You are standing in Square Joachim du Bellay. Do you know the story of this peaceful square? It is not what it seems. Look around you. It is so calm and inviting, but only because the history of Paris is buried right under your feet. This square is not an empty square, it is full of history, in the form of an old cemetery. The square was built in 1787, on the spot where the Holy Innocents Cemetery once stood. In the Middle Ages, it was the most important cemetery in Paris. Imagine the old church on that very spot. They buried over 2 million people there. The cemetery was huge. If it were there today, it would stretch from here to the Pompidou Center to the right, towards the Rue Berger. The cemetery was full of bones. The skeletons were stacked in layers, as they had no place to put them. They didn’t even make holes for the bodies. The bones simply lay there for centuries, until in 1786 because of the risk of contagion, they were transferred to the Paris catacombs. The church was torn down, but the fountain – one of the most beautiful in Paris – the Fountain of the Innocents, was saved and stands right here at the centre of the square. See, the beautiful fountain you are looking at is the oldest in Paris. And every time you look at it, you are looking at a small part of the city’s history.
Центральный дом работников искусств
Step through the grand wooden doors of the Central House of the Workers of Art, and you’ll be transported to