Boulogne Forest Bois de Boulogne

This 865 hectare/2,135 acre park Bois de Boulogne, crisscrossed by footpaths and bridle-paths but also traversed by broad motor roads, lies on the western boundary of Paris, between the Boulevard Périphérique on the east and the Seine on the west. It takes its name from the old pilgrimage church of Notre-Dame de Boulogne-le- Petit, built in the 14th C by pilgrims returning from a pilgrimage to Notre-Dame de Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Boulogne Forest Map

Important Information:

Disability Access: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.

Transit: Metro: Sablons, Porte Maillot, Porte Dauphine, Porte d'Auteuil; Buses: 32, 43, 5 2, 63, 73, 244 PC.

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In the 15th C a small settlement called Boulogne grew up on the site, and the name was subsequently applied also to the wood of holm oaks which surrounded it. For long a royal hunting ground and also the haunt of bandits and other undesirables, it was surrounded in the 16th C, in the reign of Henri II, by a wall with eight gates. Louis XIV's minister Colbert, on the king's orders, laid it out as a park with paths converging in the form of a star and threw it open to the public. During the Regency (early 18th C) and again from the mid 19th C onwards the park became the resort of the fashionable world - in the latter case mainly because of the opening of racecourses at Longchamp and Auteuil and the new landscaping of the park by Baron Haussmann, Prefect of the Seine, after Napoleon III presented it to the city.

Nowadays the Bois de Boulogne is a popular recreation area, drawing large numbers of people to walk in the park, picnic on the grass, row on the lake or simply do nothing. During the day the park is frequented by joggers, cyclists, riders, dog-owners and the indefatigable boule players. After dark there is a different public with different interests, and prostitution is well established here.

Related Attractions

Musée Marmottan Monet

The Musée Marmottan Monet, situated close to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, is a Mecca for lovers of the Impressionists. The nucleus of the museum was the collection assembled in the latter part of the 19th century by the industrialist Jules Marmottan and his son Paul. In 1934 they bequeathed their villa and art collection to the Institut de France. The value of the collection was later greatly enhanced by donations from Donop de Monchy in 1948 and Monet's son Michel in 1966.

Among the museum's principal treasures are a number of masterpieces by Monet, including the famous "Impression, Soleil Levant" (1872) which gave Impressionism its name, "Train dans la Neige" (1875), "Pont de l'Europe" (1877), "Parlement" 1905) and studies for his "Nymphéas" ("Water-lilies"). There are also pictures by Renoir, Sisley and Pissarro which belonged to Monet. Other notable items are Italian panel paintings (14th-15th C.), tapestries from Burgundy (16th C.), Late Gothic sculpture from Germany, wood figures from Mechlin (15th- 16th C.) and rooms in Empire style with gouaches by Carmontelle, busts by Bosio and views of châteaux by Carle Vernet.

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Bagatelle Château

The 18th C Bagatelle Château is a former country house which was restored most recently in 1987. It is surrounded by lovely gardens.

Highlight:	Bagatelle Gardens

Boulogne - Hippodrome d'Auteuil

On the west side of the Lac Supérieur in Paris' Bois de Boulogne is the Auteuil racecourse, opened in 1850. The main stand is on the side of a low hill, the Butte Mortemart, formed from soil excavated from the two lakes. It has steeplechasing only.

Boulogne - Hippodrome de Longchamp

Longchamp racecourse in Paris' Bois de Boulogne, opened in 1857, is one of the largest of the kind in the world, with room for 10,000 spectators.

Albert-Kahn Gardens

This park in Paris contains several different gardens including the Albert-Kahn gardens.

Albert Kahn (1860-1940) supervised, on his property in Boulogne, the creation of landscapes (Japanese, English) which reflected the world of his dream. Moreover, he created several foundations, like the Archive of the Planet, which shared a same objective : to bring nations closer together, to bring about a deeper understanding of other realities throughout the world. From 1909 to 1931, he sent photographers and cameramen in 50 countries to take pictures of daily life which promote tolerance. The museum preserve 72 000 autochromes photographics plates, in true colours (the first collection in the world) and 180 000 meters of films.

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Boulogne - Lac Inférieur et Lac Supérieur

The Lac Inférieur (Lower Lake) in Paris' Bois de Boulogne is over 1,000m/1,100yds long and 1.5m/5ft deep. Visitors who are not content merely to walk round the lake can take a ferry from the west side to the two islands, on one of which is a cafe-restaurant, or can hire a rowing boat at the north end of the lake. There is also a footpath round the Lac Supérieur (Upper Lake), which is 400m/400yds long and, like the Lower Lake, is man made.

Boulogne - Pré Catelan

In the Pré Catelan (named after a troubadour, Armand Catelan, who was murdered here around 1300), a small enclosed garden in the center of the Bois de Boulogne, are two small châteaux and a majestic 200-year-old copper beech. The Jardin Shakespeare, laid out in 1953, contains specimens of all the plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays.

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Jardin d'Acclimatation

The Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris' Bois de Boulogne, now a children's amusement park, was originally a zoo (in which some episodes of Proust's "A la Recherche du Temps Perdu" are set). Among the attractions for young visitors are animal enclosures, donkey rides, a miniature railroad, a traffic training circuit, a karting track, a skateboarding rink, fair booths, a children's museum and a theater.

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