Park La Villette. What can be made from an old slaughterhouse? Center La Villette, City of Science in Paris City of Music of La Villette Park

20.02.2024

Parc La Villette

In the 19th arrondissement of Paris lies the Parc de La Villette. This is the largest park in the French capital. The park crosses the Ourcq Canal.

The main part of La Villette Park is the Great Covered Market, built in 1867 and listed as a historical monument. The La Villette park itself was created in 1985 and is dedicated to leisure and culture.

The modern Grand Market is the former central pavilion of the meat market and cattle market of the La Villette slaughterhouse, opened in 1867. The central pavilion is the most beautiful structure of the huge complex, built under the direction of Victor Baltard, the head of the construction work of Paris. Preserving this masterpiece of metal architecture and transforming it with respect for the original building was a real highlight for Paris.

The large market is built entirely of cast iron and steel. The frame, consisting of huge trusses in the form of metal latticework, rests on a series of tall columns that form nine equally sized passages. The free space on the ground floor makes it easy to move around. The entire length of the second floor of the market has high glazed openings equipped with lattice shutters, making it possible to illuminate intermediate passages, and a glazed roof illuminates the central passage.

From the day of its opening, the Great Market attracted the public, presenting various spectacles: an annual jazz festival, theatrical performances, concerts, exhibitions, and international forums.

This is the history of the Park. In 1982, François Mitterrand decided to carry out a large cultural project, placing it on the site of the former La Villette slaughterhouses. This presidential project constitutes an important period in the history of Parisian urbanism. Landscaped in 1986, Parc de la Villette changed the appearance and environment of the entire quarter.

To create the park, a competition was held, which was won in 1983 by the Swiss architect Bernard Tchumi. He proposed a new type of park - urban, in which architecture and landscape are equal components.

In an unusual place, Tchumi united a wide variety of structures thanks to a plan that was both simple and strict.

There are no less than 11 themed gardens in the park.

The bamboo garden is located 6 meters below the level of the park: the foliage descends into the depths along strips paved with black and white pebbles, which were designed by Daniel Buren.

In the gardens of Mirrors, Dunes, Mists and Children's Fears, the kingdoms of minerals and vegetation coexist. On the side of the boardwalk, parts of a huge bicycle dug into the ground are the work of sculptor Claes Oldenburg.

Installed 120m apart throughout the park, Bernard Tchoumi's concrete folies, clad in red iron, stand out clearly against the greenery. Some of the "folies" are purely decorative, others house children's workshops, an information center, a snack bar or even a concert hall.

The architect designed two galleries passing one above the other: one stretches along the bank of the Ourcq canal for 600 m, the other is thrown across it and provides a connection between the Pantin gate and the Villette gate.

La Villette Park includes two large grasslands located on either side of the canal: Circle Prairie and Triangle Prairie. Lined with plane trees, they create spaces for relaxation. The Triangular prairie hosts an open-air film festival every summer, attracting audiences from all over Paris.

The park contains the Paris-Villette theater, opened in 1985.

And on March 13, 1986, the Center for Science and Industry was opened in the park. This is the most significant institution in Europe that popularizes science. It is located on an area of 100,000 m2 and is surrounded by ditches with water located 13 m below ground level.

The concept of the building was determined by three main themes: the water that surrounds it, the vegetation that penetrates inside thanks to bioclimatic greenhouses, and the light that pours through the rotating domes and floods the museum space. Since its creation, the Science Center annually welcomes several hundred thousand visitors from all over the world. In fact, this is a new interactive type of museum. In it, the visitor is an active participant in everything that happens before his eyes. The permanent exhibition, spread over a vast area, is dedicated to mathematics, astronomy, optics, image, sound and nature.

The town of science and industry in La Vileggt park is the third most visited museum center in Paris and the fifth cultural institution in France. In 2007, 3,028,000 people visited it. It was created on the initiative of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and opened on March 13, 1986. The museum has a magnificent planetarium, an aquarium, a children's playground, and a Braille hall, where blind people can familiarize themselves with various documents.

There is music everywhere in La Villette: in the Music Center, in the Grand Market, in the gardens, and also in the park. On the border of the park there is Zenit, one of the largest concert halls in the capital.

