Les champs-élysées: fields for a very long time...
In the 18th century, the Champs-Élysées resembled more a country promenade than an urban avenue. They are located outside Paris. It's not necessarily a well-frequented place, there are little guinguettes, quite a few prostitutes too, and at night it's not necessarily a good place to stroll. In the 18th century, we discovered the forerunner of amusement parks: the Colosseum. It was a place where people went to hear shows, walk through fake ruins, watch fireworks and even take part in water shows. Disneyland didn't invent anything... In short, a fairly uncrowded place that ends in a mound of sorts. And this place inspires architects.
The 18th century plan of the Champs-Elysées / Photo selected by monsieurdefrance.com : By Roussel, Mbzt - Plan by Roussel, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=164137845
The giant elephant on the Champs-Élysées
The Ribard de Chamoust project with interior layout / Photo chosen by Monsieur de France : By Original uploaded by Nunh-huh on English Wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1649991
In 1758, architect Charles Ribart de Chamoust came up with an audacious project: a monumental elephant, which you could enter through its belly. It has to be said that the era was passionate about distant lands. We love China, Turkey... And an elephant is emblematic of these dream lands. So an elephant, but not just a sculpture. Inside, several salons welcome visitors, and at the very top, where the mahout would sit, a room would allow one to enjoy a stunning view of Paris. The horn would even spit water from a gigantic fountain. Something a little crazy. But the project was rejected at Versailles and quickly abandoned.
Napoleon revives the idea of a giant elephant at the Bastille
Le projet de Alavoine / Photo selected by monsieurdefrance.com : By Author Unknown - Paris, Prisma einer Stadt, Zürich 1978, Domaine public, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5286498
Nearly 50 years later, Napoleon Bonaparte revived the idea. This time, he's not aiming for the Champs-Élysées - he's already begun his Arc de Triomphe project - but the Place de la Bastille, freed from its former fortress razed after July 14, 1789. The project is entrusted to Cellerier, then to Jean-Jacques Alavoine, who imagines a 24-meter-high elephant. A life-size plaster model is cast so Parisians can visualize the future monument. A museum dedicated to Napoleon was to be installed inside.
A ghost monument admired for 30 years
With the fall of the Empire, needless to say, a Napoleon museum was not to be counted on, so construction was halted. The plaster model remains in place on the Place de la Bastille, however, and becomes a tourist curiosity for three decades. The idea briefly returns of moving it to the barrière du Trône, but will eventually be abandoned. Badly damaged by time, the plaster elephant became a rat's nest and was destroyed in 1846;
Today, no one talks about building a monumental elephant in Paris, but in the age of Jeff Koons' giant lobsters, who knows if the idea won't be reborn one day?
