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Origin and history

Monceau Park, originally called insanity of Chartres, was created between 1769 and 1773 by the Duke of Chartres on a land of one hectare in "Musseau". Between 1773 and 1779 Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle, the duke's festival administrator, designed a 20-hectare "land of illusions", decorated with exotic factories: Swiss farm, Dutch mills, pagoda, pyramid, feudal ruins and Roman temple. This Anglo-Chinese garden, inspired by the parks of Bagatelle or Ermenonville, was completed by an artificial river and a pool for naumachia (ship fighting). The place was celebrated by Abbé Delille and Luc-Vincent Thiéry as a landscape art model.

Between 1781 and 1793 Thomas Blaikie transformed the park into an English garden, expanding the greenhouses and rearranging the alleys. In 1787 Claude Nicolas Ledoux erected the rotunda of the Chartres barrier, the pavilion for granting the wall of the General Farmers. During the Revolution, the park became well national and in 1797 saw the first parachute jump by André-Jacques Garnerin. Returned to Orléans in 1802, he was partially demolished and reduced before being expropriated in 1860 for the drilling of Boulevard Malesherbes.

Under the Second Empire, Adolphe Alphand and Gabriel Davioud renovated the remaining 8.6 hectares on a public promenade, inaugurated in 1861 by Napoleon III. The Pereire brothers scattered the adjacent lands, where private hotels were built (Rothschild, Cernuschi). The park preserved historical factories (naumachia, arcade of the City Hall burned in 1871) and enriched with statues of artists (Chopin, Musset). Established in 1958, it now houses a bicentennial plane tree and symbolizes the alliance between heritage and Parisian life.

Monceau Park inspired artists such as Monet (6 canvases), Braque, or writers such as Zola (La Curée) and Sollers (Le Parc). He was also the director of films (Don't tell anyone) and songs (Michel Berger, Yves Duteil). Its history reflects the urban transformations of Paris, from Enlightenment to modernity, while preserving its poetic and eclectic character.

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