Discover Arras: in the footsteps of Robespierre
The ARBR (Amis de Robespierre pour le Bicentenaire de la Révolution) created this brilliant bilingual brochure which enables you to discover the traces of Robespierre in his native town, Arras. They devised a special route for that and numbered the sights, which can be seen on the map above.
Opposite the station of Arras (1), almost immediately cross one of the boulevards which. since the end of the XIX century, has replaced the ramparts surrounding the town. Take the main road (rue Gambetta).This is the site of the Ronville fortified gate which Robespierre passed through at the end of April 1789 on his way to Versailles [picture 1]. A few steps further on. opposite the hôtel des postes, turn towards rue Ronville (2), and stop at number 12, the home of the Carraut family to see where the young Maximilien and Augustin Robespierre spent their childhood [picture 2]. Orphans from July 1764, they were taken in by their maternal grandparents, who were brewers by trade.
At the end of rue Ronville, turn left onto rue Émile Legrelle which leads to the Palais de Justice, (just before the lights) which extends, along rue Delapsorne to the Place des États (3). This is the site of the old Palais des États, which was once the seat of the Artois provincial “government" [picture 3]. The Artesians only became subjects of the King of France from 1659, after centuries of rule by Bomgogne and then Spain. they had kept their Estates and some of their privileges. Robespierre denounced the abuse of these Estates ofArtois in his “Adresse à la nation artésienne” (“Address to the Artesian nation”) which led to his election as deputy in the Estates-General.
From this point you can see the Belfrey (finished for the first time in 1554) and the Town Hall (4) [picture 4].
The bust of Robespierre sculpted by Cladel can be seen in a room on the ground floor [picture 5]. It was given to the town in 1933 by the Société des études robespierristes. Behind the Hôtel de Ville, you can see the Rosati monument [picture 6]. The Rosati (an anagram of Artois), was a society of poets to which Robespierre, who sometimes wrote poems, belonged.
The Hôtel de Ville bears witness to the town’s rich past, famous in the Middle Ages for its tapestries (arrazi) and wall hangings. Opposite, on the cobblestones of the Place des Héros (5), is the site of the Chandelle d'Arras church [picture 7], destroyed in 1791, to which Robespierre owes his unkind nickname “the Candle of Arras”, in contrast to his political opponent Mirabeau, known as ‘the Torch of Provence’. On the left, the Place des Héros leads to the Grand'Place [picture 8] (6). The square’s great size shows the importance of the grain market of Arras, which was the capital of one of the richest agricultural provinces in the kingdom. The festivities of the Fête de la Fédération (The Feast of the Federation) were held in this square in 1790.
Under the arcades of the two squares you will find the entry to the cellars carved into the limestone, sometimes on two levels. They were used as storage for merchandise, or as stables. And underneath these cellars: ‘the Boves’. They were also the only housing for a thousand poor people who worked at making lace, while all around them town houses were being built for the nobility, members of the church and the rich bourgeoisie. The contrast between the opulence of some and the misery of others was great Seeing this great inequality, Robespierre, then a lawyer, devoted his energy to fighting this injustice. In 1789 he made himself spokesman for the grievances of the poorest of ‘corporations’ the cobblers.
From the bottom of the Grand'PIace, on the left, rue Sainte Croix [picture 9] leads past the Administrative Centre to number 14 rue du marché au Filé: (7) the Hôtel Dubois de Fosseux [picture 10], built in 1750, (it later became the Regional Court of Auditors).As with many noble Artesians. the Seigneur de Fosseux owned, alongside his castle in the countryside. a townhouse in Arras where he received members of the Arras Académie royale “Royal Academy” (of which he was President) and the Rosati poets. For both reasons, Robespierre was often the guest of this man, against whom he would later fight fiercely in the elections to the Estates General. Dubois de Fosseux became the first elected mayor of the town, then the first President of the Departmental Assembly in 1790.
Further on, to the right, rue des Trois visages then rue Méaulens (8) lead to the cathedral, once the abbey church for the Saint-Vaast Abbey [pictures 11 & 12]. At the bottom, on the left, take rue des Teinturiers, where Robespierre stayed for some time while a lawyer. Coming back up rue Paul Doumer, on the left you will find Place de la Madeleine (9), which takes its name from the church (which has since disappeared) and the parish where Robespierre was born on 6 May 1758.
