Square du Temple

The Paris Temple
The Paris Temple
Paris, France
	A view of the Grosse Tour-circa 1795, Ecole Française 18th century.
	The Paris Temple
Type	Medieval fortress
Site information
Condition	Demolished
Site history
Built	mid-13th century
Built by	Knights Templar
Demolished	1808
Events	French Revolution

The Temple area in 1734 - detail of theTurgotmap of Paris.

TheSquare du Templeis agardeninParis, Francein the3rd arrondissement,established in 1857. It is one of 24 city squares planned and created byGeorges-Eugène HaussmannandJean-Charles Adolphe Alphand.The Square occupies the site of a medievalfortressinParis,built by theKnights Templar.Parts of the fortress were later used as aprisonduring theFrench Revolution,and then demolished by the mid-19th century.

History[edit]

Knights Templar[edit]

Theorder of the Knights Templarbegan in the 12th century, first constructing a fort (Vieux Temple or Old Temple) inLe Marais.In the 13th century, a new fortress was built as their European headquarters. The enclosure, calledenclos du Temple,originally featured a number of buildings important to the running of the order, and included a church and a massive turretedkeepknown asGrosse Tour(great tower), which housed a number of the order's prized possessions, and a smaller tower calledTour de César(Caesar's Tower).

The location of the towers is drawn on the ground in front of the Mairie deParis Centre(town hall),^[1]on therue Eugène Speller[fr].The heavy doors of the Grosse Tour still exist and are kept atChâteau de Vincennes,whose great keep, attributed toRaymond du Temple[fr]of Notre-Dame cathedral, is thought to have been inspired by the nearby Templar fortress.^[2]^{[clarification needed]}

It was here in theenclos du Templeon the morning of Friday, the 13th of October, 1307 that agents ofPhilip IV of FrancearrestedTemplar Grand Master Jacques de Molaycharging him withheresy.Philip was deep in debt to the Templars due mainly to the 1294–1303Gascon WarwithEdward I of England.Philip acted with the approval ofPope Clement Vwho also desired the dissolution of the Knights Templar. Clement V had annulled thepapal bullUnam Sanctamproclaimingpapal supremacyover secular rulers, giving Philip legal authority to arrest the Templars. Philip confiscated the immense wealth of the French Templars. Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake for heresy without trial on March 18, 1314, where theSquare du Vert Galantstands in Paris today.^[3]^[4]

French Revolution[edit]

The Temple is also known for having been the place where theFrench royal familywas jailed at the time of theFrench Revolution.Members of the royal family imprisoned at the Temple's tower were:

Louis XVI,King of France,from 13 August 1792 to 21 January 1793, when he was taken to beexecuted by guillotineat thePlace de la Révolution;
Marie Antoinette,Queen of France,from 13 August 1792 to 1 August 1793 in the Temple's tower. She was then brought to theConciergerie,from where she eventually was also taken to the guillotine;
Madame Élisabeth,who stayed for 21 months at the tower before being taken on 9 May 1794 to the Conciergerie and guillotined the following day;
Louis XVII,Dauphin of France,from 13 August 1792 until his death of tuberculosis at the tower on 8 June 1795, at the age of ten;
Princess Marie-Thérèse,who stayed at the tower for three years and four months before being sent into exile.

Demolition[edit]

By 1808, the Temple had become a place ofpilgrimageforroyalists,soNapoleonordered its demolition, which took two years. Remnants were demolished around 1860 under orders fromNapoleon III.

Today[edit]

Today its location is astationof theParis Metro,serving thecarreau du temple(covered market) and the Palais de Justice (Courthouse) of the third arrondissement.

The garden includes a gazebo, a playground for children, lawns with the largest open to the public from 15 April to 15 October, fountains and a pond with an artificial waterfall, built from rocks brought in from the forest of Fontainebleau. The grid surrounding the square was designed by the architectGabriel Davioud.The square contains almost 200 varieties of plants, including many exotic species, such as hazel, aGinkgo biloba,aHoney locustof America, aPterocarya fraxinifolia,goldenrain tree,Cedrela,andChinese quince.

In 2007, the square received the "ecological green spaces" awarded byECOCERT,the international organic certification.

There are two statues. One represents the songwriterPierre-Jean de Béranger,who lived on the nearby street which later took his name. This is the second statue of him; a first bronze statue, byAmédée Donatien Doublemard,was erected with a public subscription held in 1879 by the newspaper "La Chanson", and was destroyed in 1941. It was replaced in 1953 with the present stone statue, byHenri Lagriffoul.

Another statue, a bust on a pedestal, is dedicated: "To B. Wilhelm 1781-1842, founder of the FrenchOrphéon[fr]"above a medallion portrait that bears the inscription" ToEugène Delaporte1818-1886, propagator ".

On 26 October 2007, a monument was inaugurated on the lawn of the main square of the Temple. It carries the names and ages of 85 "little ones who did not have time to attend school", Jewish children from 2 months to 6 years living in the 3rd arrondissement and deported between 1942 and 1944 and then murdered inAuschwitz.This monument was unveiled in the presence of several hundred people, city and district elected officials, representatives of associations and the Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France. The memorial is one of several honouring the 11,400 Jewish children deported from France. The lists of children were compiled from school and civic records bySerge Klarsfeld.

In literature[edit]

InPatrick O'Brian'sAubrey-Maturin series,Capt. Jack Aubrey, Dr. Stephen Maturin and a young Lithuanian officer, Jagiello, are held prisoner at the Temple Prison inThe Surgeon's Mate.

The Temple in art
Miniature from theHours of Étienne Chevalier,with the Temple in the background
Louis XVIat the Tour du Temple, byJean-François Garneray(1755-1837).
Marie Antoinette,in the Temple Tower, attributed toKucharsky

References[edit]

^"Google Maps".
^Lorentz, Phillipe; Dany Sandron (2006).Atlas de Paris au Moyen Âge.Paris: Parigramme. p. 238 pp.ISBN 2-84096-402-3.
^Hillairet, Jacques (1993).Connaissance du vieux Paris Rive Gauche/Rive Droit/Les Îles et Les Villages.Paris: Editions de Minuit, Payot & Rivages. pp. 157–159.ISBN 978-2228919111.
^Soprani, Anna (1998).Paris Jardins: Promenade historique dans les parcs et jardins de chaque arrondissement.Paris Edition (in French). Paris: Éditions Paris-Méditerranée. pp. 58–63.ISBN 2-84272-049-0.

External links[edit]

Media related toSquare du Temple – Elie-Wieselat Wikimedia Commons

48°51′55″N2°21′44″E/ 48.86528°N 2.36222°E/48.86528; 2.36222

[1] "Google Maps".

[2] Lorentz, Phillipe; Dany Sandron (2006).Atlas de Paris au Moyen Âge.Paris: Parigramme. p. 238 pp.ISBN 2-84096-402-3.

[3] Hillairet, Jacques (1993).Connaissance du vieux Paris Rive Gauche/Rive Droit/Les Îles et Les Villages.Paris: Editions de Minuit, Payot & Rivages. pp. 157–159.ISBN 978-2228919111.

[4] Soprani, Anna (1998).Paris Jardins: Promenade historique dans les parcs et jardins de chaque arrondissement.Paris Edition (in French). Paris: Éditions Paris-Méditerranée. pp. 58–63.ISBN 2-84272-049-0.

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