Museum Marmottan Mona It is located on the western edge of Ranelagh Garden. On my way to the museum, I always stop briefly by the statue of Le Fontaine, one of the garden's installations, to take another look at it and admire the work that so vividly illustrates the fable of the crow and the fox. On the way back, when time is not rushing and my mind is full of the experiences of the visit, there is more time to relax in the pleasant garden and admire all its sculptures.
Ranelagh Garden originally belonged to the park of Moat Castle, where it bordered the hunting lodge that was expanded into the municipal estate that became the Marmottan Monet Museum. The history of the castle, park and museum is detailed in the article Visit to the Marmottan Monet Museum.
Le Ranelagh Garden Ranelagh garden, romantic atmosphere of the Belle Epoque
Three avenues, named after three artists: Prud'hon, Raphaël, Ingres, cross the vast, triangular-shaped Ranelagh Garden, which seems to be made up of several gardens. Many embassies and international institutions are located in the neighborhood, some of which face directly onto the garden. Many diplomats therefore frequent the place.
Runnels Garden Triangle. Source: Wikimedia. In the public domain
Around the garden, streets and alleys where you can observe bursting architectural creativity, magnificent urban mansions and picturesque houses. On the Avenue des Chalets, literally: “Chalet Avenue”, a private street but accessible on an organized tour, you can see ten picturesque villas, each with two floors and a pointed roof. The villas were built for bourgeois from the 19th and 20th centuries who desired an original residence.
The entrance to the avenue. Source: Wikimedia. In the public domain.
Villa de Beauséjour, literally: “the alley of pleasant stay,” also a private street, was home to famous people such as the garden designer, Adolphe Alphand, and the singers Michel Berger and France Gal. But the attraction is the Russian houses that came from the World’s Fair in 1867. The houses were sold and moved to the place, which is labeled a historic site.
One of the destroyed houses. Source: Wikimedia. In the public domain
The garden is mostly planted with trees, some common and some rare. The latter are remarkable for their extreme age, about two hundred years old, and their height, about thirty meters. In spring, the blossoms of the chestnut trees and the forest crown are spectacular.
You can sit on a bench or on the lawns themselves (most of them are free), absorb the impressions of your visit to the museum, dream (which is what I usually do), immerse yourself in a book or surf on your mobile. There are also fitness and table tennis facilities for adults, bike paths and playgrounds for children at the three corners of the triangle. There is also a place to play petanque.
Starting in March, concerts of all kinds are held in the garden, under the roof of a blue kiosk. The center of attraction for children is the famous Ranelagh Garden puppet theater, which opens in early spring.
Another unique attraction is Wooden horse giddy-up, in an old style, powered by arm strength for a hundred and fifty years (time stands still, in a way, in the Ranelagh Gardens), the likes of which can only be found in the Luxembourg Gardens. Each child is given a wooden stick with which to try to catch rings. When all the rings are caught, the carousel stops and the rotation ends. The child who caught the most rings is crowned the winner.
The game of rings on a carousel originated in military amusement competitions of bands of cavalry, armed with swords, in ancient times. Beginning in the days of Louis XIV They played with it a lot at the royal court, and Marie Antoinette had a colorful carousel in the English Garden, at the Petit Trianon in Versailles, where mythological animals took the place of horses.
There are also rides on pony or donkey backs or, more comfortably, in a yellow carriage. Ranelagh Garden is a piece of paradise for children and adults.
Why Runelage: The Original London Model
The garden is named after Lord Runnelagh, the founder of Runnelagh Gardens in Chelsea, London, which, even after they passed into other hands, continued to be named after their first owner. Lord Runnelagh remains famous for his gardens. Richard Jones, known as Lord Runnelagh, was an Irish earl (1641-1712), who made a career in the Parliament of his country and then in the English Parliament, from which he was expelled in 1703 after pocketing a considerable sum of money from the state treasury.
Lord Ranelagh was known for his debauchery and his passion for both women and men. He also loved to build buildings and gardens, both for his own private and public use. He participated in the founding and management of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a place of refuge for British military veterans, which is still in operation today: four hundred retirees who still wear the Red Army uniform live there. The Lord also built his private home, Ranelagh House, and his Ranelagh Gardens, near the Royal Hospital.
Lord Ranelagh's house, demolished in 1805, no longer exists, but the gardens remain and are now part of the military nursing home. At the end of May, these gardens become a popular destination when the Chelsea Flower Show is held. People from all over the world flock to the feast of sight, smell and taste (there are even edible plants). For security reasons, the number of visitors is limited to just one hundred and fifty-seven thousand.