The Zenit Concert Hall, which can be quickly assembled and dismantled, has become one of the most visible places for Parisian music. Being a permanent structure, it even has several younger “brothers” in various cities of France. A walk through the park leads through thematic gardens, which simultaneously serve as playgrounds and theatrical stages where nature takes the stage. Scattered here and there are red pavilions called “folie”, which in the 18th century was the name for a house in a nearby suburb, surrounded by a garden and used for entertainment and amusements.

The garden has thematic gardens: Bamboo Garden, Garden of Children's Fears, Garden of Grapevines, Garden of Balance, Garden of Islands, Garden of Mirrors, Garden with Dunes, Dragon Garden and other gardens.

In La Villette Park there is the Music City, the Paris Higher National Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and the Paul Delouvrieux Pavilion.

The Music Museum is famous for its collection of musical instruments - about 4,500 instruments from different eras from the 16th century. to the present day. The museum has Amati and Guarneri violins, five Stradivarius instruments, instruments by Adolphe Sax, Nadermann and Erard harps, Erard pianos, and a Pleyel grand piano.

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Park La Villette (French parc de La Villette) is comfortably located in the east of Paris, far from the center. 55 hectares of green park space, filled with a wide variety of entertainment for children and adults. The park is an excellent place to relax. Tourists and simply guests of the city try to visit La Villette with all its attractions. This park is relatively young. It was created under the patronage of the French […]

Parc La Villette (Willet) (fr. parc de La Villette) is comfortably located in the east of Paris, far from the center. 55 hectares of green park space, filled with a wide variety of entertainment for children and adults. The park is an excellent place to relax. Tourists and simply guests of the city try to visit La Villette with all its attractions.

This park is relatively young. It was created under the patronage of French President Mitterrand, and it was conceived as a “park of the 21st century.” The opening took place in 1985. Since then, the park is the largest in France and has become a popular walking place for city residents who come here with families.

Children like La Villette for its pavilions, where you can play around imagining yourself as a submariner, a jet pilot or an astronaut. There are no prohibitory signs or restrictions in the park. Little Parisians and guests of the capital are not stopped by the hands of guards. Children's playgrounds with attractions are scattered among the lawns and green lawns. Children especially enjoy exploring the science and technology town, where they can try and touch everything. La Villette is home to a submarine called the Argonaut. And in the Explora exhibition hall, everyone can get acquainted with the history of aeronautics, automotive industry and astronautics.

Park La Villette (French parc de La Villette)
Avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris, France

Take the metro to Porte de Pantin or Porte de la Villette station

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This park was created from 1983 to 2000 on the site of former slaughterhouses and a livestock market in the north-eastern part of Paris, on the border with the suburbs. Being the largest green spot in the city, the park covers an area of 55 hectares, where 35 hectares are directly open spaces. This unique complex combines nature and architecture, places of leisure and recreation for citizens, numerous pavilions for exhibitions, performances, concerts and other public events.

La Villette is a so-called urban park of the 21st century, where the center of the composition is the town of science and industry. The museum halls of the town are created according to a new, interactive type, the visitor does not act in the traditional role of a passive observer, but actively participates in everything that happens before his eyes. The permanent exhibition is dedicated to mathematics, astronomy, optics, image, sound and nature. The museum has a planetarium, an aquarium, a children's playground, where children become familiar with science while playing, and a Braille room, where blind people can familiarize themselves with various documents.

The most interesting objects of La Villette Park:

Geode (Gé ode) - a cinema with a hemispherical screen, thanks to which the effect of complete presence is created;

Great Hall (Grande)Halle) - a huge structure made of metal structures (formerly a livestock market), transformed into a multi-purpose hall designed for 15 thousand people; exhibitions, festivals, concerts, etc. are held here;

Zenit (Zé nothing) - a concert hall for 6 thousand people, intended mainly for rock concerts;

City of Music (Cité delamusic) - includes the city's Higher National Conservatory of Music and Dance, a music museum and a concert hall with 1,200 seats.

In 1983, the architect began work on the creation of the park Bernard Tschoumi (Bernard Tshumi), winner of the international competition for the best project. The key word in the park program is MEETING. A symbiosis of old and new buildings, water, plants and minerals, open and closed spaces, city and nature.

