{{Short description|Square in Paris, France}} {{Infobox street | name = Place Pigalle | marker_image = | alternate_name = | image = Place Pigalle, Paris 9e.jpg | image_size = 250px | image_map = | caption = | map_type = | latitude = | longitude = | map_size = | map_caption = | map_alt = | other_name = | former_names = {{lang|fr|Place de la Barrière-Montmartre|italic=no}} | part_of = | namesake = [[Jean-Baptiste Pigalle]] | type = | owner = | maint = | length = | length_m = | length_ft = | length_km = | length_mi = | length_ref = | length_notes = | width = | area = | steps = | postal_code = 7440 | addresses = | location = | metro = Pigalle | coordinates = {{coord|48|52|55.8|N|2|20|14.2|E|scale:100000_region:FR|display=inline;title}} | junction = | main_contractor = | commissioning_date = | construction_start_date = | completion_date = | inauguration_date = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | north = | east = | south = | west = | designer = | known_for = }}
The '''Place Pigalle''' is a public square located in the [[9th arrondissement of Paris]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bonjourparis.com/history/une-petite-histoire-place-pigalle-paris-seattle/|title=Here and There: Une Petite Histoire of Place Pigalle in Paris... and Seattle|last=Aran|first=Sue|date=2017-11-15|website=Bonjour Paris|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref> between the [[Boulevard de Clichy]] and the [[Boulevard de Rochechouart]], near the [[Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris|Sacré-Cœur]], at the foot of the [[Montmartre]] hill.
The square takes its name from the sculptor [[Jean-Baptiste Pigalle]] (1714–1785), and it is the best-known square of the ''[[Quartier Pigalle]]'', the Pigalle district.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://travel.sygic.com/en/poi/pigalle-square-poi:58985|title=Pigalle Square in 9th arrondissement of Paris, Paris, France|last=s.r.o|first=Tripomatic|website=travel.sygic.com|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/paris/en/things-to-do/montmartre-pigalle-area-guide|title=Montmartre and Pigalle area guide|website=Time Out Paris|date=17 November 2015 |language=en|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref> This site is served by lines [[Paris Métro Line 2|2]] and [[Paris Métro Line 12|12]] at [[Pigalle (Paris Metro)|Pigalle]] metro station.
==History== [[File:Eugène Galien-Laloue Paris Place Pigalle 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Place Pigalle (c. 1910), painted by [[Eugène Galien-Laloue]]]]
In 1826, Mr. Brack{{who|date=September 2024}} was authorized to form on his land and on land that the city conceded to him by way of exchange, in accordance with the deliberation of the ''Conseil municipal'' of 1 June 1826, a street 12 meters wide, from the Rue Laval (now the Rue Victor-Massé) to the Porte Montmartre (Montmartre Gate), and a semi-circular square in front of this gate.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54064199|title=Recueil des lettres patentes, ordonnances royales, décrets et arrêtés préfectoraux concernant les voies publiques |date=1886–1902|language=EN}}</ref> In 1864, this square, named the ''Place de la Barrière-Montmartre'', was renamed the ''Place Pigalle''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54064199|title=Recueil des lettres patentes, ordonnances royales, décrets et arrêtés préfectoraux concernant les voies publiques |date=1886–1902|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lazare|first1=Félix|authorlink2=Louis Lazare|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k200946t|title=Dictionnaire administratif et historique des rues de Paris et de ses monuments / par Félix Lazare,... et Louis Lazare,...|last2=Lazare|first2=Louis|date=1844–1849|language=fr}}</ref>
On 18 March 1871, General [[Jacques Leon Clément-Thomas|Clément Thomas]], having learned that General [[Claude Lecomte]] had been seized by the insurgents during the [[Paris Commune]] uprising, set out to find him. Dressed in disguise as a civilian, he arrived at around 5 p.m. on the Place Pigalle. When one of the rebels recognized him by his big white beard, he was taken to the Rue des Rosiers and executed.
