La Villette
When the Central Markets
moved out of Paris, they left three gaps behind. The fruit and vegetable market
has been replaced by the Forum des Halles;
the Southern Cattle Market is now the Parc Georges
Brassens; but the biggest of all, the Abattoirs of La Villette, has seen the
most spectacular transformation.
The principal features of the old abattoirs were the
two market halls – one for sheep, one for cattle;
vast cast-iron and glass
buildings which, unlike those at Les Halles, have been preserved.
The Cattle Hall encloses a
space about the size of four football pitches. It has been used by Unions for
mass meetings for some years,
and continues to serve that purpose; but the sides of
the building have been split into a host of small exhibition halls, studios,
offices, etc.,
including a photographers’ gallery. The open spaces of the area, where the
animals used to be kept between market and slaughter,
are now a park; on a little
hill stands the DRAGON, a vast wood and metal sculpture you can climb all over,
with the longest slide in Paris for its tongue.
Where the animals used to become meat are new
buildings; an inflatable concert-hall (6,000 seats) for pop concerts and a
multi-screen cinema among others;
but the biggest and best of all is the CITÉ DES
SCIENCES ET DE L’INDUSTRIE, a really enormous Science and Technology Museum
that’s not about the
history of Science, but about science NOW. The Aerospace section is particularly
spectacular.
Lots of
hands-on demonstrations here, audio-visuals in plenty. Even those who don’t
speak French can get a lot out of this place.
The same goes for LE GÉODE, the simplest building in
Paris; a hundred-foot stainless steel sphere.
Very shiny, though heaven knows how they keep it
polished. Inside it is one of those cinemas where the film is projected all
round the spectator,
who cringes in his reclining seat and really gets into the centre of the action.