Square et Fontaine des Innocents

Remember the square outside my window?

It turns out to more historic then I realized. The site dates back to the 12^th century, when the church of the Holy Innocents was built. Being a churchyard, there was also a cemetery on the grounds, which is the reason there is no longer a church there.

In its history, Paris has gone through some significant reorganization when the population levels soared high above what was intended. Some of that resulted in entire slum neighbourhoods were razed to be rebuilt in a more organized fashion. It also meant that the cemeteries were filled far passed capacity, which caused health problems for the living inhabitants.

In 1786, the cemetery on the current square site was closed and nearly 2 million skeletons were rehoused to underground catacombs (which is why you generally don’t find cemeteries when you wander around Paris because they were all moved at some point).

The fountain itself dates from 1550 (although the original carvings by Jean Goujon now belong to the Louvre’s collection). The fountain was moved to its current location in the 19^th century and received a facelift- it had been located next to a wall so it only had decoration on three sides. I can’t tell which is the ‘new’ side, see if you can decide...

 

 

Today, instead of a church congregation the square is home every evening to mostly teenager who hang out and skateboard. It’s a loud, busy place that is central to the many bars and restaurants in the neighbourhood.