Trocadéro - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the origins of the word Trocadero, and other places where it has been used, see Trocadero (disambiguation).

The Trocadéro, (trɔ.ka.de.ʁo), site of the Palais de Chaillot, pa.lɛ də ʃa.jo, is an area of Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, in the 16th arrondissement

XVIe arrondissement

The 16th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France...

, across the Seine

Seine

The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

from the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...

. The hill of the Trocadéro is the hill of Chaillot, a former village.

Origin of the name

Trocadero is an island

Isla del Trocadero

Isla del Trocadero is an island in the Bay of Cádiz, in Andalusia, Spain.-Situation:The island has an area of 5.25 km² and lies in Southern part of the Bay of Cádiz, Southwest of Puerto Real village....

in the Bay of Cadiz

Bay of Cadiz

Bay of Cadiz may refer to:*Bay of Cádiz, a body of water off the province of Cádiz, Spain*Bay of Cádiz , a comarca in the province of Cádiz, Spain*Gulf of Cádiz, the arm of the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the waters south of Portugal...

, in the South of Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, bordering the Spanish mainland. Nowadays, it is connected to Cadiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

by the bridge that goes across the bay. Originally, the name trocadero refers to an emporium or place of trade. In the Battle of Trocadero

Battle of Trocadero

The Battle of Trocadero, fought on 31 August 1823, was the only significant battle in the French invasion of Spain when French forces defeated the Spanish liberal forces and restored the absolute rule of King Ferdinand VII.-Prelude:...

, the fortified position was captured by French forces led by the Duc d'Angoulême, son of the future king, Charles X

Charles X of France

Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...

, on August 31, 1823. France had intervened on behalf of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, whose rule was contested by a liberal rebellion. Trocadero restored the autocratic Spanish Bourbon Ferdinand VII to the throne of Spain, in an action that defined the Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...

.

Chateaubriand said "To stride across the lands of Spain at one go, to succeed there, where Bonaparte had failed, to triumph on that same soil where the arms of the fantastic man suffered reverses, to do in six months what he couldn't do in seven years, that was truly prodigious!"

Today the square is officially named Place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...

, although it is usually simply called the Place du Trocadéro.

The old Palais du Trocadéro

The hill of Chaillot was first arranged for the 1867 World's Fair

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

. For the 1878 World's Fair

Exposition Universelle (1878)

The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May through to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.-Construction:...

, the (old) Palais du Trocadéro was built here (where meetings of international organizations could be held during the fair). The palace's form was that of a large concert hall with two wings and two towers; its style was a mixture of exotic and historical references, generally called "Moorish" but with some Byzantine

Byzantine architecture

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...

elements. The architect was Gabriel Davioud

Gabriel Davioud

Jean-Antoine-Gabriel Davioud was a French architect.Davioud was born in Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Léon Vaudoyer...

. The concert hall contained a large organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was a French organ builder. He is considered by many to be the greatest organ builder of the 19th century because he combined both science and art to make his instruments...

; the first large organ to be installed in a concert hall in France (it has since been modified twice, and eventually moved in 1977 to the Auditorium Maurice Ravel in Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, where is still in use today). The building proved unpopular, although the cost expended in its construction delayed its replacement for nearly fifty years.

Below the building in the space left by former underground quarries, a large aquarium was built to contain fish of French rivers. It was renovated in 1937 but closed again for renovation from 1985 until May 22, 2006. The space between the palais and the Seine is set with gardens, designed by Jean-Charles Alphand

Jean-Charles Alphand

Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, born in 1817 and died in 1891, interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery , was a French Engineer of the Corps of Bridges and Roads...

, and an array of fountains.

Within its garden, the old palace contained two large animal statues, of a rhinoceros and an elephant, which were removed and stored during the demolition of the old Trocadero palace, and have been located next to the entrance of the Musée d'Orsay

Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...

since 1986.

The new Palais de Chaillot

For the Exposition Internationale of 1937

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)

The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne was held from May 25 to November 25, 1937 in Paris, France...

, the old Palais du Trocadéro was demolished and replaced by the Palais de Chaillot which now tops the hill. It was designed in classicizing "moderne

Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...

" style by architects Louis-Hippolyte Boileau

Louis-Hippolyte Boileau

Louis-Hippolyte Boileau was a French architect.Grandson of Louis-Auguste Boileau and son of Louis-Charles Boileau , Louis-Hippolyte studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Gaston Redon...

, Jacques Carlu

Jacques Carlu

Jacques Carlu was a French architect and designer, working mostly in Art Deco style, active in France, Canada, and in the United States....

and Léon Azéma. Like the old palais, the palais de Chaillot features two wings shaped to form a wide arc: indeed, these wings were built on the foundations of those of the former building. However, unlike the old palais, the wings are independent buildings and there is no central element to connect them: instead, a wide esplanade leaves an open view from the place du Trocadéro to the Eiffel Tower and beyond.
The buildings are decorated with quotations by Paul Valéry

Paul Valéry

Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...

, and sculptural groups at the attic level by Raymond Delamarre

Raymond Delamarre

Raymond Delamarre was a French sculptor and medalist.Delamarre fought in World War I and was awarded the Croix de guerre, then was educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Jules-Felix Coutan...

