Île des Cygnes (former island)

{{distinguish|text=the present Île aux Cygnes in the 15th arrondissement}}

Image:Isle Maquerelle ou des Cignes.jpg by the "pont rouge" – Roussel's map of Paris, 1731]]

The Île des Cygnes or Île Maquerelle was an island on the river Seine in Paris. It was in the northwest part of the 7th arrondissement, between the Rue de l'Université and the Seine, the Invalides and the Champ de Mars. The current-day Musée du Quai Branly is located on it.

It was formed by the merger of the islets known as île des Treilles, île aux Vaches, île Maquerelle, île de Jérusalem and île de Longchamp, and was merged into the rive gauche of the Seine at the end of the 18th century.

History

An oak pirogue, built with fir plugs, discovered in August 1806 during the construction of the footings for Pont d'Iéna, was thought to be a Norman boat dating to the Siege of Paris in 885/86, although some scholars believe that it may have dated to the Sequani tribe from the first century B.C.Société préhistorique

française [https://books.google.com/books?id=sn4cAAAAIAAJ&q=%22isle+des+cignes%22 Compte rendu, année 1905, p.455] Schleicher frères, 1906Édouard Fournier, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k202360x/f40.null.CadresPage , Histoire du Pont Neuf, p.36]

In the 13th century the peasants of Chaillot on the opposite bank had the right to graze their cattle on the île Maquerelle, in exchange for a payment in kind paid to the Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés.[http://www.paris-pittoresque.com/histoire/10-3.htm Paris à travers les âges, histoire nationale de Paris et des Parisiens depuis la fondation de Lutèce jusqu'à nos jours, 1879]Legrand, Jean-Baptiste-Bonaventure de Roquefort [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wc0BAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22&pg=PA54 Histoire de la vie privée des François p.94] The right to fermage was 20 livres in 1492, and the bail de l'herbe rose to 27 livres in 1551.Pierre Thomas N. Hurtaut, Magny [https://books.google.com/books?id=8fwHAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22isle+des+cignes%22&pg=RA3-PA368 Dictionnaire historique de la ville de Paris et de ses environs, p.368], 1779 In 1572 1,200 victims of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre were buried here.[https://books.google.com/books?id=rooPAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22&pg=RA1-PA134 Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire du protestantisme français - Page 134], 1861Athanase Coquerel [https://books.google.com/books?id=oQtMAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22&pg=PA126 Précis de l'histoire de l'Église réformée de Paris p.126], 1862 The island was renamed Île des Cygnes after the swans placed there by a royal decree of 16 October 1676.Edouard Fournier, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9hYJAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22%C3%AEle+maquerelle%22&pg=PA278 Énigmes des rues de Paris, p. 278] The garde-cygnes were in charge of looking after them "from pont de Saint-Cloud as far as Saint-Maur and Corbeil" during the winter.Dominique Garrigues,[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ydec-3eKtikC&dq=%22isle+des+cignes%22+garde&pg=PA134 Jardins et jardiniers de Versailles au Grand Siècle, p.134], 2001 The garde-cygnes's house was inventoried among the royal building accounts.Jules Guiffrey, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UJgqAAAAMAAJ&q=%22isle+des+cignes%22+garde Comptes des bâtiments du roi sous le règne de Louis XIV - Page 1130] 1901 The island was also the site of the ministry of public works dépôt des marbres.

The king finally ceded the island to the city of Paris on 21 March 1722.Lucien

Lazard [https://books.google.com/books?id=QSMKAAAAIAAJ&q=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22 Inventaire sommaire de la collection Lazare-Montassier pp.87-88], Imprimerie Nouvelle (association ouvrière) 1899 Around 1731See Roussel's plan of Paris it was the site of a lodge where wood was cut into logs and stored for firewood, carpentry or boat repairs.[http://pagesperso-orange.fr/adelaitre/Hotteurs.htm Déchireurs et Hotteurs][https://books.google.com/books?id=2xiO-ZMaksYC&q=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22 Archives parlementaires de 1787 à 1860, p.683] At this time the island was linked to the rive gauche on its eastern extremity by the "pont des Cignes"Pierre Thomas N. Hurtaut, Magny, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MP0HAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22pont+des+cignes%22&pg=PA99 Dictionnaire historique de la ville de Paris et de ses monuments, p.99], 1779 or "pont rouge". Jean-Jacques Rousseau promenaded on the island.Ninth promenade, Rêveries du promeneur solitaire in [https://books.google.com/books?id=l6MGAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22%C3%AEle+aux+cygnes%22+rousseau&pg=PA502 Oeuvres complètes, tome 6 p.522], Ch Lahure 1857 Letters patent allowing the City of Paris to fill in the channel separating île des Cygnes from the Gros-Caillou quarter were signed on 20 June 1773, and a partial filling-in of the channel is reported in 1780.[https://books.google.com/books?id=8lBJAAAAMAAJ&q=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22 Mémoires de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France 1864, p.106] In 1782 the island was the site of a lamp-oil factory[http://www.paris-pittoresque.com/vie/11.htm Tableau de Paris], by Louis-Sébastien Mercier, 1782 On 11 April 1786 a police decree ordered that "all offal of bulls, cows and sheep continue to be brought to the île des Cygnes to be prepared and cooked there as is the custom".De France, Jourdan, Decrusy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YIkwAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22&pg=PA165 Recueil général des anciennes lois françaises, depuis l'an 420 jusqu'à la révolution française p.165], Belin-Le Prieur 1827 In 1789, the brothers Jacques and Augustin Charles Périer were commissioned by the city of Paris to set up steam mills on the island to meet the flour shortage due to the Seine's winter water levels being too low to power its watermills. Their installation was made up of two steam engines with twelve driving wheels, each 1.95m in diameter. It opened on 30 November 1790 in the presence of the mayor.Jean Paul Favreau [http://www.porslanvers.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=30 Les moulins de l'île aux Cygnes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720171137/http://www.porslanvers.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=30 |date=2011-07-20 }}, 14 novembre 2006 In 1802-1803 the American inventor Robert Fulton conducted his experiments on steam navigation from the island.Louis Figuier , [https://books.google.com/books?id=O14JAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22&pg=PA285 Exposition et histoire des principales découvertes scientifiques modernes, pp. 284-285 ], 1862 In 1812, during the construction of the pont d'Iéna, the rest of the channel was filled in.Léon de Lanzac de Laborie, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BtYk6byu8G0C&dq=%22%C3%AEle+des+cygnes%22&pg=RA1-PA119 Paris sous Napoléon, tome 2, p.119], Plon, 1905

Notes

External links

[http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/caran_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_98=LIEUX&VALUE_98=%20MAQUERELLE%20&DOM=All&REL_SPECIFIC=1 Île Maquerelle or Île des Cygnes, on the Atlas de Trudaine of Paris], 1745, 1780
[http://www.photo.rmn.fr/cf/htm/CPicZ.aspx?E=2C6NU0GKGX6O Plan de Turgot, planche 20 ; Gros caillou and Ile des cygnes]

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Category:7th arrondissement of Paris

Cygnes