By 1900 the square and the surrounding streets were a neighbourhood of painters' studios and literary cafés of which the most renowned was the ''[[Nouvelle Athènes]]'' (New Athens).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://francefootsteps.com/tag/art-studios-in-paris/|title=art studios in Paris|website=Footsteps of the Artists|language=en|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref>
==Remarkable buildings and memorable places== [[File:Café de le Nouvelle Athènes. (before 1900).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Café de la Nouvelle Athènes]] at the Place Pigalle, before 1900]]
* No 1: former location of the Café L'Abbaye de Thélème, which exhibited painters. * No 3, at the corner with the Avenue Frochot: former location of the [[Le Rat Mort|Café du Rat Mort]], which was open at the end of the 19th century all night. * No 5: location of the workshop of Gabriel Dauchot (1927–2005), painter from the [[School of Paris]]. * No 9: former location of the [[La Nouvelle Athènes|Café de la Nouvelle Athènes]]. Photographer Paul Sescau (1858–1926) opened his second studio above in 1896 to be as close as possible to his artistic clientele. The Café de la Nouvelle Athènes became Le Sphynx in the 1920s and 1940s, a strip tease place, then the [[New Moon (nightclub)|New Moon]], which was a lesbian cabaret in the 1960s and 1970s, then in the 1980s and 1990s welcomed rock groups. The entire original building burnt down in 2004 and was demolished.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baxter |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_RFMBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |title=The Golden Moments of Paris: A Guide to the Paris of the 1920s |date=2014-03-01 |publisher=Museyon |isbn=978-1-938450-45-7 |pages=127 |language=en}}</ref> This place was the property for over thirty years of the Polish-born French striptease artist [[Hélène Martini]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/le-reveil-culturel/david-dufresne-en-120-ans-le-new-moon-a-eu-enormement-de-vies-qg-des-impressionnistes-club-de-jazz-0|title=David Dufresne : "En 120 ans, le "New Moon" a eu énormément de vies : QG des impressionnistes, club de jazz, cabaret lesbien…"|website=France Culture|date=January 2018 |language=fr|access-date=2020-04-13}}</ref> * No 11: the Folies Pigalle, a former Italian theater, then cabaret and finally cinema hall, which became a nightclub from 1991.
==In popular culture== * The Place Pigalle inspired a celebrated song by [[Georges Ulmer]]: ''"Un p'tit jet d'eau, une station de métro, entourée de bistrots, Pigalle ... ." '' ("A little spritz of water, a subway station, surrounded by bistros, Pigalle ... .") * "Place Pigalle" is also the title of a song written by Alex Alstone and [[Maurice Chevalier]]. It was recorded by Chevalier with orchestra ([[Jacques Hélian]], conductor) in Paris on 9 April 1946.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jpc4DwAAQBAJ&q=Place+Pigalle%2C+song%2C+Alex+Alstone&pg=PA371|title=The Ballad of John Latouche: An American Lyricist's Life and Work|last=Pollack|first=Howard|date=2017-10-06|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-045830-0|language=en}}</ref> * [[Figure 8 (album)|''Figure 8'']]—[[Elliott Smith]]'s fifth album and the last he released in his lifetime—was initially titled ''Place Pigalle''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://soflawedanddrunkandperfectstill.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/place-pigalle-was-both-a-song-and-an-original-working-title-of-figure-8/|title=Place Pigalle was both a song and an original working title of Figure 8|last=elliottsmithgallery|date=2017-11-03|website=so flawed and drunk and perfect still|language=en|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref> It is also the name of one of his unreleased [http://louderthanwar.com/almost-introduction-rarities-elliott-smith/ songs], and he had "two or three more songs" about it. * Hungarian pop star Eva Csepregi, of [[Neoton Familia]], mentions the square and its notoriety as a red-light district in her 1987 solo single "Párizsi Lány" ("Paris Girl").
==References== {{Reflist}} Also mentioned in Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," p. 18, LOA edition, 2011 isbn 978-1-59853-098-8. Retrieved 02/12/2021
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[[Category:Squares in Paris|Pigalle]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in the 9th arrondissement of Paris]]