A SETTING OF "GAULS"

"GO TO THAT HOTBED OF POVERTY, DRUGS AND CRIME? NEVER!" 

Such prejudice ignores a French context that is traditional and creative. 

Window of café L'Embuscade, 9 rue Léon

    "Here, even Gauls are received as emperors"*

*A reference to "Asterix," amiably ironic pop culture set in the time of Gauls and Romans.

Photos of artisans, most of them Gauls, exhibited on park railings 

In brief 

• Precious books

• Monotheisms as their founders intended

• A shoemaker transmits his craft 

• A school for knitwear design and techniques

• Odd socks' comeback

• Framing for neighbors and museums

• An immigrant nourishes the ultimate French tradition 

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Next,

Precious books

PRECIOUS BOOKS

BEHIND A CHURCH, A BOOKSTORE THAT RESEMBLES A LIBRARY 

Rue Saint-Bruno and Saint-Bernard-de-la-Chapelle church

The space is vast, luminous and serene, filled with volumes of other times:

 "Pop-up" books for children:

After you leave, to to the church at the end of the street.

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Next:

Monotheisms as their founders intended

MONOTHEISMS AS THEIR FOUNDERS INTENDED

 

SAINT-BERNARD-LA-CHAPELLE IS ONE OF TWO CHURCHES IN FRANCE THAT ACTIVLY AIDS MIGRANTS.

The Islam one perceives from the street is as generous.  

 

Square Saint-Bernard, at the end of the street with the bookstore (rue Saint-Bruno)

• A 19th-century painting stresses charity, and a recent work shows a multi-ethnic crowd surrounding a Black Jesus:

For the 17th-century tradition behind the work on the left, please click.

• The church became world-known on August 23, 1996, when the police broke down the door with axes and dragged 300 African migrants seeking regularization into the street, pregnant women included. 

La Croix / zoom

• In 2016, an exhibit commemorated the drama: "Some are without papers, others without humanity" says the panel below:

• An installation honored those migrants:

     Zsaza Mercury

By Ange et Dam, neighborhood sculptresses

Behind each figure, a memory: a piece of cloth, a spoon, a plastic sandal. In front of it an ex-voto, witness to its courage.

# # #

Street Islam 

• Friday street prayer showed impressive discipline. The City finally granted it an interior space (in 2012).

Seen from a restaurant on rue Myrha

• Messages on the walls stress generosity, welcome to immigrants and the demand for dignity and justice.  

During Ramadan 

Free daily distribution of meals to take away 

(don't forget your recipient),

from June 6 at 18:30 to July 30 2016

"In the Paris region, lodging solutions do not follow 87% of expulsions"

"Hate engenders hate."

# # #

• The restaurant of the Institute for the Cultures of Islam follows the Muslim command of charity...

A few steps from Barbès

"The Open Table.

Distribution of meals,

7/7 to noon and at 5 pm."

 And an associated café shows the same ethic as the paintings in the church:

At rue de la Goutte d'Or

# # #

A tolerant Islam: 

• A store for Muslim books and wares and a wine shop face each other.

Librairie Bazar

17 rue Myrha

What looks like teapots are for ablutions before prayer. 

La Cave de Don Dondine

16 rue Myrha

• A sign for Joan of Arc

"Joan of Arc, When God Saved France"

*    *    *

Next,

A shoemaker transmits his craft

A SHOEMAKER TRANSMITS HIS CRAFT

MINUTES AWAY FROM THE YOUTHS WHO CLUSTER AT BARBÈS,

TEACHING A VANISHING SKILL 

The red sign is that of the workshop. The young men that cluster at the métro are behind the building at the end of the street.

Atelier Maurice Arnoult

8 bis rue des Gardes

It is the only place in France that teaches making women's shoes by hand :

     

# # #

Maurice Arnault (1898-2010) was a rare French shoemaker in Belleville, when Jewish and Armenian immigrants had made it France's center for hand-made shoes.

(Toward 1920 - 1970)

-- Biography: I, Marcel Arnoult, the Belleville shoemaker by Michel Bloit, 2004 (in French)

• He helped several Jews escape the Nazis and is one of The Righteous among the Nations honored at Yad Vashem:

The man in the background was a child whom Maurice Arnault saved from a raid: A brief video tells that story (in French). For his life at that time and a story that is as dramatic, please click and scroll down.

• High-flying customers walked up the shabby workshop stairs, where he made or repaired shows without charging people who could not pay. 

Circle of study of the deportation and Shoah (in French) / Laurence Krongelb

# # #

Young people without school degrees and legal immigrants

may participate in a three-day initiation. 

Passing it leads to 624 hours of training

for employment in the leather-working trades.

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Next,

A school for knitwear design and techniques 

A SCHOOL FOR KNITWEAR DESIGN AND TECHNIQUES

HERE TOO A CRAFT IS TRANSMITTED

L'Ecole de la Maille de Paris

51 rue des Poissonniers

https://www.lecoledelamailledeparis.fr/

"The first year is dedicated to arts education, to enable students to acquire the basics of design, color and volume, and an introduction to the knitting workshop.

The second year concerns design, pattern training and knitwear techniques. 

The third year cements the previous training with the development of a collection and its presentation during a fashion show before a jury of professionals, responsible for issuing the school's degrees." 

-- web site

 

The first three photos are from the web site.

Lena, co-director, 

examines a sweater with holes to fix.

*    *    *

Next,

Odd socks' comeback

ODD SOCKS' COMEBACK

RECYCLED SOCKS LAUNCHED THE NEIGHBORHOOD'S UPSCALE COMMERCE

(SHOP FOUNDED IN 2008)

Chaussettes orphelines

("Orphaned socks")

2 rue des Gardes

https://chaussettesorphelines.com/

Marcia de Carvalho, Brazil

Web site

It aids the neighborhood...

Samples of trainees' creations

Making caps for the annual fête.

Founder Marcia de Carvalho wears one as she brandishes a giant puppet she invented for the occasion.

And the environment:

Newsletter

Newsletter

If you live in France,

leave old socks and knits at a collection point.

If you live in Paris,

leave them at the boutique and discover a production

 that is as unique as the neighborhood. 

*    *    *

Next,

Framing for neighbors and museums