The Site Before 1897
The Parc des Princes was used as a place of relaxation, hunting and popular promenade by the king and the royal princes during the 18th century. During the first half of the 19th century, the Parisian bourgeoisie adopted these pleasures once reserved for the nobility. Purely natural until 1855, the site knew its first urban planning with the drilling of a road to make way for the future district of the Parc des Princes. It seems that the name "Parc des Princes" made its appearance at this time by taking the terms Route des Princes and Porte des Princes, in use since the 18th century. Le Parc was not part of Paris until the annexation of neighboring municipalities desired by Napoleon III in 1860, who straddled the territories of Paris and Boulogne-Billancourt. A station for scientific study called "Physiological Station of the Parc des Princes" was installed on the site in 1881, close to the existing Stade Roland Garros. Étienne-Jules Marey conducted research on Chronophotography. The institute was destroyed in 1979 to allow the extension of the Roland Garros stadium. Thus, the Parc des Princes was a vast space that was not limited to the few hectares of the current stadium.
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Famous quotes containing the word site:
“I am not aware that any man has ever built on the spot which I occupy. Deliver me from a city built on the site of a more ancient city, whose materials are ruins, whose gardens cemeteries. The soil is blanched and accursed there, and before that becomes necessary the earth itself will be destroyed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)