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The Trocadéro Palace was an eclectic building of
Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...
and
neo-Byzantine Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a Revivalism (architecture), revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine architecture, ...
inspiration dating from the second half of the 19th century. Located in the
16th arrondissement The 16th arrondissement of Paris (; ) is the westernmost of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the city's Right Bank, it is adjacent to the 17th and 8th arrondissements to the northeast, as well as to the ...
of Paris, on the Convent of the Visitandines de Chaillot between the
Place du Trocadéro 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 municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Oft ...
and the gardens of the same name, it comprised a 4,600-seat auditorium extended on either side by two curved wings, each housing a museum (the Musée des Monuments Français and the Musée d'Ethnographie), as well as conference rooms. Built for the 1878 Exposition Universelle, it was not intended to outlast the event; although the building was eventually preserved for some sixty years, it was widely criticized for its architectural style, its progressive dilapidation, and the poor acoustics of its main hall, which was soon deserted by orchestras. It was dismantled in 1935 in preparation for the 1937 Exposition Universelle, to make way for a new building, the
Palais de Chaillot The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the Trocadéro area in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Design The building was designed in classicising " moderne" style by architects Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, Jacques ...
.


History


Past


Initial projects

The location of the Trocadéro Palace has witnessed a succession of buildings and architectural projects. Originally, the site was part of the former estate of Maréchal de Bassompierre, Henry IV's comrade-in-arms. In 1651,
Henrietta Maria of France Henrietta Maria of France ( French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until his execution on 30 January 1649. She was ...
founded a convent of the
Visitation order The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (), abbreviated VSM and also known as the Visitandines, is a Catholic religious order of Pontifical Right for women. Members of the order are also known as the Salesian Sisters (not to be confused with th ...
, which was destroyed during the French Revolution.(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 7. In February 1811, Emperor Napoleon I decided to build on the site of the
Palace of the King of Rome The Palace of the King of Rome is the designation of two separate palaces intended for the use of the King of Rome, Napoleon II, son of Emperor Napoleon: an immense palace designed by the emperor in Paris on the hill of Chaillot, in the modern da ...
, a building intended to be the residence of his son (one month before the latter's birth). It was to be the center of an imperial administrative and military city. The architects in charge of the project were
Charles Percier Charles Percier (; 22 August 1764 – 5 September 1838) was a neoclassical French architect, interior decorator and designer, who worked in a close partnership with Pierre François Léonard Fontaine, originally his friend from student days. Fo ...
and
Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (; 20 September 1762 – 10 October 1853) was a French neoclassical architect, interior decorator, designer and artist. In addition to his important contributions to the architecture and interior design of his ...
. Another project, envisaged by Antoine-Marie Peyre in 1824, the "villa Trocadéro" is an urban planning project centered on a semi-circular square, organized around the commemoration of the recent victory at Trocadéro in Spain by the
Duke of Angoulême Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...
in 1823, leaving the choice of architecture to the purchasers of the plots. In 1839, Camille Moret designed a tomb for Napoleon I, and in 1841, Hector Horeau proposed the addition of a colossal 30-metre statue of the Emperor. In 1858, the sculptor Antoine Étex, having proposed a monument to Liberty in 1848, envisaged a "monumental lighthouse or fountain" at the center of a circular square housing the imperial palace and ministerial buildings. In 1868, Hector Horeau proposed a new project for a colossal statue of "intelligent France enlightening the world".(fr) . But none of this came to fruition.


"Trocadéro"

The name "Trocadéro" comes from the Trocadéro fort, which defended the Spanish port of Cadiz. On 31 August 1823, it was taken by the French expeditionary corps commanded by the Duke of Angoulême, who had been sent by his uncle,
King Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...
of France, to restore
King Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...
to his Spanish throne. The Trocadéro site thus refers to a French military victory. In 1826, during a re-enactment of this feat of arms in a military parade for the French king
Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...
, the site's layout was used to depict the battle: the hill of Chaillot represented the "Trocadéro fort" and was to be "conquered" from the Champ-de-Mars, from where the French "troops" set off (a
papier-mâché file:JacmelMardiGras.jpg, upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti Papier-mâché ( , , - the French term "mâché" here means "crushed and ground") is a versatile craft technique with roots in ancient China, in which waste paper is s ...
fort was built on the hill). A temporary triumphal arch was erected and the foundation stone laid for a military barracks, which was never built. The obelisk that was also to be built in the middle of the hill never got beyond the planning stage.
Bonapartists Bonapartism () is the political ideology supervening from Napoleon Bonaparte and his followers and successors. The term was used in the narrow sense to refer to people who hoped to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government. In ...
even proposed erecting the Emperor's tomb here, before the remains were moved to the
Hôtel des Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides (; ), commonly called (; ), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an old soldi ...
. However, the top of the hill remained uncultivated until it was leveled to create the Place du Roi de Rome (Place du Trocadéro) in 1869, and the land below until the Trocadéro gardens were laid out in 1876.


