The way a carousel turns… The story of the carousels in Paris

Who didn't love the carousel as a child? Personally, I loved the carousel the most. Monceau Park (Parc Monceau) I first visited when I was 3 years old, during my first visit to Paris. The carousel was operated by a chubby man and next to it was a stand selling waffles with chocolate or powdered sugar. And so something in the combination of the carousel melody and the sweet smell of the waffles instantly enchanted me. It is very possible that this was the moment when I fell in love with Paris. Since then, I have returned to Parc Monceau countless times and every time I do, I run to check if the stand and the chubby man are still there. Happily, as of 2014, they are still there and this entire complex makes an almost timeless impression, as if it has always been there and always will be there.

I think that even in 200 years, the fat man will still be operating the carousel and eating a waffle with chocolate when no one is looking. Indeed, the feeling is that the carousel has always been there with us in the form of wooden horses spinning on their axis, but how many of you have stopped the whirlwind and asked yourselves, what is its origin?

The carousel dates back to the Crusades.

Surprisingly, the carousel originated in the Middle East during the Middle Ages. At that time, the carousel was a game in which mounted warriors moved in circles on their horses and threw balls at each other. The game was brought to Europe during the Crusades. Since the game was a kind of mock battle between knights, they decided to call it garosello (in Italian) or carosella (in Spanish), which means “little battle,” and thus the name we know today was created. In the 17th century, the French replaced the balls with spears and the game underwent a change, with the players now moving in a circle on their horses while trying to insert their spear into a ring.

One of the places where the game was played in Paris was the square near the palace. The Louvre, which is still called the Carousel Square (Place du Carrousel). During French Revolution The square briefly became the seat of the guillotine, and the balls of the ancient game were replaced by the heads of the nobles... Napoleon decided to build here in 1806 the Arc de Triomphe His first and least famous, which remained in the shadow of his younger, larger and more famous brother. However, since the Tuileries Palace burned down in 1871 and was destroyed, this triumphal arch has regained its glory and is a kind of ceremonial entrance gate to the Tuileries Gardens.

The favorite toy of dress chasers

However, let's get back to the carousel itself as we know it today. During the 18th century, the carousel turned from a sport into a kind of game in which people riding real horses spun in circles. During the 19th century, technological developments led to the carousel we know today, in which the live horses were replaced by wooden horses, which spun on a platform that was initially powered by a steam engine. One person who really loved carousels was Napoleon I's dress-chasing nephew, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who is known to us as Napoleon III. The main reason why he loved the carousel so much was the fact that he could peek under the women's dresses as they sat on the horses and spun for them.

That is why he ordered the construction of a magnificent carousel in his palace in Compiègne, located north of Paris, to which he would bring women, who would then spin around in his bed. One of these women was the Marquise Irene Taisney-Chatenoy, who dreamed of becoming the emperor's mistress. After quite a few maneuvers, Irene managed to catch Napoleon III's attention and he invited her for a walk in the garden, complimented her on her beauty and finally kissed her (Irene later complained that she had to spend long minutes removing the wax, which Napoleon used to make his mustache solid, from her face).

Finally, Napoleon put her on the carousel and watched her spin for her own (and his) pleasure. That evening, Irene's husband was sent as a courtesy to Paris to see if Napoleon III was there (oh, did I forget to tell you that she was married?). Irene, on the other hand, was invited to sleep in the Blue Room in the Emperor's palace and await his arrival.

Irene got into bed and waited for several hours until Napoleon entered through a secret door, did what he did and after a few minutes disappeared. Irene remained in the room and already began to see herself as the new mistress in a chain of great royal mistresses such as Madame de Maintenon or Diana of Poitiers (Diane de Poitiers). However, to her surprise, the next day the Emperor ignored her and a few days later she discovered that he already had a new lover. Irene followed them and saw that the Emperor also took her for a walk in the gardens of Compiègne, and finally put her on the carousel (on the exact same seat).

At that moment, Irene had a brilliant idea for revenge. When no one noticed, she went and loosened some of the screws that held the seat. Now all that was left to do was wait, and indeed the next evening she saw Napoleon and his mistress (the exact same one from the previous evening) strolling through the gardens of Compiègne. She followed them and saw Napoleon seat his new mistress on the carousel. Indeed, the revenge worked like a Swiss watch and the new mistress flew off the carousel after a few seconds, fell headlong to the ground and broke several of her teeth. Everyone laughed (including Napoleon III) and Napoleon's new mistress ended her short career because, as Irene wrote in her memoirs, "You can recover from illness, but you die from ridicule."

The way the carousel turns….

And we'll end with a brief burst of Israeli nostalgia, with the television show "Carousel," which was popular in the late 70s and early 80s. Enjoy!