Follies
A folly is a decorative or ornamental building meant to enhance a garden. In Parc de la Villette, 26 follies are placed within the park on an imaginary grid that has them evenly distributed throughout the park. They are supposed to help visitors gain a sense of direction and navigate throughout the space.
Folie Information-Billetterie (L9) is the Information and Ticket Office.
Folly with posters of coming attractions
À nous les jeux! The Olympics will be in Paris in 2024.
Place de la Fontaine aux Lions-de-Nubie (Square of the Nubian Lions Fountain)
Fontaine aux Lions-de-Nubie
At the main entrance to Parc de la Villette is the Fontaine aux Lions-de-Nubie, created in 1811 and transferred to its present location from Place de République. The “Lions of Nubia” were so-named because the water-spouting lion sculptures looked like sphinxes from Nubia (now Southern Egypt).
The square on which the fountain is located is delineated by the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, the Théâtre Paris-Villette, the Grande Halle de la Villette, Pavillon Paul Delouvier, Cité de la Musique and the Philharmonie.
Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris
The Conservatory for Music and Dance was founded in 1795 and installed in its present location in 1990. It is a highly competitive school that offers professional training in music, dance and sound technology. The walkway with the unusual wavy canopy, called the Galerie de la Villette, starts at the Information/Ticket Office and continues throughout the park. This structure made it simple to navigate the park.
Folie Théâtre Paris-Villette (L8) serves as the entrance to the Théâtre Paris-Villette.
Théâtre Paris-Villette and a continuation of the wavy canopy structure
This late 19th-century neoclassical building was the leather trading hall in the days of the cattle market. Now, the space is a venue for contemporary dramas written by up-and-coming young dramatists and hosts artists in residence.
The Pavillon Paul Delouvier was named after the photographer who died in 1996 and offers temporary exhibitions. It has an area of over 1000 sq ft equipped for kids and families and offers workshops about nature, the circus, magic, photography and cooking, among other things.
Unique entrance to Pavillon Paul Delouvrier
Folie Little Villette (L7) The mini-folly is situated in an area devoted to children’s activities.
Grande Halle de la Villette
Behind the fountain is the Grande Halle de la Villette, a historical cast-iron & glass structure of spacious dimensions. It is the former cattle market or Halle aux Boeufs. It faces the Fontaine aux Lions de Nubie, a fountain that once served as an animal watering trough for the cattle. The Grande Halle de la Villette was inaugurated in 1867 and remained in use until March 17, 1974, when the slaughterhouses were closed. The cattle market was held twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. The other two market halls, Halle aux Moutons (sheep) and Halles aux Veaux (calves and pigs), were located on either side of the Halle aux Boeufs.
The Grand Hall was converted into a multi-purpose venue that accommodates temporary exhibitions dedicated to foreign cultures, urban art, entertainment and trade shows, as well as an information center, a library and a restaurant.
An auditorium in the Grand Hall dedicated to Boris Vian, a multi-talented French author. This is a length-wise view of the Grand Hall. The wavy canopy is overhead.
To the right of the Fountain, you can see the entrance to the Cité de la Musique and the roof of the Philharmonie de Paris.
Café des Concerts
Cafe des Concerts is situated by the Cité de la Musique and overlooks the Fontaine aux Lions de Nubie. There is a wide variety of different cuisines. Also, the restaurant serves “concept dishes,” in cast iron casserole dishes and placed in the center of the table, so everyone can serve themselves with the amount they want.
Entrance to Cité de la Musique
The Philharmonie de Paris is dedicated to all styles of music, and consists of two sections. The Philharmonie 1, inaugurated on January 14, 2015, includes the Grande Salle, an auditorium with a capacity of 2400 seats. It is composed of concert halls, exhibition spaces, rehearsal rooms, educational services, restaurants and bars.
The Cité de la Musique (City of Music), also known as Philharmonie 2, consists of an amphitheater, a concert hall that can accommodate an audience of 800–1,000, a music museum containing an important collection of classical music instruments dating mainly from the fifteenth- to twentieth-century, a music library, exhibition halls and workshops. In 2015 it was renamed Philharmonie 2 when a larger symphony hall was built by Jean Nouvel and named Philharmonie 1.
Themed Gardens
Le Jardin des Miroirs (The Garden of Mirrors),
This garden, one of ten themed gardens, contains 28 free-standing 6 ½’ high mirrors set among woodland pines and maple trees. This pic shows only one side of the monoliths, which aren’t the mirror sides. You might think, from this angle, that you have wandered into a cemetery with large, dark headstones.
On further discovery, you find out that the back of each one is mirrored, reflecting the trees and oneself in the mirrored surfaces.
