Parc de Bercy and the former Château de Bercy

Parc de Bercy was our picnic destination this summer before touring the Musée des Arts Forains. This park in the 12^th arrondissement is one of Paris’ newer parks but the area itself has a super interesting history. But first, a little clarification.

This area called Parc de Bercy is not the same park land that was part of the Château de Bercy. The château was located beyond the peripherique (ring road), between the Seine River and the Bois de Vincennes in Charenton-le-Pont as seen here. Château de Bercy was constructed in 1658 for Charles-Henri I de Malon de Bercy. This château was sold and demolished in 1861.

Parc de Bercy is divided into three areas, a large expanse of green lawn, the 9 parterres which are themed gardens and finally the romantic gardens (Jardin Romantique) which has water features. We enjoyed the cool shade  in the August canicule (heat wave) while we explored.

Section 1: The Green Lawns of Parc de Bercy

Descending the bus on Quai d’Austerlitz, we followed the tree lined footpath along the Seine to enter the park via the pedestrian bridge shown below.

Simone de Beauvoir foot bridge

The view is a great reason to enter the park via the Pont Simone de Beauvoir foot bridge. The bridge, Pont de Bercy, in the distance connects the left bank and the right banks of Paris. The metro runs above ground across this bridge.

These statues, Les Enfants du Monde, greeted us just as we entered the park after crossing over Pont Simone de Beauvoir foot bridge. Aren’t these Children of the World interesting! Created from broken bits of asphalt, pavement, manhole covers, etc,  they symbolize the entrance into the 21^st century and the respect for children’s rights.

Enfants du Monde

Close-up images of all the children are on this website.

The green lawn was definitely showing the stress of the summer heat and no rain.

The lawn area viewed from above before we descended the steps down into the park looks a bit parched. (Note to the city of Paris: having two locked/non-working elevators here is extremely unhelpful to parent with push-chairs  and handicapped persons.)

Unlike many of the parks in Paris, you can walk, run, play, picnic on the grass here! This part is accessible 24 hours a day – how many times this trip did we find parks locked after 8 pm even though the sun didn’t set until nearly 10pm!

Section 2: The 9 Themed Gardens of Parc de Bercy

This section has 9 themed gardens to include gardens such as a kitchen garden, rosary, orchard, etc.

I loved this old building/house.  Even though it is not in the Jardin Romantique section, it is definitely romantic looking! The Pavillion des Gardes was the tax collection building in its former life and  now houses a gardening education center, aptly named Maison du Jardinage (House of Gardening). We didn’t get to go inside as the hours conflicted with our tickets to the Carrousel Museum.

Pavillon des Gardes

Here is the charming gate sign for the entrance to the potager  (kitchen garden) behind the Maison du Jardinage.

These lovely vineyards as well as the cobbled streets with rails for transporting carts loaded with wine barrels throughout the park serve as a remembrance of this area’s history.

Palm trees line this beautiful cobbled walkway (note more rail tracks). The trees spend the winter in the orangery, safe from the elements.

Section 3: Jardin Romantique

The Jardin Romantique consists of water features, a canal and ponds. L

This circular pond has an 18th century wine merchant’s house. Here is a close up of the ducks and turtle near the center of the image.

The path around the circular pond was peaceful and cool even though the day was one of the hottest this summer.

More views of the ponds. Look closely (as it blends in with the foliage) and you will see the Eiffel Tower.

Etienne Martin created a series of abstract sculptures with Demeure X being one of them. Set in a lily pond the statue resides on the side of the park closest to Bercy Village. With all the dense foliage it was a surprise to discover that those are water lilies surrounding the statue.

La Demeure X

We had a fun time feeding the ducks here on the canal. Off to the left side of the canal, in the shade of the trees, office workers enjoyed their lunch.

Embankment Wall

There is a 14m wide 8 m high embankment that separates Parc de Bercy from the street and serves to isolate the park from all the noise of city traffic. Public conveniences are also located in this embankment. We also found a remnant wall here that I struggled to find any information on. It is, I discovered, the remnant of a follie, dating to the 18th century. A follie is defined as “a small luxury but discreet house where wealthy men receive mistresses and courtesans”. More detailed information about this follie can be found at Paris la douce

We walked along a beautiful tree-lined path on top of this embankment to access the park. At the time, we didn’t even know that was what we were walking on!

Street-level walkway

At the far eastern side of the park is Bercy Village, filled with shops and loads of restaurants with outdoor terraces if you haven’t brought a picnic.

Park map showing the three sections

Parc de Bercy History

The current Parc de Bercy is located inside the ring road. It is just west along the Seine from the older non-existent Château de Bercy. At one time this park area was outside the city of Paris’ tax boundaries. This means it was the entry point for taxable items. Taxable items such as alcohol payed a duty tax to be enter into the city.

As some place was needed to store the wine outside of the taxable city, large wine warehouses, such as the one below that houses the Musée des Arts Forains , were created. The first wine warehouse was initiated during the time of Louis XIV.

Throughout  Parc de Bercy we saw the system of rails created to allow horse-drawn carts to haul barrels of wine to and from the port on the river.  The annexation of the Bercy area to the city of Paris came at the time of the Haussmann reorganization. Now located inside the city, taxation applied to wine stored here. As technology progressed, wine was stored at the vineyards, so this warehousing system became redundant in the 1970s.

Rail tracks in front of one of the old wine warehouses that houses the Musée des Arts Forains.

The city of Paris re-developed this area into a new quartier.  Part of this new area became Parc de Bercy. It retained as many of the trees, cobblestone paths and rails as possible hitch gives it a very charming atmosphere.

Reference:

Ayers, Andrew. 2014.  The Architecture of Paris: An Architectural Guide, Stuttgart/London