For hurrying visitors who need to cross the vast territory of the park, two transit routes have been created: one gallery connects the Porte de Patan and the Porte de la Villette, the other stretches along the southern side of the canal.

A unique modern version of the 18th century pavilions are 26 pavilions (“folies”) located at the intersection of the axes of a virtual grid superimposed on the park plan. This brings static and rhythmicity to the composition of the park. The pavilions are painted bright red and have the same dimensions in plan (10.8m X 10.8m), but the design of each of them, as well as the functional purpose, is individual.

Large open spaces of lawns in the center of the park serve not only an aesthetic function, but also serve as a place for relaxation and games.

Like a fallen film reel, the park is crossed by a three-kilometer winding bluestone road. On it, replacing each other like frozen frames, there are 10 thematic gardens, playgrounds, tracts of trees and water features.

Jardin desMiroirs- Garden of Mirrors is a green massif of pine and maple trees, among which there are 28 concrete monolithic slabs about 2 meters high. The back side of the plates is covered with stainless steel, polished to a mirror surface. The landscape reflected in them creates a feeling of unreality.

Jardin des Vents et des Dunes - GardenwindsAnddunes. Designed in a seascape style, the garden is reserved exclusively for children under 12 years of age and accompanying adults. The main line of the garden is a wavy wall, into the structure of which all kinds of educational sports equipment and equipment are built (windmills with pedals, trampolines, boat hulls, etc.).

Jardin de la Treille - Vineyard Garden(treille - support for growing grapes). On eight terraces, decorated with small babbling fountains, stylized supports for vines are installed. Intertwining plants create light, pleasant partial shade. The garden is decorated with seven small bronze sculptures (by Jean-Max Albert).

Jardin des Bambous - Bamboo Garden includes 30 varieties of these plants and is the second such collection in France. Located 6 m below the park level, protected from winds and noise, the garden has a special microclimate. The wall on the south side, 120 m long, shelters the plants from the scorching midday sun. The garden features trees with golden and dark green foliage, with dark and light trunks. To support this contrast, the authors included stripes of white and black pebbles in the paving. At the entrance to the garden there is a concrete cylindrical structure, designed in the form of an open-air salon, 10 m in diameter and 4.5 m in height.

Jardin des Voltiges - Garden of ropes got its name thanks to a variety of sports equipment (ladders, ropes, disks for maintaining balance). There is also a theater of secret dialogue, which consists of two domes that allow two people located at a distance from each other to talk in a quiet voice.

Jardin des Iles - Garden of the Islands. Winding paths made of black and white marble chips go around small hills covered with trees and shrubs. In the center of the garden, a large granite slab is covered with a layer of water, reflecting the sky and the sun's rays penetrating through the foliage of the trees.

Jardin des Equilibres - Garden of Equilibriums includes numerous decorative forms of woody plants. Among the regular and chaotic plantings of trees with different colors of leaves and trunks, the visitor looks for a certain balance and static quality, which is expressed in the presence of granite benches and large metal paper kites. They are like huge birds spreading their wings among green spaces.

Jardin des Flayeurs enfantines - Garden of children's fears. An array of blue spruce and bush birch trees, unusual music emanating from metal posts located along the road - all this is intended to evoke in visitors memories of childhood sensations when you have to walk through a gloomy forest.

Jardin du Dragon - Dragon's Garden is a huge children's play complex made in the shape of a dragon's body. It includes all kinds of swings, slides, stairs and recreation areas.

Jardin des ombres - Garden of shadows located opposite the entrance to the Zenit concert hall and designed as its proscenium. The alternation of paving with dominant black and white tiles arranged in a random pattern resembles a chessboard. The rest of the space is densely planted with trees and bushes, thanks to which most of the garden is in the shade. Numerous benches are built into the paving line and are widely used by visitors during concerts.

Jardin Passagers- opened to the public in 2001. Created on the concrete foundation of a former sheep market, these gardens aim to engage children in urban ecology. Here visitors can walk among vegetable crops, wild flowers, fruit trees and see various methods of biological culture and communicate with gardeners.

Text: Irina Kokueva,

especially for the site

Directions:

France, Paris, 211, avenue Jean Jaures

Metro: Porte de la Villette.