The lawns of the nursing home come to life in a variety of colors and shapes, and the wonderful gardens become a magical land. The exhibition features not only rare flower varieties but also garden designs taken from different parts of the world and from different periods in its history.
And there is also a Jewish point in the story of the reincarnations of the Ranelagh Gardens: one of their owners and designers, after Lord Ranelagh, was Solomon Rieti, a member of the Italian Jewish banking family Rieti, named after the city of Rieti in central Italy.
The distinguished family, whose lineage can be traced back to the 14th century, produced not only philanthropic bankers but also sages, rabbis, artists, physicians, jurists and other public figures. The most famous of these was Benjamin Disraeli, who was the son of Maria, daughter of Rebecca Ratey (1742-1798), niece of Solomon Ratey.
In 1741, the Ranelagh Gardens were purchased by a corporation that turned them into a public place where dances and masquerades were held for a fee. The centerpiece of the complex was a circular, domed Rococo building, heated by a fireplace in winter, equipped with an organ, where high-quality concerts were held.
The famous Venetian landscape painter Canaletto, who stayed in London for about ten years starting in 1746, painted the gardens and the interior of the concert hall twice in 1754.
Canaletto, the Round Hall of Ranelagh Gardens. Source: Wikimedia. In the public domain
Ranelagh Gardens were enriched with a Chinese pavilion on an ornamental canal and with walking paths. All of London, nobles and commoners, flocked to dance under the open sky, to listen to concerts under the dome of the Round Hall (in 1765, the nine-year-old Mozart played there), to have fun, to find partners.
Masquerade balls, which had previously been the preserve of aristocrats, were opened up to other sections of the population. Ranelagh Gardens, which were given the name Ranelagh Pleasure Ground, became famous throughout the world. It is worth noting here that the project to transform the private gardens into a paid public entertainment complex was not led by Lord Ranelagh, but by the corporation that bought the place.
The right is therefore attributed to his friends, among whom were the director of the London Theatre Royal – Drury Lane, the Irish statesman and playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, as well as an extravagant and lavish statesman, architect and garden designer named Sir Thomas Robinson.
The latter, who was well-involved in high society, was appointed director of entertainment. His social connections contributed greatly to the success of the venture. He even bought himself a house near the gardens and would invite hundreds of guests to sumptuous breakfasts and balls. This is what the complex looked like in the 18th century, from up close and from a distance, according to engravings by Thomas Bowles:
The French Monsieur Morrison copies the English model in miniature
The dizzying success of the London amusement park whetted the appetite of Sieur Morissan, a painter, interior designer and fireworks manufacturer in the service of the king. After receiving a license, in 1774 he opened “Le petit Ranelagh”, a Parisian imitation of its big brother in London, designed by the developer himself: a walled garden intended for dancing, on land that belonged to the park of Chateau de la Moat, paid entrance ticket, cafe and restaurant.
The opening ball on July 25, 1774, ended with fireworks, like all the dance evenings that followed. The chroniclers of Paris From that period, they briefly recount an unpleasant experience that clouded Monsieur Morrison's spirit. The license he received was arbitrarily revoked by an authority superior to that which granted it to him. They do not detail how the problem was resolved. This would not be the only stumbling block in his path.
I see him bowing to the hand of the wicked, the slanderous, the god-shaming history, surrendering and raising his head in a vice. Here he is, with the outbreak of the revolution, forced to destroy his life's work, here he is rebuilding it with the rise of the Directory, here he is begging the unit of Russian soldiers, who raided his gardens with the surrender of Paris, not to cut down his trees to light a fire for heating. He simply sent them to the nearby forest of Boulogne...
In 1783, the format of managing the dance business changed. A corporation of one hundred people, called “the subscribers,” set aside an annual sum of money to rent the premises, and each of them had the right to sell tickets to their acquaintances.
All the city's nobles and their elegant women flocked to the garden. The hedonistic Count of Dartois, the younger brother of Louis XVI, was one of its regular guests. The young count, who would later become Charles X, used to drag his sister-in-law along with him on his many outings, Marie AntoinetteOnce he even appeared in “Little Ranelagh” accompanied, no less, by the Queen herself. Urban legend or solid truth?
In any case, the royal character of the place cannot be denied. The ballroom was entered through a vestibule decorated with Corinthian columns and covered with a dome, on the left of which was a cloakroom for placing swords, walking sticks and hats, and on the right was Madame Morrison in her well-stocked shop selling soft drinks of all kinds. The ballroom itself, supported by Ionic columns, was surrounded by a gallery, decorated with sofas and mirrors, slightly elevated, thus ensuring a good view of the dancers. Daylight penetrated abundantly through the twenty-two windows, fixed in the ceiling, and in the evening the hall was illuminated by lamps and chandeliers.
