Montsouris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Parc Montsouris is a city park of Paris, in the 14th arrondissement, in the southern portion of the city proper. The park is bounded to the south by the "Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris" (CIUP), to the north and east by relatively affluent residential flats, and to the west by the residential corridor surrounding the avenue Générale Leclerc. It is considered by some Parisians to be one of the finest parks in the city, surrounded by charming and quiet neighborhoods. The water reservoir in the northeast portion of the park now covers a historical entrance to the Paris catacombs, which were primarily excavated as a quarry for building stones.
The CIUP is itself a much larger residential park across boulevard Jourdan originally built for the purposes of housing refugees following world war I containing many fine architectural buildings financed by various international governments (now affiliated with the Université de Paris and other higher education institutions and research institutes in Paris), and is often confused as being part of the park itself. The CIUP is bounded to the south by the "peripherique," a busy highway that circles the border of Paris.
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[edit] Cité Universitaire Stop on RER B
Many commuters on the RER B (a main north-south train running from Charles de Gaulle airport to the southern suburbs) are familiar with the stop "Cité Universitaire" on the line. This stop is in Parc Montsouris itself, and with its open air top and overhanging trees from the park is among the most peaceful and attractive stops along any RER line in the system (within Paris, these are mostly underground with connections to the métro). This is also a busy stop, boarding and deboarding young international students and scholars staying at the CIUP who can be overheard speaking dozens of foreign languages.
[edit] A Hill?
The name implies that Montsouris is a hill; though the park itself only occupies a modest gradient, or slope, with increasing altitude toward the south that yields a nice view of Paris to the north. There is no indication that this is a true hill as it is not clearly higher in altitude than areas to the south, but is rather a terrace-like feature of the landscape.
[edit] External links
- Parc Montsouris - current photographs and of the years 1900
- Paris, Paris book website
[edit] Bibliography
- Downie, David (2005), Paris, Paris, Fort Bragg: Transatlantic Press, ISBN 0976925109: "Montsouris and Buttes-Chaumont: the art of the faux", pp. 34-41