1878 ''Exposition Universelle'' building

From the mid-1860s onwards, the Chaillot hill underwent "earthworks and levelling" to provide a panoramic view of the 1867 Exposition Universelle facilities on the ''
Rive Gauche The Rive Gauche (; Left Bank) is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two parts. When facing downstream, the southern bank is to the left, whereas the northern bank (or Rive Dr ...
'' (Left Bank), and to create the Champ-de-Mars park.(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 12. The square, then still called "Place du Roi de Rome", was linked to the
Pont d'Iéna Pont d'Iéna (, "Jena Bridge") is a bridge spanning the River Seine in Paris. It links the Eiffel Tower on the Left Bank to the district of Trocadéro on the Right Bank. History In 1807, by an imperial decree issued in Warsaw, Napoleon I ord ...
by a granite staircase. As early as 1876, there was talk of developing the site for the 1878 Exposition Universelle. The program for the ''Concours pour l'Exposition Universelle of 1878'' called up for the construction of a "formidable hall for public meetings and solemnities". The palace was designed by architects
Gabriel Davioud Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud (; 30 October 1824 – 6 April 1881) was a French architect. He worked closely with Baron Haussmann on the transformation of Paris under Napoleon III during the Second Empire. Davioud is remembered for his contributio ...
and Jules Bourdais, inspired by the
Giralda The Giralda ( ) is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, with a Renaissance-style belfry added by the Catholics ...
in
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
, the
Palazzo Vecchio The ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the , which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', a ...
in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
,(fr) . and, above all, by
Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
's 1864 project for a 10,000-person hall, the Orphéon, which was to have been built on the Place du Château d'Eau. It was the result of a competition, whose requirements included a 10,000-seat festival hall and exhibition galleries; 94 teams entered the competition, but the Davioud-Bourdais project had in fact already been selected. The design features two semicircular wings linked by a circular central section flanked by two towers, in the Moorish or neo-Byzantine style; on the square side, the gable is "Flemish-style",(fr) . although other commentators refer less to the orientalism of the project than to a whimsical style, now typical of all world's fairs since London's
Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...
in 1851.(fr) Work on the Trocadéro Palace took place between November 1876 and June 1878;(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 14. in 1877, the square was renamed "Place du Trocadéro", while in July of the same year, "the two-story portico of the central body was completed, while the walls delimiting the high windows were being added". Given the resources available at the time, workers still had to maneuver on "wooden scaffolding erected as a framework". In October, the roof began to be laid and the waterfall bed was dug out of the mine (the waterfall descends from the central body to the gardens in the form of a
fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...
).(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 16. The Trocadéro Palace was never intended to go beyond the exhibition stage, but in the end, it remained, due to its much higher cost than originally projected (twelve million gold francs instead of seven and a half million, which subsequently led the City of Paris to withdraw from the project, in favor of the State. Alongside this, the Palais du Trocadéro hosted the Exposition Universelle of 1889 and
1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...
, whose installations were mainly located on the Champ-de-Mars (the most notable being the
Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...
, also initially built on a temporary basis). On 15 April 1889, a supplement to ''
Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
'' noted: "If you want to get a good idea of the Exposition Universelle as a whole, the best way is to stand at the central point of the Trocadéro Palace, in the middle of the circular gallery overlooking the gilded statues of the five parts of the world. From there, the panorama is magnificent".(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 42. For the 1900 exhibition, the pavilions of the French colonies and protectorates were set up in the palace gardens, and the Iéna bridge was "widened with wooden sidewalks"(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 64. (it was completely enlarged in 1935, from 14 to 35 meters).


