Visit the new Jardin du 13 novembre at Place Saint-Gervais. With your back to the Hôtel de Ville de Paris and facing one of the capital’s most beautiful classical churches, between the Elm of Justice and the Olive of Peace, the pathways of this new garden form an unreal plan, bringing together fragments of six neighborhoods: the Bataclan, the Carillon, the Bonne Bière, the Belle Équipe, the Comptoir Voltaire, and the Stade de France. Remember, it was ten years ago.
The City of Paris and the Pavillon de l’Arsenal commissioned AHA to design the book Jardin du 13 novembre 2015. Over the ten years between the cut flowers of temporary memorials and the planted trees of the Jardin du 13 novembre, the victim associations 13onze15 and Life for Paris, supported by the City of Paris, along with sociologists, historians, and the project team led by Wagon Landscaping with Gilles Clément, worked together to create a memorial space of an entirely new kind.
Situated in the lineage of non-figurative memorials, like those of Pingusson or Arretche nearby, it uniquely evokes the living, the fleeting, and the birds, signifying life’s continuation despite an indelible impact. Three sections of images trace the steps leading to the garden—the grieving city, the design and creation of the stone-and-green garden, and the garden finally realized—interspersed with texts offering multiple perspectives on this collective project.
“Le Jardin du 13 novembre 2015”
Directed by Jean-Marc Dreyfus and Simon Texier, with contributions from Isabelle Backouche, Simon Texier, Gérôme Truc, Sarah Gensbruger, Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Mathieu Gontier, Madeleine Accarain, Gilles Clément, Sonia Leclercq et Jeain-Aimé Shu, Emmanuel Labard, Jean Roncier, Myriam Laval
Concept and production: AHA (Annabelle Hagmann, Charles Darrousez)
Graphics: Jérémy Glâtre
208 pages, ISBN 978-2-35487-083-6
Available at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal bookstore and the City of Paris shop.