Several cafes were available to visitors in the garden. The most popular of these, the café adjoining the dance hall, was run by the owner, Monsieur Morrison. With the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, Monsieur Morrison and his partners went bankrupt – the popular balls did not bring in enough money, but they reopened their business with pomp and circumstance when the Directory came to power, six years later.
With the entry into Paris of the European allies, who had united against Napoleon and defeated him, on March 30, 1814, Russian, Cossack and Ukrainian soldiers took over the place of the revelers. The dance hall was converted into a stable and then a hospital. On June 3, the allies left Paris. In 1818, a hurricane destroyed the buildings of the dance complex. After they were renovated, the garden reopened as a public dance club. Around 1830, the place enjoyed some success, although it had lost its former glory.
In 1848, this mission finally ended. Baron Haussmann's huge historic project to expand and renovate Paris drove the final nail into the coffin of the "Little Ranelagh", the life project of the forgotten Monsieur Morrissin from the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
The sounds of violins and the rustling of skirts have died down, but a beautiful park designed by the engineer Adolphe Alphand, a specialist in gardens, at the request of Baron Haussmann, was inaugurated on the site in 1860. And today, on fine days, the sounds of music can once again be heard during concerts held under the dome of the Blue Kiosk. Classical music or heavy rock, famous or unknown bands – there are no restrictions.
The sculptures in Ranelagh Garden
The installation Salute to Jean de la Fontaine by Alphonse Dumillatre
In 1889, a huge installation by Alphonse Dumilâtre was displayed at the Universal Exhibition, which included not only the crow and the fox, but also a lion, a snake, a cat, sheaves of grain, two doves and larks. Alongside all of these, two winged allegories stand out: Glory and Love. 3610 kg of bronze!
The masterpiece, which had grown to a height of seven meters, was moved to Ranelagh Garden in 1891 but was sent to be melted down in 1942. Thus ended the story of the work that had been produced thanks to the great efforts of the Public Committee for the Propagation of Le Fontaine's Work. The president of the Executive Committee was Solly Prudhomme, future Nobel Prize laureate (1901), a poet who occupied the Academy's seat number 24, a little less than two hundred years after his colleague Le Fontaine.
The vice president was Dr. Henri Marmottan, then mayor of the 16th arrondissement, brother of Jules, owner of the municipal mansion that is now a museum. Marmot MonetThe support committee included: Victor Hugo and the then Minister of Education, Armand Fallières. Seven years were needed to raise funds through crowdfunding and hosting concerts and exhibitions.
The city of Paris completed the missing part. Today it can only be seen in photographs, but on the original plinth, by Franz Jourdain (the architect who designed the department store La Samaritan), which remains in the garden, you can still read, carved in stone, the inscription: This monument, erected thanks to public donations with the assistance of the state and the city of Paris, was inaugurated on July 26, 1891.
It is interesting to note that the successful chocolate manufacturer of that period, Guérin-Boutron (1775-1942), who included series of images from the history and culture of France, highly sought after by collectors and still offered for sale today, also included the statue of Domilather:
Another bronze statue was sent to be melted down in 1942 and is no longer there. It is “Fleeting Love” (L'Amour fugitif) from 1877, by Ernest Damé:
The installation Salute to Jean de la Fontaine by Charles Correa
Charles Correia was born in 1930 in Portugal but came to France with his parents at the age of one and became very successful as a sculptor. He was one of the few French sculptors of that period who made a living from their art. In 1988, while visiting his homeland, he was killed in an accident.
The place of the huge, figure-laden installation by the sculptor Jean Dumillatre, which was sent to be melted down by the Vichy government during the Nazi occupation, is now taken by a simpler installation, designed by Correa. The statue, like its bronze predecessor, which was installed in the Ranelagh Garden in 1984, depicts Jean de la Fontaine accompanied only by the crow and the fox.
The fox, who is on the prowl, looks up with lust at the round piece of cheese in the crow's mouth. The crow, bent down towards the fox, listens with pleasure to the flattering words that come out of his mouth. In a moment, the arrogant crow will drop the cheese from his mouth, a victim of the fox's cunning, who will know how to pluck the right string to trap his victim.
The piece of cheese is a kind of passing coin that the raven reluctantly paid to the fox. And as if that were not enough, Jean de la Fontaine puts the meaning of the fable in the fox's own mouth. The lesson is worth the price, the fox scornfully hurls at the embarrassed raven, adding humiliation upon humiliation.