Controversial museum palace

The palace was home to the Musée des Monuments Français, created in 1879 by
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author, famous for his restoration of the most prominent medieval landmarks in France. His major restoration projects included Notre-Dame de Paris, ...
, and the first Paris ethnographic museum, founded by Ernest Hamy, forerunner of the
Musée de l'Homme The Musée de l'Homme (; literally "Museum of Mankind" or "Museum of Humanity") is an anthropology museum in Paris, France. It was established in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moder ...
. The Trocadéro gardens were designed by Adolphe Alphand. From 1880, a popular observatory, founded by Léon Jaubert, was set up here. Between 1878 and 1925, an Indochinese museum, the result of discoveries made by explorer
Louis Delaporte Louis Delaporte (Loches, January 11, 1842 – Paris, May 3, 1925) was a French explorer and artist, whose collection and documentation of Khmer art formed the nucleus of exhibitions in Paris, originally at the 1878 Paris Exposition and later at ...
, occupied a third of the palace's Passy wing; the objects on display were then transferred to the
Musée Guimet The Guimet Museum (full name in ; ''MNAAG''; ) is a Parisian art museum with one of the largest collections of Asian art outside of Asia that includes items from Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Tibet, India, and Nepal, among other countries. Foun ...
, with the exception of 624 plaster casts from the temple of
Angkor Angkor ( , 'capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura (; ),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Languages. The Catholic Uni ...
, which remained at Trocadéro, donated in 1936 to the Musée des Monuments Français, housed in the new Palais de Chaillot. Unlike other Parisian monuments that were initially decried, but quickly accepted by elites and the general public (such as the
Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...
and the Eiffel Tower), the Trocadéro Palace was the subject of numerous and recurring criticisms in the decades following its construction: the disdain of architects and writers, a style deemed obsolete, and the faulty acoustics of the assembly hall. Viollet-le-Duc nevertheless championed the project, but died in 1879.(fr) . The press and other personalities mocked the building, such as the humorist Touchatout, who compared the statue overhanging the dome of the Assembly Hall to a "fly on the lid of a soup tureen", or
Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel (1884, pub ...
, who referred to the palace as "the belly of a lying hydropic woman", while the writer André Billy declared "Down with the Trocadéro!"
Julien Green Julien Green (originally "Julian Hartridge Green", 6 September 1900 – 13 August 1998) often Julian Green, was an American writer who lived most of his life in France and wrote mostly in French and only occasionally in English. Over a long and ...
spoke of Moorish "abominations" and modernist architect
Georges-Henri Pingusson Georges-Henri Pingusson (July 26, 1894 – October 22, 1978) was a French architect. Biography Georges-Henri Pingusson was born 1894 in Clermont-Ferrand. 1920-1925 he studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He built hotel ''L ...
enthused that the 1937 exhibition had "the merit of liberating one of the most beautiful sites in Paris by demolishing the central building that had both damaged and obstructed it". In addition, the public reacted against the dilapidated ornamentation, which, planned for the 1878 exhibition only, had not been designed to last that long. Draughts from the galleries and acoustics in the main hall had also been a recurring problem since the building's construction, despite several attempts to remedy the situation. In fact, it was the architecture of the hall itself that was lacking. This conclusion led the architects to opt for the demolition of the village hall while retaining the two wings in 1937. In the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
, the site was already referred to as the "vieux Trocadéro" (the old Trocadéro). As early as 1932, it was the subject of speculation as to its future, in preparation for the 1937 International Exhibition, thanks to a "competition of ideas": while the first project envisaged the exhibition taking place outside Paris, a study published the following year mentioned for the first time the demolition of the palace and the organization of the event on a Champ-de-Mars/Trocadéro axis. In the autumn of 1933, Anatole de Monzie, Minister of Education, who was then overseeing the field of Culture, supported a project to build a Cité des musées in place of the palace, "centered on a vast esplanade both open and covered by a gigantic 190-meter-wide portico, punctuated by 23 columns". However, as economic difficulties piled up, the French government opted to "camouflage" the old palace, a less costly solution. Eight projects were selected in January 1935, won by the Carlu- Boileau- Azéma trio, who planned to permanently camouflage the palace so as to preserve the wings (originally, the two towers were also to remain). What was to become the old Palais du Trocadéro thus survived in part, with the surface area gained on the garden-side wings increasing the floor area from 17,000 to 41,000 m2, the walls, and columns being covered on the street side by stone slabs, the interior by partitions and the floor mosaics by a new covering. The new village hall will now be built underground.


