Prison Saint-Lazare

The enclos Saint-Lazare on Turgot's 1739 map of Paris

The Prison Saint-Lazare was a prison in the Xe arrondissement of Paris, France.

History

Originally a leper hospital founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis at the boundary of the marshy area of former Seine river bank in the 12th century, it was ceded on 7 January 1632 to Vincent de Paul and the congrégation de la Mission. At this stage it became a place of detention for people who had become an embarrassment to their families: an enclosure for "black sheep" who had brought disgrace to their relatives.

The maison Saint-Lazare was situated in the enclos Saint-Lazare, the largest enclosure in Paris until the end of the 18th century, between the rue de Paradis to its south, the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis to its east, the boulevard de la Chapelle to its north and the rue Sainte Anne to its west (today the rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière). Its site is now marked by the church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.

The building was converted to a prison at the time of the Reign of Terror in 1793, then a women's prison (1896), its land having been seized and re-allotted little by little since the Revolution. It was largely demolished in 1935, with the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris installing itself in the remaining buildings, where they remained until recently. Only the prison infirmary and chapel (built by Louis-Pierre Baltard in 1834) remain of the prison, with the latter to be seen in the square Alban-Satragne (107, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis) in the 10e arrondissement. The surviving remains of the Saint-Lazare prison were inscribed on the supplementary inventory of historic monuments in November 2005.^[1]

A song by Aristide Bruant entitled À Saint-Lazare is named after the prison.

Famous prisoners

Pre-Revolution

• François-Joseph Bélanger, architect
• André Chénier, poet
• Hubert Robert, painter
• Marquis de Sade, writer and libertine
• Joseph-Benoît Suvée, painter
• Charles-Louis Trudaine, conseiller au Parlement
• Jean-Antoine Roucher, receveur des gabelles, poet, portrayed several times by Hubert Robert
• Thomas de Treil de Pardailhan, former baron and député for Paris in the Legislative Assembly

Post-Revolution

• Louise Michel, communard
• Mata Hari, spy

Sources

• Jacques Hillairet, Gibets, Piloris et Cachots du vieux Paris, éditions de Minuit, Paris, 1956 (ISBN 2707312754).
• (French) Appel des dernières victimes de la terreur à la prison Saint-Lazare à Paris les 7-9 Thermidor an II by Charles-Louis Muller (1815–1892), painting held at the Musée national du château de Versailles.

Notes

1. ^ ARRETE N° 2005 - 2347 portant inscription au titre des monuments historiques de l'ensemble des bâtiments dus à l'architecte Louis-Pierre Baltard : les façades et toitures de l'ancienne infirmerie, le sol de la cour et la totalité de la chapelle de l'ancienne prison, devenue Hôpital Saint-Lazare, sis 1 à 5 square Alban-Satragne et 107 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis à PARIS (l0ème) ; situés sur la parcelle n° 48 d'une contenance de 1 ha 03 a 12 ca, figurant au cadastre section AP et appartenant à la Ville de Paris.
   CONSIDERANT que les bâtiments subsistants de l'ancienne prison Saint-Lazare constituent l'un des rares exemples parisiens d'architecture néo-classique construits par Louis-Pierre Baltard et qu'à ce titre ils présentent un intérêt d'art et d'histoire suffisant pour en rendre désirable la préservation et les classer au titre de monuments historiques.

Coordinates: 48°52′32″N 2°21′16″E / 48.87556°N 2.35444°E / 48.87556; 2.35444