You can see the most beautiful and interesting gardens and parks of Paris accompanied by a professional landscape designer - Irina Kokueva.

Parc La Villette is located in a cozy location on the border of the nineteenth north-eastern arrondissement of Paris, not far from the suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis. You can get to this wonderful place to relax by using the metro. The nearest metro stations are: Porte de la Villette, Corentin Cariou and Porte de Pantin. The park is located at: 30, avenue Corentin-Cariou - 75019 Paris. At the southern exit there is an information desk where you can find your way around the park.

History of the park

The park was designed by Bernard Tschumi. The construction itself took place on the site of a former meat market and slaughterhouse. The author's project was implemented as part of the city redevelopment program. Construction of the park began in 1984 and lasted four years. When creating La Villette, the architect was based on the ideas of deconstructivism of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. The size of the park is impressive. Its area is 55 hectares, 35 of which are green spaces. That is why La Villette is the largest park in the capital.

What can you see in the park?

Among the attractions of Paris, La Villette Park stands out for its original appearance. The park, completely unique in its architecture, combines the skill of a talented architect and the beauty of natural landscapes.

This place can be visited while on holiday with children, as exhibitions, concerts, performances and many other entertainment events are regularly held here. On its territory there is the well-known “Town of Science and Industry”, thanks to which the park has gained even greater fame. A large number of museum halls are concentrated there.

Arriving here, you can visit the planetarium, look at aquarium fish and get acquainted with the Braille room for blind people. The park has an amazing place called “City of Music”, where you can enjoy music and dancing, and a Geode cinema with a hemispherical screen, which in an interesting way creates the effect of complete presence.

What activities are available for children?

The relatively young park is popular not only among adults, but also among children. Children are attracted to this popular place by its numerous pavilions, where you can play a variety of games, imagining yourself as a pilot, submariner or astronaut.

Among the large number of lawns and lawns you can find breathtaking attractions. For children's recreation, there are exciting carousels and spacious areas for various games.

And if you go to a scientific and technical town with your children, you can get acquainted with all its research. The history of the automotive industry, aeronautics or astronautics is available for study in a fascinating and accessible way.

Walking through the park you can see a large number of cozy gazebos. Modern gazebos in the form of bright red pavilions are located throughout the park in strict order.

In the park along the canal you can find a gallery with a covered wavy roof, which is intended for picturesque walks. There are also ten themed gardens in the park, each of which is unique and different from the other. In this regard, the park, originally created in the style of deconstructivism, is difficult to describe one-sidedly. There is still a lot of controversy about this.

In the themed gardens, which harmoniously fit into the design of the park, you can find a variety of plants. The green array of maples and pines in the Garden of Mirrors delights with its grandeur. More than 30 varieties of bamboos can be found in the Bamboo Garden. This garden has a special microclimate, as it is reliably protected from wind and noise, thanks to its special location. The magnificent combination of dark green and golden foliage of trees with dark and light trunks is striking.

You can get acquainted with various decorative forms of plants by visiting the Garden of Balance. Those who dream of walking through a gloomy forest can fulfill their wish by strolling through the Garden of Children's Fears, walking in an array of blue spruce and bush birch trees.

Everything that is located on the territory of this beautiful place today is an exhibit that demonstrates all the achievements of science and technology. The well-known Ourc Canal, where animals used to be melted down, is still navigable today. Traveling along the canal, to the Seine, all the way to the island of Cité, you will notice that the Ourcq canal has preserved its lock structures.

The Argonaut submarine is installed here for everyone to see to a surprisingly large audience. Thus, the park alley invites its guests to go on an exciting journey from one end of the park to the other, getting acquainted with all the achievements and developments.

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Parc La Villette in the 19th arrondissement of Paris is perhaps the most unusual park in the French capital. This is the largest urban park in all of France, which is a symbiosis of ancient buildings from the constructivist era, modern scientific and educational exhibitions, music venues and theme parks with children's playgrounds. The area of La Villette Park is 55 hectares, 35 hectares of which are open spaces. The park was created over 15 years, from 1983 to 1998, on the site of ancient slaughterhouses. Nowadays there is a science museum, a conservatory, a music museum, and concerts and thematic exhibitions are held here.

