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1802. Bonaparte, who was then First Consul, decided to have a theatre built on rue des Fossés Saint-Victor, on the very spot where, in the 13th century, a fortification wall stood, known in the manuals as "the enclosure of Philip Augustus." The "Théâtre Latin" [Latin Theatre]-which it was called-was inaugurated in 1803. During the Empire and Restoration periods, its artistic fortune experienced several setbacks, but after 1830, it became one of the meccas of Parisian nightlife.
It was not one of those Right-Bank cafés-concerts ("caf-concs"), where "light-hearted songs prevailed," but a fashionable establishment frequented by a heterogeneous clientele among whom artists of every ilk rubbed elbows with the middle class, intellectuals, students, workers, merchants, and those aristocrats willing to associate with riff-raff.
It was the world of "Illusions perdues" [lost Illusions] of Honoré de Balzac who was himself a loyal client of the Latin Theatre. Writers, poets, journalists, politicians and "literary" fauna, in particular, haunted the main room in the basement, which they nicknamed "the Literary Watering Hole."
1870. During the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck besieged Paris.
A fire destroyed the Théâtre Latin. For fifteen years, its charred ruins testified to the unfortunate events that had befallen the Nation.
1887. Paris was preparing for the "Exposition universelle" [World Fair] of 1889. Under no circumstances could those ruins be permitted to remain just five hundred meters away from Notre-Dame! Gustave Eiffel, whose construction of the Eiffel Tower had already begun, was assigned the task of rebuilding the new theatre.
Eiffel, 55 years old at the time, fell in love with the theatre site and its history. He discovered the outstanding quality of its foundations and decided to use them to support a structure with an elegant metallic reinforcement design.
2 January 1889… The new theatre was inaugurated under its new name : Paradis Latin. It was an immediate triumph and performed to sell out crowds. Musicals and ballets were produced there, which though very popular for their era, have been lost in time.
But the crowning consecration for the Paradis Latin was when of Yvette Guilbert, (the great performer of the Moulin Rouge immortalised by Toulouse-Lautrec) chose the Paradis Latin as the location for her solo performance of the World Fair of 1889. She would later become the first International French Star. At the same time as a part of the programme, the Paradis troupe presented their adaptation of a libertine tale written by… Machiavelli, "La Mandragore".
At the end of century, Montmartre would become the most fashionable area of Paris, and The Paradis Latin would suffer fromthe geographical relocation of the centre of Parisian nightlife. As a result the Paradis Latin would have many faces during the years that followed until it closed its doors in the 1930's.
1973. A real estate developer, Jean Kriegel, bid for the building which stood at 28 and 28A, rue du Cardinal Lemoine. He wanted to restore the old building and transform it into apartments.
Jean Kriegel began, logically enough, by taking an inventory of the premises. To his great surprise, he made one discovery after another.
The first was… eighteen thousand test tubes and petri-dishes left over from the preceding activity and forgotten by the most recent owner.
Then, when the plaster walls and false ceilings were destroyed, Eiffel's metallic structure appeared, along with poster fragments and the remains of the former decor. On the second floor, workers uncovered an astonishing cathedral complete with gilding, columns, framework and capitals.
But the most amazing discovery was still to come: a superb dome painted to glorify pantomime, operetta, ballet and "excentricities."Charmed by the magic of the place, Jean Kriegel decided to devote this theatre to the celebration of Paris, which should have always been its raison d'être.
1973-1976. The theatre was restored according to Eiffel's plans-720
seats; ceiling height, 17 meters; state-of-the-art equipment: 300
projectors, kilometers of electric cables, 20,000 lights and 70 Murano
mouth-blown glass chandeliers.
1977. The theatre's artistic creation, direction and production
were entrusted to Jean-Marie Rivière. On 14 November 1977,
he presented "Paris Paradis," a poetic burlesque show produced
with the aid of his accomplices, Pierre Simonini and Frédéric Botton.
It was a triumph.
This event marked the revival of Paradis Latin.