, Carlo Sarrabezolles and Alfred Bottiau. The eight gilded figures on the terrace of the Rights of Man are attributed to the sculptors Alexandre Descatoire

Alexandre Descatoire

Alexandre Descatoire was a French sculptor.Descatoire was born in Douai and was a pupil of André-Louis-Adolphe Laoust. Educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Descatoire was runner up for the Prix de Rome of 1902....

, Marcel Gimond

Marcel Gimond

Marcel Gimond was a French sculptor born in the Ardèche region of France.Gimond first studied at the Beaux-Arts Academy in Lyon and was the student in turn of both Aristide Maillol and Auguste Rodin. Gimond was an influential Professor at the Paris Beaux -Arts until 1960...

, Jean Paris dit Pryas, Paul Cornet, Lucien Brasseur

Lucien Brasseur

Lucien Alcide Constant Brasseur was a French sculptor.Brasseur was born in Saultain in the Nord region and worked in Paris. He attended the École des Beaux Arts, and took the Prix de Rome for sculpture in 1905....

, Robert Couturier, Paul Niclausse

Paul Niclausse

Paul Niclausse was a French sculptor, most famous for his art deco medals cast in bronze.He was awarded the Legion of Honor. In Paris, he taught at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs and was also a professor at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.-External...

, and Félix-Alexandre Desruelles

Félix-Alexandre Desruelles

Félix-Alexandre Desruelles was a French sculptor who was born in Valenciennes in 1865 and died in La Fléche in 1943. He was a member of the Institut et l’Académie des Beaux-Arts.-The war memorial at Arras:...

.

The buildings now house a number of museums:

the Musée national de la Marine
Musée national de la Marine
The Musée national de la Marine is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort , Toulon and Saint-Tropez...

(naval museum) and the Musée de l'Homme
Musée de l'Homme
The Musée de l'Homme was created in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. It is the descendant of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro, founded in 1878...

(ethnology) in the southern (Passy) wing,
the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
The Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine is an architecture museum located in the Palais de Chaillot at 1, Place du Trocadéro, Paris, France. It is open daily except Tuesday; an admission fee is charged....

, including the Musée national des Monuments Français
Musée national des Monuments Français
The Musée national des Monuments Français is a museum of French monuments located in the Palais de Chaillot, 1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, Paris, France. It now forms part of the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, and is open daily except Tuesday...

, in the eastern (Paris) wing, from which one also enters the Théâtre national de Chaillot
Théâtre national de Chaillot
The Théâtre national de Chaillot is a theatre located in the Palais de Chaillot at 1, place du Trocadero, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Close by the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadéro Gardens—the Théâtre de Chaillot is among the largest concert halls in Paris. It has long been synonymous with...

, a theater below the esplanade.

It was on the front terrace of the palace that Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

was pictured during his short tour of the vanquished city in 1940, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. This became an iconic image of the Second World War.

It is in the Palais de Chaillot that the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...

on December 10, 1948. This event is now commemorated by a stone, and the esplanade is known as the esplanade des droits de l'homme ("esplanade of human rights"). The Palais de Chaillot was also the initial headquarters of NATO, while the "Palais de l'OTAN" (now Université Paris Dauphine) was being built.

Jardins du Trocadéro

The Jardins du Trocadéro occupy the open space bounded to the northwest by the wings of the Palais de Chaillot and to the southeast by the Seine and the Pont d'Iéna

Pont d'Iéna

Pont d'Iéna is a bridge spanning the River Seine in Paris. It links the Eiffel Tower on the Left Bank to the district of Trocadéro on the Right Bank.-History:...

. The present garden has an area of 93,930 m2, and was created for the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)

Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)

The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne was held from May 25 to November 25, 1937 in Paris, France...

, on the design of architect Roger-Henri Expert

Roger-Henri Expert

Roger-Henri Expert was a French architect.- Life :The son of a merchant, Expert first studied painting at the École des beaux-arts in Bordeaux, then from 1906 attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Gaston Redon and Gustave Umbdenstock. In 1912 he won the second Prix de...

. The entire site was formerly the garden of the old Palais du Trocadéro, laid out by Jean-Charles Alphand

Jean-Charles Alphand

Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, born in 1817 and died in 1891, interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery , was a French Engineer of the Corps of Bridges and Roads...

Others

Five avenues originate in the Trocadéro: the avenue Henri-Martin which links the Trocadéro with the porte de la Muette and passes in front of the lycée Janson de Sailly
Lycée Janson de Sailly
Lycée Janson de Sailly is a lycée located in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris, France. It is generally considered as one of the most prestigious lycées in Paris...

(Janson de Sailly secondary school); the avenue Paul Doumer
Paul Doumer
Joseph Athanase Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination.-Biography:...

which also approaches the Muette; the avenue d'Eylau, which goes to the Mexico Plaza; the avenue Kléber, which goes to the place de l'Etoile
Place de l'Étoile
The Place Charles de Gaulle, , historically known as the Place de l'Étoile , is a large road junction in Paris, France, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues including the Champs-Élysées which continues to the east. It was renamed in 1970 following the death of General and President Charles...

; and the avenue du Président Wilson which goes to the Pont de l'Alma and the Seine. There is a big municipal library near the Trocadéro's square. The high retaining walls of the Trocadero cemetery were constructed by the French industrialist, François Coignet

François Coignet

François Coignet was a French industrialist of the nineteenth century. He was a pioneer in the development of structural prefabricated and reinforced concrete. Coignet was the first to use iron-reinforced concrete as a technique for constructing building structures.- Biography :Coignet, along with...

External links

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