The statue is designed as a three-story staircase, which best expresses the power relations between the characters involved. The one who controls the dome and pulls the strings is the author of the fable himself, Jean de la Fontaine, a master craftsman of many tricks. He is the one who chose from the stock of content made available to him by his predecessor Aesop the fables that he wished to process as he wished, he is the one who manipulated his characters and put things in their mouths, he is the one who, in the choice of words, in the design of the artistic means and the general structure, maneuvered his readers with many tricks, overt and covert, towards understanding the fable and also evaded, in the process, the royal censorship. Below him stand the two contrasting figures: the crow above, on the base of the statue (in the fable, as is well known, he enjoys the advantage of height from his position on a tree), and the fox below.
The crow's position of power, both in terms of space and ownership of the coveted object, is reversed from one extreme to the other, without him saying a single word. From being controlled, he becomes the controlled, without any physical violence, due to the cleverness and power of speech of his opponent, who has managed to turn inferiority into superiority.
Other interesting sculptures
Another sensual, calmer sculpture, made of marble, much less disturbing than “Ephemeral Love,” which we saw earlier, is called “Méditation,” and was created in 1882 under the chisel of the famous sculptor Tony Noël:
The marble sculpture “Caïn,” 1871, by Michel-Joseph Caillé, brings back the dimension of menace by depicting Cain trying to hide, as criminals do:
A marble relief by Georges Bareau, documenting Victor Hugo's vision while writing the great collection of poems "La Légende des siècles," continues to tell the story of humanity. The relief is called "The Poet's Vision" (La Vision du poète). On the left, the poet, whose face is like Hugo's, on the right, the wall he saw before him, with a complex and gloomy mosaic of various and strange figures rising from the abyss to the sky.
Georges Barrot, The Poet's Vision. Source: Wikimedia. In the public domain
This marble relief created by the sculptor Barrot in 1902 illustrates the words of Hugo himself, in the introduction called “The Vision from which this book was born” (La Vision d'où est sorti ce livre), 1877:
I had a dream: the wall of centuries was revealed to me.
(...)
Chaos and chaos of creatures, rising from the abyss to the sky!
J'eus un rêve: le mur des siècles m'apparut.
(...)
Chaos d'êtres, montant du gouffre au firmament!
The relief was created, as mentioned, by sculptor Georges Barrot at the request of the City of Paris on the occasion of the centenary of Hugo's birth. The work, which had been in the city's warehouses for a considerable time, was only placed in the Ranelagh Garden in 1985.
And just as the poet conjures up images from the story of humanity, on the border between myth and history, so the fisherman brings up in his net the decapitated head of Orpheus, musician and poet, the greatest of all in the world of Greek mythology. This scene is immortalized in the 1882 marble statue by Léon-Eugène Longepied, called “The Fisherman Bringing Up the Head of Orpheus in His Net” (Pêcheur ramenant dans ses filets la tête d'Orphée):
Like Cain who murdered his brother out of jealousy, so too did the priestesses of Bacchus murder Orpheus out of jealousy of his absolute love for Eurydice. In their murderous lust, the drunken priestesses of Bacchus also killed their husbands and, in their fury, tore the corpse of Orpheus, who had rejected their advances, tore it to pieces and threw his head into the Ebro River (now called the Ebros).
The singer's severed head, accompanied by the magical lyre given to him by the god Apollo, was swept away by the river currents and reached the shores of the island of Lesbos. As a consolation, there is a legend that tells us that the song of the nightingale emanates forever from the tomb of Orpheus, which was buried in a cave, and from the statues that represent his image. The artist's eternal soul continues to play and sing even after his death, renewing nature and awakening love. Death cannot do good to music.
Want to live within a fifteen-minute walk of Ranelagh Park?
You can rent a spacious apartment on Avenue Paul Doumer where Zvi Hazanov (the Francophile) lived in April 2025. This is a fully equipped and luxurious apartment from which you can go out and discover the charms of the 16th arrondissement. For information about it, go to Link to this.
Alternatively, you can rent another spacious apartment from the same owners, on Nicolo Street, where the author of the article, Dr. Orna Lieberman, lived in April 2023. From the apartment, within a few minutes' walk, you are at Ranelagh Garden and the Marmottan Monet Museum. In this link Orna gives recommendations about the environment.
Did you like the article? Want to read more from Orna Lieberman?
