An Unexpected Work of Art

Paris Meridian Medallions
Would you believe that there is some art in Paris that most visitors never see and often walk on unknowingly? Few people are aware of these 135 bronze medallions embedded in the pavement of Paris, which start north in Montmartre and go clear across Paris, where they end at the Cité Universitaire on the edge of the city limits and Parc Montsouris.

You will notice one of them while visiting the Palais Royal; a little bronze circle embedded in the pavement with the name Arago and north and south represented by the letter N and S .You may not know who Arago is and may have read of these medallions in the best selling book, The Da Vinci Code, where you learn that the medallions represented a meridian line that was used by France.

Many countries had their own meridian lines on one time, including France. The French were very advanced in the science of time and the measurement of the earth. French scientist Abbé Jean Picard first measured the length of a degree of longitude and computed from it the size of the earth in 1655. In fact, the metric system was started at this time, the meter being 1 ten-millionth of a meridian quadrant from the North Pole to the equator. The meridian line was used both for navigation and time keeping. France, along with Ireland, adhered to the Paris Meridian for time keeping until 1911 and for navigation until 1914, when it finally converted to the Greenwich Meridian with the rest of the world.

Why is Arago on this medallion? He was a scientist and a statesman who became director of the Paris Observatory where he lived until his death in 1853. There is a monument to him across Arago Boulevard in Place Ile de Sein in the 14th arrondissement but the statue of him was melted down during World War II and never replaced. In 1995 Paris commissioned Dutch conceptual artist Jan Dibbits to create a new memorial. And now you can follow the path of this art through gardens, streets, buildings, courtyards and quais, through the 2nd, 6th, 9th, 10th and 12th arrondissements. As you do so you will notice that practically nothing built in Paris is on any straight north, south, east or west axis, neither streets or buildings. You can find a medallion on one side of a building and have to go blocks out of your way to get to the other side to find yet another medallion. The whole thing can become rather addictive.

Finding a list of the medallions with the address and general location of them gives one the feeling that they would be easy to find but you will soon find that this is not the case. It is helpful to note the direction of north and south on the medallions themselves and follow an imaginary line from one to another. You will discover that a few have either been dug up leaving an empty hole or covered with asphalt in others. People may stop you to ask if they can help you find the lost object you appear to be looking for as you scan the ground looking for these mysterious speres. You will often confuse what you think is a possible medallion for one of the many round gas or plumbling coverings which lie all over the pavements of Paris.
You may have hope of locating all of the medallions in one day and it could be done but you will find that after the first three exhausting hours on the first day that you will want to spread out the time to two or three days. A good place to start is at the locked gates of the observatory garden where Arago once did his research. The observatory itself is built on the line of the Parisioan Meridian with the four facades oriented towards the four points of the compass. You will find the monument to Arago with several medallions from there and ended up in beautiful Parc Montsouris where the marker for the southern edge stands. Going straight north from this you will find four more medallions and discover they are always embedded in cement or asphalt, never dirt or grass. Perhaps the next day you can through the Saint Germain des Pres area, through the Luxembourg gardens (there are six there) and even go into Saint Sulpice church where there is an obelisk on the north/south axis in a corner. The early church officials used to use this to watch the movement of the sun to determine the date of Easter. It has nothing to do with the Meridian Line itself despite what Dan Brown said in his book and, by the way, was never called The Rose Line.

Walk through the Palais Royal then cross the street to the Louvre where not only does a line of medallions run through the courtyard behind the I.M. Pei pyramid, but there is also one inside the Louvre. Go on the other side of the Louvre, find one on the quai, crossed Pont des Arts and find one in front of the Institut de France and then one behind it.

The most northern marker is in Montmartre but can't be seen as it is in a private courtyard. You can walk downhill from here through Montmartre finding medallions all the way to Pigalle where most had been removed at some point leaving either round holes or nothing. The line continues all the way down to Boulevard Haussmann.

It turns out to be a very interesting way to see Paris.You don't go to just one metro stop to see a monument such as the Opéra, but walk across neighborhoods with a new eye, realizing how small Paris can be, how connected all of the neighborhoods are. It turns out to be an adventurous way to explore Paris.
For the location of the medallions visit:
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