The Place Pinel () is a square and street in the
13th arrondissement of Paris
The 13th arrondissement of Paris (''XIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le treizième'' ("the thirteenth").
The arrondissement is ...
.
History
Created about 1823 as the Place de la Barrière-d’Ivry, as it was located just inside the Barrière-d’Ivry, a gate in the
Wall of the Farmers-General
A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, Shelter in place, shelter, or soundproofing; or serves a decorative purpose. There are various types of walls, including border barriers between countr ...
, where taxes were collected on goods brought into the city. (Because the Barrière d’Ivry was sometimes called the Barrière des Deux Moulins, the Place was sometimes called the Place des Deux Moulins.) In 1867, the Place was renamed for the psychiatrist
Philippe Pinel
Philippe Pinel (; 20 April 1745 – 25 October 1826) was a French physician, precursor of psychiatry and incidentally a zoologist. He was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of ps ...
(1745 – 1826), "benefactor of strangers", because of its proximity to the
Hôpital de la Salpêtrière where he worked.
[Baribant, et al, ''Guide Historique des Rues de Paris'' (Paris: Hachette, 1965) p 360.]
In 2012, the square was completely redeveloped by the
Direction de la Voirie et des Déplacements de la Mairie de Paris, the City of Paris transport section. At this time, the central circle was recovered in
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
paving. Its design represents a
pine cone
A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, : strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scal ...
, represented with
logarithm
In mathematics, the logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of to base is , because is to the rd power: . More generally, if , the ...
ic spirals based on
Fibonacci number
In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...
s. These spirals emphasise the proportions of the square's
rotunda
A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...
.
See also
*
Squares in Paris
Paris is known as the ''City of Light''. Part of the credit for this ''sobriquet'' can be ascribed to long-standing city ordinances that have restricted the height of buildings in the central city. A more modest skyline, interrupted only by the ...
References
Pinel
Squares in Paris
1867 establishments in France
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