Bernard Tschumi

Any extraordinary and highly complex object must have an equally extraordinary creator. For La Villette Park, it was the French-Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi, who in 1983 won an international competition to design a new park. The architect, who was very often criticized for sacrificing human needs to artificial and far-fetched intellectual goals, created a park that equally praises man and modern architecture.

The key word in the idea of the park is “meeting”. There are old and new buildings, people and architecture, water, plants and minerals, closed and open spaces.

The same idea is served by modern gazebos and meeting places - pavilions called “folies”, which are located at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal axes of the park. Each gazebo is the same size, 10.8 x 10.8 m, painted red, but the design of each is unique.

Attractions

The main attractions of La Villette Park are the City of Science and Industry - the largest scientific and educational museum in France, where there is a fully interactive museum exhibition, a Geod spherical cinema, a planetarium and a real French Navy submarine that circled the Earth 10 times along the equator. The town of science and industry is located in the northern half of the park.

The southern half of the park is dedicated to music. Here is the City of Music (Cite de la musique), which includes several musical institutions. This is a concert hall with 800 seats, a music museum with one of the largest collections of musical instruments, a summer amphitheater and halls for temporary exhibitions. Here, in the southern part of La Villette Park, is the Paris Conservatory, a higher educational institution where musicians and dancers study.

Walking through the park, you will definitely pay attention to the themed gardens, located mainly in the central part of it. These gardens were the idea of Bernard Tschumi, as a symbiosis of different natural areas. You will see:

bamboo garden, which contains more than 30 types of bamboo. The garden is located below ground level, which creates a special microclimate and protection from the wind;
the rope garden is a huge area filled with all kinds of sports equipment;
the garden of children's fears is an array of green and blue spruce trees, unusual music that flows from barely visible metal posts, a path between the spruce trees - all this should revive in adults memories of childhood, when we were all afraid to walk through the gloomy forest;
the dragon garden is a huge children's play complex made in the shape of a dragon's body;
The passenger park is one of the latest innovations at Parc La Villette. This garden is dedicated to ecology; here city residents can see vegetable and flower crops and communicate with gardeners.

Prices

Entrance to the park is free for everyone. However, there is a fee for visiting exhibitions, music concerts and events.

It is possible to buy a subscription to attend 3 events during the year and a subscription to all events in the year.

Operating mode

The park is open to the public from 06:00 to 01:00. Permanent exhibitions are open from 10:00 to 19:00.

Opening hours of temporary exhibitions on the official website

Two objects have their own visiting schedule:

The Passenger Gardens (Les jardins passagers) are open from May to September, Saturday and Sunday from 15:00 to 19:00;
The Garden of Winds and Dunes (Le jardin des vents et des) is open from April to October from 10:00 to 20:00. From November to March - on weekends.

How to get there

Parc La Villette is located in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. This is not the city center and it is recommended to get here by public transport. Using a special service on the official website of Paris public transport, you can plan your route by public transport from anywhere in the city.

Metro

The easiest and most convenient way to get to La Villette Park is by metro. There are 2 stations located here on different sides of the park.

Porte de la Villette station (line 7) in the northern part of the park, exit to the City of Science and Industry;
Porte de Pantin station, line 5 in the southern part of the park, exit to the concert halls.

By bus

Bus stops are also located on both sides of the park - on the north and south. In the north there is a public transport stop - Villette. Buses 139, 150, 152 stop here.

On the south side there is the Pantin stop, buses 75, 151.

By tram

The T3b tram actually runs from the center of Paris, from the XXI arrondissement from Place de la Nation. The tram route circles the park, stopping at Porte de Pantin and Villette.

By taxi

There is no uniform color for taxi cars in Paris, however, on the roofs of all official taxis there is a glowing sign with the inscription Taxi Parisien.

Taxis can be taken at stands located near attractions and transport hubs. In addition, there are taxi machines on the streets - you just need to press a button and the nearest car will come to you. Taxi apps available in Paris: LeCab, Heetch, Le Taxi, G7 Taxi.

The minimum cost for a taxi is 7 euros (even if the meter shows less). The cost of boarding is 2.6 euros. The cost per kilometer is from 1.07 euros.

The closest taxi stand to the park is located near the northern exit.

Take a stroll through La Villette Park using Google Panoramas

Video tour of the Parisian park La Villette