12th arrondissement of Paris

In the 11th century, the forest that would later become the bois de Vincennes was considered to be non-arable land. When Hugues Capet, King of the Franks, took up residence on the Île de la Cite, he used the bois de Vincennes as his hunting ground. The bois was then reserved for the exclusive use of the kings of France. Under Philippe Auguste it was enclosed by a 12 km wall.

Saint Louis, administering justice under the oak of Vincennes

A hunting lodge was built by Louis VII around 1150, which was upgraded to a Manor House by Philippe Auguste, who made it a royal residence that was used over the 1150-1340 period. Legend has it that Louis IX, Saint Louis, administered justice under an oak tree in what is now the bois de Vincennes.

The long process of turning this residence into a fortified castle, the Château de Vincennes, began in about 1337, when Philippe VI de Valois decided to build a dungeon near the Manor House. Progressive upgrades by subsequent kings led to the construction of the fortifications, the Saint Chapelle de Vincennes and several residences within the fortified walls that were designed to cater to royal tastes and standards of living. The last king to use the Chateau extensively as a royal residence was Louis XIV, who later abandoned it in favour of the Chateau de Versailles.

The Saint Anthony of the Fields Abbey.

In 1204, a Cistercian abbey, Saint Anthony of the Fields, was founded outside and to the east of the walls of Paris. Its church was dedicated to Saint Antoine, which gave the name, Faubourg Saint Antoine (Saint Anthony’s suburb), to the neighbourhood that grew up around the Abbey. The Abbey was protected by armed soldiers who operated under the direct orders of the Abbesse, who was referred to as the Dame du Faubourg.

The Faubourg developed a specialty in furniture making and, especially, in cabinet making. The development of this specialty was due mainly to the protection and favours accorded by the kings of France to the Abbey, including a dispensation from taxes for artisans working in the territory of the Abbey. Moreover, in 1471, Louis XI authorised these artisans to work freely, without being subject to the control of the guilds. Over the years, the artisans of the Faubourg developed a solid international reputation that attracted skilled craftsmen from all over Europe.[2]^:275

Starting in the 17th century, the Royal Mirror Manufacture was established in the Faubourg and further consolidated its reputation. This institution this would later become the multinational enterprise, Saint Gobain.

The distinctive courtyards and narrow passageways that characterise the Faubourg served groups of craftsmen that lived and worked together in the same building. This social organisation of production gradually faded out and had disappeared entirely by the final decades of the 20th century.[2]^:277 With the urban redevelopment of the 1980s, the plan was to use the repurposed arches under the railway viaduc of the defunct Paris-Vincennes line to house artisans. The resulting Viaduc des Arts provides workshops for a wide array of specialised crafts. Nevertheless, most traces of the furniture-making activity have disappeared, though the École Boule, a famous school for furniture design located in the 12th arrondissement, continues to bear witness to this ancient artisanal tradition.[3]

The artisans and workers of the Faubourg played a key role in the French Revolution and the violent political turmoil of the 19th century. Residents of the Faubourg were instrumental in the taking of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Of the 954 people who received official recognition for being ‘conquerors of the Bastille’, 70% were from the Faubourg Saint Antoine.

The Bastille in the first days of its demolition

The unauthorised demolition of the Bastille began the day after the Bastille was taken when an entrepreneurial business man, Pierre-François Palloy, recruited a team to tear down the fortress. Recovered construction materials were subsequently sold, along with various mementos of the infamous building (keys, paper weights, etc.).[2]^:272

The neighbourhood also played a prominent role in the Reign of Terror that followed. In the southern part of what is now Place de la Nation, a guillotine was erected in June 1794. Of the 2,498 people guillotined in Paris during the Revolution, 1,306 were beheaded there. Their bodies were then thrown into two mass graves in what is now the nearby Picpus Cemetery.[3]

After the Revolution, the Faubourg remained a hotbed of revolutionary activity, including during the July Revolution, the 1848 Revolution and the Paris Commune.

From 1815 onwards, the neighbourhoods that would later become the 12th arrondissement were the focus of far-reaching urban development projects. These include construction of: the July Column (colonne de Juillet) on the place de la Bastille (1830); the Halle Beauvau (the covered market on rue d’Aligre, 1843); and the construction of the Gare de Lyon (1847) and of the Paris-Vincennes rail line (1855).

Haussmann was also active in this sector, creating arteries that would later take the names of boulevard Diderot (1854), rue Chaligny (1856), avenue Daumesnil (1859) and rue Crozatier (1861). Between 1855 and 1866, the bois de Vincennes was refurbished by order of Napoleon III, who wished it to become a “vast park for the working populations of eastern Paris.”

From an administrative point of view, the present day 12th arrondissement was created by the law of 16 June 1859, which rearranged Paris into the 20 arrondissements that we know today. The law also extended the arrondissement by absorbing parts of the villages of Bercy and Saint Mandé.[3]

The first town hall, located to the south east of the current town hall, was burned down by the Commune. The current town hall was built in 1876 on avenue Daumesnil, following the plans of the architect, Antoine-Julien Henard.[3]

The bois de Vincennes was given to the City of Paris by Napoleon III in 1860, but was not officially integrated into the 12th arrondissement until 1926.[3]