Palace destruction

The palace was eventually demolished and replaced by the Palais de Chaillot, built for the 1937 specialized exhibition, which retained most of the original structure, except for the central part of the Palais du Trocadéro, which was replaced by an esplanade. Also preserved are the "curvilinear metal trusses in the cut sheet metal of the framework", visible in the museum's molding gallery. The demolition of the two towers was delayed by the difficulty of finding workers who were not afraid of heights, and by union demands that the 80 workers on the job "obtain payment of the customary hourly supplement for dangerous work, and the strict application of the eight-hour working day". During the general strike of 1936, workers throughout the site went on strike on 8 June; the '' Petit Journal'' noted: "The thousand or so workers on the exhibition site, like their comrades in the factories and stores, crossed their arms. But, happier than the other strikers, they are out in the fresh air, with the pleasant green gardens surrounding the Trocadéro to stretch out in. This half-demolished building is a sort of incoherent ruin. On top of the walls and frameworks still standing, the workers, silhouetted against the sky, sing and gesticulate. The more numerous workers below are trying to kill time. Sitting on piles of materials, most converse animatedly. Others are dozing under the trees. Still others, around an improvised conductor, try their hand at the chorus. Some hold out a tin trunk to passers-by". Architects Jacques Carlu, Louis-Hippolyte Boileau and Léon Azéma were commissioned to design the project.(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 61. They chose to "interweave" the wings of the old palace by "doubling them with a new gallery on the Seine side", but to demolish the auditorium and the two towers and replace them with a simple esplanade, on the "Eiffel Tower-École Militaire axis", while a "new theater hall asbuilt under this square". The style of the new palace is " neo-classical monumentalist". The surface area of the new palace was increased from 17,000 m2 to 41,000 m2. The magazine ''La Nature'' noted in its issue for the second half of 1936: "A blow to the Trocadéro arcades: built to last for centuries, the old palace will have been demolished after fifty-seven years".


Architecture


Palace

The Trocadéro Palace was a building whose use is not necessarily in keeping with its name (
palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
), insofar as it houses an auditorium. This hall "was flanked by two square towers over 80 meters 2.50 metershigh. On either side, two long curvilinear wings extended the façade to 430 meters";(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 11. two pavilions join the festival hall, and these wings, to create a visual transition between the main hall and the slender wings.(fr) The two wings were each 200 meters long, and formed two galleries (the Passy wing and the Paris wing) punctuated by two intermediate pavilions and terminated by a head pavilion: architect Gabriel Davioud said that these two head pavilions, surmounted by a slate dome with golden edges, should be "massive enough to stop the eye at the extremities, and yet not fight with the central mass he rotundawhich constitutes the raison d'être of the whole". Conference rooms were installed in the wings, which, on the garden side, featured a portico supported by marble columns along its entire length - including the party room -, freely open to the public; these galleries were soon equipped with lighting and, in the case of the party room, were later closed with glass windows. "On the Trocadéro Palace side, a Flemish-inspired stepped gable wall was used to house the stage wall of the palace's large concert hall. In the projected state, an elevator and a spiral staircase gave the public access to the top of each of the towers with which it was flanked", although an
elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...
system had been planned but never implemented. At the time, these two towers, topped with gilded domes, were the tallest in France (those of
Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. It ...
in Paris were only 66 meters high). Many commentators associate them architecturally with
minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...
s. The architects chose to play with polychrome colors, such as Pompeian red plaster under the porticoes and Jura marble on the columns of the vestibules at the head pavilions. Some floors feature mosaics, created by the same company responsible for the mosaics at the Opéra Garnier. Other unusual features included glass paving stones and stained-glass windows.