This is me, reflected in a mirror while taking a pic in the Garden of Mirrors. It is a very unusual-looking garden, but it was fascinating as well because I have never seen anything quite like it. And true to the architect Tschumi’s plan, it was a discovery of sorts.
La Folie des Vents et dunes (Wind Garden and Dunes - L 6)
The Garden of Wind and Dunes offers a rolling landscape, pedal windmills and air-cushioned areas for children. This garden was mostly deserted. In order to make the windmill go round, the kid has to pedal like mad, which may be the reason there were not many takers.
Folly My Boat (L5)
The restaurant has unusual decor inspired by the 1930s and made to resemble a luxury cruise liner.
The wavy canopy walkway, nearing the canal, and carousels
The Canal de l’Ourcq
La Folie Rond-Point des Canaux (J5) is located at the junction of the Canal Saint-Denis and Canal de l’Ourcq.
Canal de l’Ourcq with boats
The Ourcq Canal runs through the middle of Parc de la Villette. The Canal de l’Ourcq was constructed in the 1800s to provide additional water to the city, along with additional cargo shipping channels. Even though most of the canal traffic is from pleasure craft nowadays, the Canal de l’Ourcq still supplies non potable water to the city of Paris for such uses as cleaning the sewers and providing water to the parks and gardens in Paris.
Canal & small boat
Folie Numerique (Digital Art - N5) and Ateliers Villette (P5)
Canal boat
The Canal Saint-Martin is a 4.6 km long canal in Paris, connecting the Canal de l'Ourcq to the river Seine. You can take a 2 ½ hour cruise from Place de la Bastille, through four double locks and two swing bridges, to arrive at the Parc de la Villette.
My Boat restaurant, canal boat & walkway across the Canal de l’Ourcq
Walkway over canal
Folie Kiosque à Musique, opposite the Science Museum, is a venue for outdoor concerts in the summer.
Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie
The Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, the largest science museum in Europe, offers temporary and permanent exhibitions relating to all types of sciences. It offers also workshops for children, teenagers and adults, and guided tours dedicated to math, technology or space in the planetarium.
Geode
The Geode is a movie theater with a 360˚ screen on which viewers can enjoy 3D movies. They can also listen to high definition broadcasts of live concerts from around the world.
The walkway leads from the Science Museum to the Geode.
The shiny surface of the Geode consists of 6,433 equilateral, spherical triangles made of polished steel that reflect the light. Its diameter is 36 meters (118 feet). Near the bottom of the Geode is the reflection of the Science Museum.
The Argonaut
The Argonaut is a decommissioned submarine turned museum. Built in the Cherbourg Naval Port in Normandy, she was officially inaugurated under the name Argonaute on February 24, 1954. The flagship of the French Navy in the 1950s, the Argonaut has been around the world 10 times.
Folie Argonaute (P4) accesses the decommissioned submarine Argonaute located in front of the Science Museum. An audio-guided tour will take you from the cockpit to the torpedo tube. It will offer an insight into the the daily lives of the 40-man crew, as well as the history and techniques of underwater warfare.
The Geode, the submarine Argonaut and the Argonaut Folly
The Geode in front of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie
Folie Escalier (Stairway Folly - R4) is catty-corner to the Science Museum. It was originally meant to be an observatory with two flights of stairs. It kept its name but not its stairs.
Le Jardin du Dragon (The Garden of the Dragon) is home to a large sculptural steel dragon that has an 80 ft slide for children to play on.
The Garden of the Dragon is located close to the Science Museum and the Geode, near the bridge which crosses the Canal de l’Ourcq.
The Dragon is entirely metallic and painted in rainbow colors.
Children are propelled out of its mouth through a closed tube, so there are no worries of anyone falling out.
This park was a redevelopment project for the 19th arrondissement, an ethnically and economically diverse part of northeastern Paris. In 1982-3, the Parc de la Villette competition was organized to redevelop the abandoned land from the meat market and slaughterhouses that dated back to 1860. The architect, Bernard Tschumi, won a competition to create a park for the 21st century.
According to Tschumi, a French architect of Swiss origin, Parc de la Villette was not meant to be a picturesque park reminiscent of centuries past; it was more of an open expanse that was meant to be explored and discovered by those that visited the site. The series of follies, serving as points of reference, were meant to give a sense of organization to the park.
After visiting the park, I don’t think visitors realize the basic mathematical design of the park nor do they consciously realize there is an organizational plan to the distribution of follies. There are many reasons to recommend this park--exhibits at the science museum, movies at the Geode, concerts at the Philharmonie, trade shows at the Grand Hall-- but not because of its sheer beauty. The park was controversial to start with and still stirs controversy because it differs from the traditional French park. Parc de la Villette may not be picturesque, but it offers visitors a landscaped urban space with diverse uses and interests that appeal to both children and adults.
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