Curious about how walls have shaped Paris? Avenue Auguste Charles itself may not be directly mentioned. However its story is intertwined with the story of Paris. It is a story of walls and growth.
Imagine Paris centuries ago. King Philippe Auguste decided to build a wall around the city in 1190. The wall was to protect Paris. It was also to control the growing economy. The most visible part of this wall today is on Rue Charlemagne in the Marais. Students play soccer there near it. This wall tells many stories about Paris’s growth.
The stones themselves have a story. The wall has dressed and rubble stones. If you look closely, you might see crustacean fossils. Paris was once under the ocean. When the crustaceans decomposed, they helped form the limestone. This stone was used to build Paris’s walls. It was also used for bridges and cathedrals. The old mining tunnels are now the Catacombs.
The wall also tells an economic story. It was completed in 1215. It had 2,800 meters on the right bank. It also had 2,600 meters on the left bank. It enclosed 272 hectares. There were towers every 70 meters. The towers were 9 meters tall. There were 40 towers on the right bank. There were 31 on the Left Bank. Twelve portals controlled city access. Four towers protected the Seine.
The wall divided people. The rich were inside and the poor were outside. Non-guild tradesmen were left out. Suburbs grew without a plan. People moved from the country to the city. They came whether they ended up inside or outside the wall.
Philippe Auguste wanted houses built to the ramparts. Paris became a rental city. Peasants escaped the seigneurial system. They became the urban poor. They worked for building owners for food and lodging. This could last for generations.
The wall helped neighborhoods form. It also improved communication within the city. By the 12th and 13th centuries, Paris had three parts. They were La Cité, la Ville and l’Université.
Walls made Paris more vertical. Classes were stacked on top of each other. France’s population grew during a warm period. Forests were cleared for fields. Peasants moved to the city for work. The wall limited urban space. This led to more density.
Stone buildings replaced wood. Social classes lived in vertical order. Workshops and retail were on the ground floor. Owners lived one floor up. Bourgeois families lived on the second and third floors. The poor and servants lived in cramped attics.
Nobles built grand homes in the Marais. They also built in St. Honoré and Saint Germain. These homes were called hôtels particuliers. They were built of stone. Many still stand today. They have become museums and shops.
The wall of Philippe Auguste was constricting. Four more walls were built. Charles V built one from 1356-1383. Louis XIII built one from 1633-1636. The Farmers built one from 1784-1791. Thiers built one from 1841-1846. Each new wall annexed suburbs. This expanded the city.
Philippe Auguste transformed the Louvre. It changed from a fort to a royal residence. Later walls made the Louvre central. Louis XIV demolished the walls from 1670-1674. He replaced them with the Grands Boulevards.
The word rampart is the root of boulevard. Walls became pathways. Spaces were envisioned as affordable housing. The “farmers” in the Fermé General wall collected taxes. The Rotonde in Parc Monceau is a preserved gate. People hated the taxes. They made goods more expensive.
Walls defined Paris. They influenced its neighborhoods.
The wall walling Paris keeps Paris murmuring.
To increase its cash. And to shorten our horizon. The Farmers judge it necessary. To put Paris in prison.
Avenue Auguste Charles stands as a testament to the ever-evolving story of Paris. Its identity shaped by these very walls.