Assembly hall

The palace's huge, semicircular hall could accommodate 4,600 people (compared with the 10,000 originally planned), and was used for concerts and conferences. At the time, it was the largest hall in Paris (twice the size of the Garnier opera house). It was accessible from the Place du Trocadéro, after passing through a vestibule lit by a glass roof. The hall was decorated by Charles Lameire, who painted the large frieze overhanging the stage: ''La France sous les traits de l'Harmonie accueille les Nations''.(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 24. Pierced by nine bay windows (a modern architectural technique at the time) directly illuminating the large stage, the hall was crowned by a dome, surmounted on the outside by a statue by
Antonin Mercié Marius Jean Antonin Mercié (October 30, 1845 in Toulouse – December 12, 1916 in Paris), was a French Sculpture, sculptor, Medalist, medallist and Painting, painter. Biography Mercié entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, ...
, ''La Renommée'', while below, a gallery of sculptures punctuated the façade. On 8 June 1878, a journalist from the weekly ''Le Monde'' artiste wrote of the first official concert presented in the hall: it was "truly grandiose .. with a richness bordering on prodigality. Full as it was on Thursday, the hall offered a fairy-tale view. Almost all the gentlemen were in ceremonial dress, the ladies displaying grace, flowers, and diamonds... It's a fine place to be .. We just think that the serious question of acoustics needs further study, and we're not the only ones to think so". The auditorium's roof is supported by a metal framework 50 meters in diameter;
Gabriel Davioud Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud (; 30 October 1824 – 6 April 1881) was a French architect. He worked closely with Baron Haussmann on the transformation of Paris under Napoleon III during the Second Empire. Davioud is remembered for his contributio ...
described it as follows: "12 crossbeams were joined at their feet by a belt of sheet metal and angle irons that prevented them from spreading apart. They were joined at the top by a 15-meter-diameter ring designed to support the large lantern. The total height of these frames was 25 meters, bringing the height of the top of the lantern above the first floor to 57 meters". It housed an
organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...
built by
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ build ...
, with a case designed by Raulin and Dumas. Inaugurated on 8 August 1878, by Alexandre Guilmant, it was originally intended for the church of Notre-Dame-d'Auteuil (it was upgraded when it was transferred). Despite its 66 stops, 72 registers, 1,470 pipes, and 32 feet, it is not the largest organ in France, but rather the first concert organ installed in the country. The instrument was first transferred to the modern-day Palais de Chaillot, before moving permanently to
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, where it became the organ of the Auditorium Maurice-Ravel. It was here that
Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...
's ''Symphonie avec orgue'' ( Symphony with organ) was performed for the first time. The hall became known as a venue for organ concerts, then recitals, although its poor reputation for sound and technique (too much room for the organ, lack of dressing rooms, no stage clearances, almost impossible to modulate lighting, difficult to evacuate in the event of a disaster, etc.) eventually scared off both prestigious and popular orchestras, making it difficult to fill given its size. At the 1878 Exposition Universelle, the average audience was 3,000, for a hall that could hold 4,600. In 1920, stage director
Lugné-Poe Aurélien-Marie Lugné (27 December 1869 19 June 1940), known by his stage and pen name Lugné-Poe, was a French actor, theatre director, and scenic designer. He founded the landmark Paris theatre company, the Théâtre de l'Œuvre, which produce ...
declared: "the Trocadéro auditorium is appalling. It is a convention hall and not a theater .. the surest way to kill young actors is to have them perform in this hall, which only a few singers can resist". After 1878, apart from organ concerts, the hall was mainly used for political and republican association conventions, such as the Fête des Écoles on 13 July 1880. In April 1920, Pierre Rameil, rapporteur for the Beaux-arts budget, announced the transformation of the Trocadéro into the Théâtre national populaire, directed by
Firmin Gémier Firmin Gémier (; 1869–1933) was a French actor and director. Internationally, he is most famous for originating the role of Père Ubu in Alfred Jarry, Alfred Jarry’s play ''Ubu Roi''. He is known as the principal architect of the popular theat ...
. Its location, far from working-class neighborhoods, and the nature of the hall, which was not very conducive to theater, led to a scaling back of these ambitions, despite a few successes, before becoming an empty shell: "when Gémier died in 1933, the Théâtre national populaire was no more than an empty title, a bad garage for shows without prestige".


Gardens and ornaments

Engineer Adolphe Alphand, a specialist in Parisian gardens and staging waterfalls, is responsible for the exterior spaces. The gardens were organized around a cascading
fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...
. They feature a dozen statues, including four animals - ''Le Bœuf'' by
Auguste Caïn Auguste Nicolas Caïn (10 November 1821 – 6 August 1894) was a French sculptor in the Animaliers school, known for his portrayals of wild and domesticated animals. Life Caïn was born in Paris, and studied under Rude, Guionnet, and Pierre ...
, ''Le Cheval à la Herse'' by Pierre Louis Rouillard, ''Le Jeune éléphant pris au piège'' by Emmanuel Frémiet and ''Le Rhinocéros'' by
Henri Alfred Jacquemart Henri Alfred Marie Jacquemart (; 24 February 1824 in Paris – 4 January 1896, in Paris), often known as Alfred Jacquemart, was a noted French sculptor and animalier. He usually signed his works: ''A. Jacquemart''. Jacquemart studied under painte ...
- facing the Seine and the Champ-de-Mars palace built opposite by Léopold Hardy for the 1878 Exposition Universelle. Numerous sculptures adorned the Trocadéro Palace, notably on the garden side of the building and in the park. Six allegories of the continents bordered the terrace overlooking the gardens (''North America, South America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and Europe''). The large cascading pool was surrounded by four gold-coated cast-iron animal statues (an elephant, a rhinoceros, an ox and a horse). On the Place du Trocadéro side, a series of statues were planned for the gable wall, but their absence from the palace photographs suggests that they were never built. ''La Renommée'', by Mercié, is a statue of a "winged, draped and ringing woman", crowning the large dome of the Salle des Fêtes.