- Adolf Alphan, the engineer who designed the Ranelagh Garden, also designed the Montholon Garden, whose turbulent story you will read in the article. Square Montholon – a charming Parisian corner with a fascinating story
- You are invited to read the second part of this article, which offers you a rare trip along a railroad that has been turned into a planted path, Paris – Green Tours in the 16th Arrondissement
- You can read about the relationship between France and England in the article The Migdal Nell Affair: Acts of Adultery in the Royal Court
Today, about four years after the article was published, Zvi Hazanov brought it back to the attention of the site's readers. I received some very gratifying responses.
This is what Ronit Gruman wrote: Perfect beef! On the wings of my imagination, I traveled to magical places and also passed through the time tunnel and met endless characters...all thanks to Orna's wonderful article!
Thanks!
This is how I answered her: Thank you very much, Ronit, I asked my boss to republish this article also because it connects to your articles on the ties between France and Japan, between France and Egypt. My article adds a little bit of the connection between France and England to them.
This is what Ruthie Shimoni wrote: What a pleasure to read
"In the Morning" – Written by the Creator
By Orna Lieberman.
The detail and precision, the depth and wording, the personal tone that flutters between the lines... indeed, "high-level" escapism in the full sense of the word.
This is how I answered her: Thank you very much, Ruthie, what a pleasure it is for me too to read in “Al Bokar” a detailed and precise assessment of this article that I wrote not yesterday, but I remember that I worked on it quite a bit. And here is my reward… In addition to the pleasure of researching and writing, I now remember how much fun I had at the time in the act.
And so Maya Shofel wrote: Pleasure and education in one article
It's a pleasure to read Orna's article. The photographs of the statues add beauty.
Preparation and interesting historical background for the trip to the source in Chelsea……
Thank you very much, dear Yehudit. You made me very happy. I wish you a safe trip and a pleasant stay!
The 1902 monument to Victor Hugo, “The Poet’s Vision,” is reminiscent of the 1907 monument to Alfred de Mises, “The Poet’s Dream,” located in the 8th arrondissement, behind the Grand Palais, in the Jardin de la Nouvelle-France.
The artist is a contemporary of Georges Barrot, the one who sculpted the monument to Hugo, and indeed the style is very similar. The artist who saluted the mass was called Alphonse Emmanuel de Moncel de Perrin, and he was born the same year that Barrot was born and died the year before. The connection I immediately made between the two monuments is due to Joel Tamenlis, on whose Facebook I saw a photo of “The Poet’s Dream,” along with a short post.
This Saturday, June 7, Zvi Hazanov is republishing this article about Ranelagh Garden. Here is the opening I wrote for it on Facebook:
Last week we visited the Marmottan Monet Museum and on Saturday we will stroll through Ranelagh Gardens, on the western edge of which it is located. A journey through time will take us to the 18th century, to London, to Ranelagh Gardens, where a complex for dances and masquerades was established, which also included a concert hall with a round dome. All of London, its nobles and commoners, flocked to dance under the open sky, to listen to concerts under the dome of the Round Hall (in 1765, the nine-year-old Mozart played there), to have fun, to find partners.
A French fireworks manufacturer named Monsieur Morrison dreamed of entertaining Parisians in the same way and opened the “Petite Ranelagh,” an elegant, fenced-in dance hall, cafes, and restaurants. Marie Antoinette is said to have been a patron of the place.
The name “Ranlag Garden” remained, but Morrison’s life project was conquered by the wheels of history. In 1860, a beautiful park was inaugurated in its place, designed by Adolf Alphan, Baron Haussmann’s right-hand man. I will tell you about the attractions for children and adults, about its no less picturesque surroundings, and I will not omit the beautiful statues that dot it. And to the visible statues that stand in the garden, you will also add the hidden statues, which once existed and are no longer there because they were melted down by order of Vichy, but with the help of photographs and other surprising reconstructions, they have not disappeared completely, and you can still admire their charms.
Jojo Sarel
Thanks for the thoughtful article. Although I know the garden and the sculptures in it, it is interesting to read the stories behind them.
Orna Lieberman
Thank you. What is hidden is as interesting as what is visible.
Daphne Scaggio Samo
Dear Orna ❤️Thank you very much, especially for your informative article. Everything was new to me. You are welcome ❤️
Orna Lieberman
Thank you very much, Dafna, for reading and responding. It was new to me too until I researched.
Zvi Chazanov
I know I'm biased but this is a super interesting article.
Daphne Scaggio Samo
I agree with you. Orna is a talented and interesting writer ♥️
Thank you very much as always. Her articles are extremely interesting and informative and reveal a lot that we didn't know.
Thank you very much. I too discover, while researching, a lot that I didn't know and am happy to share with those who are interested, like you.