The Buttes-Chaumont Park, one of the largest green spaces in Paris with nearly 25 hectares, offers a picturesque setting appreciated for its winding paths and its atmosphere that is both exotic and entertaining. Created in 1860 in what was once a miserable neighborhood, the park hides a buried past, transformed by order of Napoleon III.
Formerly gypsum quarries—used to produce plaster—the lunar landscape of the 19th arrondissement was dominated by the Mont-Chauve hill. This grim area also housed the Montfaucon gibbet, notorious from the time of Saint Louis until 1630. Ironically, Enguerrand de Marigny, who had it installed, was one of the first to be hanged there in 1315.
Later, Montfaucon became home to the Poudrette factory of Paris, which produced fertilizer from human waste. Hundreds of cubic meters of excrement were dried in the sun, thus eliminating a common practice in the streets of Paris. However, the unbearable smell spread as far as Belleville and across eastern Paris on windy days.
In addition to this organic stench, the Montfaucon area had, since the 17th century, housed a vast rendering site where dead horses, dogs, and cats were processed. Different parts were used for various industries, from horsehair for upholstery to fat for soap making. These practices contributed to an atmosphere of death, yet the pools of blood had become natural breeding grounds for maggots highly valued by fishermen.
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