Disposal of dismantled parts

While the general structure of the wings and certain underpinnings were preserved (notably the underground galleries designed by Viollet-le-Duc, which remain), the ornaments were removed and relocated. * The statues of the continents (originally in cast iron, gilded) and those of the animals are now on the
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
(fr) . forecourt, except for that of the ''Le Boeuf'' (wrongly presented as a bull), which is in the bullfighting town of
Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...
. * Seven of Rodin's mascarons are in the
Parc de Sceaux Sceaux () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2019, Sceaux had a population of 20,004. Sceaux is one of the most affluent areas of France and is kn ...
. The 14 mascarons in the
Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil The Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil (, literally 'Garden of the Greenhouses of Auteuil') is a botanical garden set within a major greenhouse complex located at the southern edge of the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement, with entry at 1 ave ...
were not dismantled. * "The thirty monumental stone statues personifying the sciences, arts, and techniques that crowned the high terrace of the Great Hall .. arescattered across France, from
Ligny-en-Barrois Ligny-en-Barrois () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The town is in the arrondissement of Bar-le-Duc, beside the canal that links the rivers Rhine and Marne, fifteen kilometres to the south east of B ...
(
Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...
) for Ethnography and Chemistry, to
Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
(
Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...
) for the ''Sculpture'', the ''Industrie forestière'', the ''Botanique'' and the ''Agriculture'', and even
Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Hérault. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. It is situated on an ancient basalt volcano, hence the name "Black Pearl of the Mediterranée". Location Agde is locate ...
(
Hérault Hérault (; , ) is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault (river), Hérault River, its Prefectures in France, prefecture is M ...
) for the ''Navigation'' ». The Keystone photo agency noted before their dismantling that they seemed to be "taking one last look at Paris before leaving". Adolphe Itasse's ''Uranie'' was awarded to the town of
La Roche-sur-Yon La Roche-sur-Yon () is a Communes of France, commune in the Vendée Departments of France, department in the Pays de la Loire Regions of France, region in western France. It is the capital of the department. The demonym for its inhabitants is '' ...
. It has been on display in Square Bayard since the summer of 1936. * A glass roof from the palace depicting the history of ceramics is on display at the Cité du Vitrail in
Troyes Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...
.


