. In the garden to one side is a monument by Jean Boucher commemorating

Ludovic Trarieux Jacques Ludovic Trarieux (30 November 1840 in Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, Charente – 13 March 1904) was a French Republican statesman, lawyer, prominent Dreyfusard, and pioneer of international human rights. Early life Ludovic Trarieux was born on ...

. The section of the main north-south boulevard running through the centre of the square is named for

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

leader

Henri Rol-Tanguy Henri Rol-Tanguy (12 June 1908 – 8 September 2002) was a French communist and a leader in the Resistance during World War II. At his death ''The New York Times'' called him ''"one of France's most decorated Resistance heroes"''. Biograp ...

. It is just one block in length, and connects the Avenue Denfert-Rochereau in the north to the Avenue General Leclerc in the south. The entrance to the

is now located within the recently renovated building with handsome romanesque arches across its facade, on the odd-numbered side of Avenue du Colonel-Henri-Rol-Tanguy. This entrance is directly across the street from an identical even-numbered building that used to house the Directorate of Roads and Transport (''Direction de la Voirie et des Déplacements''), but since October 2019 is now the Musée de la Libération and Musée Jean Moulin. These two buildings, classified as historical monuments, are the pavilions of the old Barrière d'Enfer, where taxes were collected on goods entering Paris. They are built to the design of the 19th-century architect,

, whose work can be found all over the city. This part of the square has enveloped the site of the Barrière d'Enfer, as well as part of the boulevards d'Enfer and Saint-Jacques, and a part of the boulevards

and

Arcueil Arcueil () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Name The name Arcueil was recorded for the first time in 1119 as ''Arcoloï'', and later in the 12th ...

, roads which, at one time, led to those two southern suburbs but no longer exist.

Metro station

Gare de Denfert-Rochereau - Batiment voyageur

The Place Denfert-Rochereau is served by lines 4 and 6 of the

Paris Metro 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. Si ...

, from

Denfert-Rochereau station Gare de Denfert-Rochereau is a railway station in Paris. It was one of the first stations of the French railway network, and is still in use as a station of Paris' RER line B. The station was built from 1842 and opened on 7 June 1846 as the ...

. It is also served by the RER Line B commuter train from the old railway station of the Sceaux line, the entrance to which is to the east of the square. The Place is the Paris terminus of Orlybus, the RATP shuttle bus service between the city and

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly ...

Notes

References

Place Denfert-Rochereau

External links

In the neighborhood of the Place Denfert-Rochereau
Illustrations of the 14th arrondissement

The official nomenclature concerning public roads, etc. in Paris

Photos from 1900 {{Visitor attractions in Paris , state=autocollapse Buildings and structures in the 14th arrondissement of Paris Denfert-Rochereau