Statue gallery

Agde - Amphitrite01.jpg, ''Navigation'' by Léon François Chervet adorned the pediment of the palace. Renamed ''Amphitrite'', it now stands in Place de la Marine,
Agde Agde (; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Hérault. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi. It is situated on an ancient basalt volcano, hence the name "Black Pearl of the Mediterranée". Location Agde is locate ...
. P1020793 Paris VI Esplanade du musée d'Orsay Statues des 6 continents rwk.JPG, ''The Statues of the Six Continents'', now in front of the
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
.
The ''Continents'' statues that once adorned the façade of the Palais du Trocadéro were reinstalled in 1985 on the Musée d'Orsay esplanade, along the rue de Lille. File:2017 L'Europe. Alexandre Schoenewerk. Exposition Universelle 1878. Paris P39.jpg, ''L'Europe'' by Alexandre Schoenewerk. 2017 L'Asie. Alexandre Falguière. Exposition Universelle 1878. Paris P38.jpg, ''L'Asie'' by
Alexandre Falguière Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière (; also given as Jean-Joseph-Alexandre Falguière, or in short Alexandre Falguière) (7 September 183120 April 1900) was a French sculptor and painter. Biography Falguière was born in Toulouse. A pupil of the ...
. 2017 L'Afrique. Eugène Delaplanche. Exposition Universelle 1878. Paris P37.jpg, ''L'Afrique'' by Eugène Delaplanche. 2017 L'Amérique du Nord. Ernest Hiolle. Exposition Universelle 1878. Paris P36.jpg, ''L'Amérique du Nord'' by Ernest-Eugène Hiolle. 2017 L'Amerique du Sud. Aimé Millet. Exposition Universelle 1878. Paris P33.jpg, ''L'Amérique du Sud'' by Aimé Millet. 2017 L'Océanie. Mathurin Moreau-Vauthier. Exposition Universelle 1878. Paris P34.jpg, ''L'Océanie'' by Mathurin Moreau.
Three of the four monumental animal statues that surrounded the
Trocadéro Fountain The Trocadéro Fountain, also known as the Warsaw Fountain, is a fountain located in the Jardins du Trocadéro, Trocadéro Gardens, situated below the Palais de Chaillot in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. The fountain's footprint (lawn ...
also found their way onto the Orsay forecourt at the same time: ''le rhinocéros, le cheval à la herse'' and ''l'éléphant''. From 1935 to 1985, they were exhibited at
Place de la Porte-de-Saint-Cloud The Place de la Porte-de-Saint-Cloud is a thoroughfare in the Auteuil district of Paris's 16th arrondissement. Location and access The Place de la Porte-de-Saint-Cloud is served by line 9 at Porte de Saint-Cloud station. Origin of name Th ...
(16th arrondissement), before being restored the following year at the Coubertin foundry in Saint-Rémy-les-Chevreuse. As for ''Le bœuf'' (actually a bull), it has been in Nîmes since 1937, on Jean-Jaurès boulevard. Contrary to a persistent legend,
Isidore Bonheur Isidore Jules Bonheur (Bordeaux 15 May 1827 – 10 November 1901 Paris), best known as one of the 19th century's most distinguished French animalier sculptors. Bonheur began his career as an artist working with his elder sister Rosa Bonheur in ...
's '' Les Taureaux'', in front of
Parc Georges-Brassens Parc Georges-Brassens is a public park located in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, between rue des Morillons and rue de Périchaux. Opened in 1984, it occupies 7.74 hectares on the site of a former fish market, horse market and slaughterhous ...
(
15th arrondissement The 15th arrondissement of Paris () is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ('the fifteenth'). The 15th arrondissement, called , is situated on the left bank of the River Seine. ...
), did not come from the Trocadéro. File:Jacquemart Rhinoceros.jpg, ''Le rhinocéros'' by Henri-Alfred Jacquemart. File:Fremiet Elephant.jpg, ''Jeune éléphant pris au piège'' by Emmanuel Frémiet. File:In front of dOrsay.JPG, ''Cheval à la herse'' by Pierre Louis Rouillard.


Contemporary perspectives

Since the construction of the Trocadéro Palace and well afterwards, contemporaries have commented on the building's style, expressing astonishment, indignation or, on the contrary, praise: * 1878: journalist Gabriel Lafaille expressed his delight in the ''Journal hebdomadaire'' of the Exposition Universelle: "Contemporary architecture has found its Pantheon. It's now a given: the nineteenth century has an architecture". * 1878: a journalist at ''La Revue de France'': "It's Assyrian, or Moorish, or Byzantine, but it's high .. This is not the style of any period, although it is the style of all schools. The silhouette ..with its two minarets resembles a huge dunce's cap with two big ears". * 1878: palace architect
Gabriel Davioud Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud (; 30 October 1824 – 6 April 1881) was a French architect. He worked closely with Baron Haussmann on the transformation of Paris under Napoleon III during the Second Empire. Davioud is remembered for his contributio ...
: the towers "bearing at their summit a monumental belvedere, surmounted by a gilded dome, ..reminiscent of the Giralda and the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, howedthe buildings of the Exposition Universelle in the distance, in and out of Paris; similar to the bell towers that call Christians to temples, the minarets that announce prayer in the East, and the belfries that once assembled citizens in the public square, hese belvederes provokedthe crowd to the spectacle of the peaceful struggle of nations". * 1878: art critic
Charles Blanc Charles Blanc (17 November 1813, Castres (Tarn) – 17 January 1882, Paris) was a French art critic. Life and career He was the younger brother of the French socialist politician and historian Louis Blanc. After the February Revolution of 1848 ...
: "What substantially redeems the obesity of the palace in the center of the plan is the height of the two towers with which it is flanked. When a man is fat, he seems less so if he is tall". * 1888: a journalist at ''
Le Temps ' (, ) is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. The paper was launched in 1998, formed out of the merger of two other newspapers, and (the former being a merger of two other papers), ...
'', from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, during the Tower's illumination: "The crowd at the Trocadero is immense. ..The Trocadero stretches out before us, opening its luminous arms, enlarged by the colored girandoles, through which we hear the waterfall flowing with a clear, harmonious sound".(fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux'', 2011, p. 54 * 1889: In ''Certains'',
Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel (1884, pub ...
compared "this incoherent palace ..to the belly of a hydropic woman lying with her head down, raising in the air two skinny legs shod with gold mule stockings". * 1927: In '' La Prisonnière'',
Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...
wrote: "Why, on a fine day, detach one's eyes from the Trocadero, whose giraffe-necked towers are reminiscent of the
Certosa di Pavia The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery complex in Lombardy, Northern Italy, situated near a small village of the same name in the Province of Pavia, north of Pavia. Built from 1396 to 1495, it was once located at the end of the Visconti Park a l ...
?".


In popular culture

The Trocadéro Palace appears in Claude Autant-Lara's films ''
Love Story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...
'' (1943), '' Gigi'' (1949), ''
A Very Long Engagement ''A Very Long Engagement'' () is a 2004 romantic war drama film, co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel and Marion Cotillard. It is a fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for he ...
'' (2004), ''
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec ''The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec'' () is a gaslamp fantasy comic book series first appearing in 1976 written and illustrated by French comics artist Jacques Tardi and published in ''album'' format by Belgian publisher Caster ...
'' (2010), '' Diary of a Chambermaid'' (2015), ''
Eiffel Eiffel may refer to: Places * Eiffel Tower, in Paris, France, designed by Gustave Eiffel *:* Champ de Mars – Tour Eiffel station, Metro station serving the Eiffel Tower * Eiffel Bridge, Ungheni, Moldova, designed by Gustave Eiffel * Eiffel Bri ...
'' (2021), in the video game '' The Saboteur'' (2009) and in the animated film ''
Ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancer ...
'' (2016).


Notes


References


Appendix


Bibliography and sources


Expositions universelles

* (fr) Linda Aimone and Carlo Olmo, ''Les expositions universelles, 1851-1900'', Paris, Belin, 1993; * (fr) Isabelle Baguelin, "La céramique: la redécouverte d'un vitrail de l'exposition universelle de 1878 au musée des Monuments français", ''Histoire de l'art, no 56'', April 2005, pp. 131–139; * (fr) Bertrand Lemoine (dir.), ''Paris 1937. Cinquantenaire de l'Exposition internationale des arts et des techniques de la vie moderne'', Paris, Institut français d'architecture/Paris-Musées,, 1987; * (fr) Pascal Ory, ''Les Expositions universelles de 1855 à 1939'', Paris, Ramsay, 1982; * (fr) ''Gabriel Davioud, architecte, 1824-1881, Paris'', Délégation à l'action artistique de la Ville de Paris, 1981.


Trocadéro

* (fr) Isabelle Gournay, ''Le nouveau Trocadéro'', Liège/Bruxelles, Mardaga/IFA, 1985, 240 p. (); * (fr) Jacques Hillairet, ''Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris'', t. 2, éditions de Minuit, 1985, 1583 p. (), p. 574; * (fr) Kéléren, "Des lapins de Garenne aux soldats des Bourbons (Les singuliers avatars de la Colline de Chaillot)", article published on page 15 of the weekly ''Jeunesse-Magazine no. 27'', 4 July 1937, illustrated with a drawing by Pellos; * (fr) Frédéric Seitz, ''Le Trocadéro: les métamorphoses d'une colline de Paris'', Paris, Belin, 2005; * * (fr) ''Esprit(s) des lieux:'' ''Du Trocadéro au palais de Chaillot'', Paris, Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine and Archives nationales, 2011, 140 p. ().


See also

*
Palais de Chaillot The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the Trocadéro area in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Design The building was designed in classicising " moderne" style by architects Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, Jacques ...
*
Jardins du Trocadéro The Jardins du Trocadéro (; Gardens of the Trocadéro) is a public space in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is bounded to the northwest by the wings of the Palais de Chaillot and to the southeast by the Seine and the Pont d'I� ...
, Fontaine du Trocadéro * Rue de Lille (Paris)


External links

* Entertainment-related resource:
Carthalia
' * Music-related resource
MusicBrainz
* Entry in a dictionary or general encyclopedia:
Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana

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* Authority records
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Digital reconstruction of the former Trocadéro Palace on DVD (included in the book).archive
{{Authority control Exposition Universelle (1900) Exposition Universelle (1878) Exposition Universelle (1889) Buildings and structures in Paris Moorish Revival architecture in France Demolished buildings and structures in Paris Former buildings and structures in Paris