Opposite this square is the entrance to the powerful Saint-Vaast Abbey (9). As a child, Robespierre saw the rebuilding of the abbey, which had started in 1749. The very famous Cardinal Rohan was the Collector of finances Abbot from 1783: he collected half the considerable income of 500, 000 pounds per year taken from 400 parishes. On the other side of the square, at the start of rue de la Gouvernance (11), where the collège Saint Joseph now stands, was the Castle of the Counts of Flanders, then Bourgogne, which later ‘ became the seat of the Conseil d'Artois. There, in 1781, Robespierre was admitted to the her, just as his father and grandfather were before him.
Come out onto rue Robespierre (12), so named in 1923 (until then rue des Rapporteurs) to find the Maison de Robespierre [picture 13]. Robespierre lived here with his sister Charlotte and brother Augustin from 1787 until April 1789 when he left for Versailles. It was here that he wrote his “Adresse à la Nation artésienne” [picture 14] and the texts which would make him well known throughout Artois, then elected deputy to the Third State of Artois. Acquired by the town in 1 989 and restored since then, the house offered very little space for the man who made it famous.
Opposite this road lies the Theatre (13) [picture 15] which Robespierre saw being built in 1785, at the site of the chatelain of Arras’s former dungeon. Here, in the ‘Place de la Comédie’ hundreds of Artesians were executed during the mission of Convention deputy Joseph Le Bon in 1793-94. For a long time Robespierre was blamed for this, even though he opposed criminal excesses. To the north of the Place du Théâtre, lies the Hôtel de Guines (16) [picture 16]; the Duke de Guines was one of the governors of Artois. In 1789 this private house was occupied by the first President of the Conseil d’Artois.
On the opposite side of the square, rue du Petit Chaudron [picture 17] leads to rue du Collège (15) [picture 18], site of the school run by the Oratorians. Robespierre was a brilliant pupil here from 1765 to 1769 before leaving with a bursary to the Louis le Grand college in Paris. He came back to live in this road for some time when he returned to Arras after 1781. His brother Augustin also studied here. Joseph Fouché, future Convention deputy, minister of Napoleon and Louis XVII, also taught at this college. Having once wanted to many Robespierre’s sister, Fouché later participated in the plot which brought down The Incorruptible, who had denounced his crimes.
At the end of rue du Collège, on the left, rue des Capucins (16) leads to Boulevard Carnot (the site of the old ramparts). This was the location of the Hagerue gate, through which you would leave the old town. From the second half of the XVIII century, the high rise in the price of cereals had so increased the fortunes of the noble and bourgeois owners who wanted to build their own residence in Arras, that the town had to be extended. At this point, the Low Town was developed. Robespierre saw the construction of many rich private town houses such as that of the Marquis de Beaufort (today College Jehan Bodel) and those which surrounded the octagonal square built under Louis XV, today place Victor Hugo (17).
From this square, via rue des Promenades you come to lycée Robespierre (18) [picture 19]. During the events of May 1968 the pupils formed the ‘Robespierre Committee’ and then under the pressure of teachers and pupils’ parents, the lycée was renamed by the local authority, though it was never officially inaugurated. At the bicentenary of the Revolution, the Friends of Robespierre donated the bust [picture 20] which ornaments the courtyard, a bronze copy of the one in the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall).
From lycée Robespierre, looking to the south, through Avenue dos Fusillés you can see the Citadel (19) [images 21 & 22] and the Turenne quarter, built by Vauban, and looking towards the west, on Cours Verdun, the Schramm barracks (20). Robespierre knew these military sites well; there he could meet Lazare Carnot, his friend from the Rosati society and fellow at the Academy, then a Military Engineering officer. They would later meet again at the Convention and on the Committee of Public Safety.
From Cours Verdun, via rue du 29 juillet you arrive at the Neptune fountain (21). Until 1749, this was the site of the fortified gate which linked the town and the Cité, each enclosed within its ramparts. Going up rue Baudimont you soon see the Place de la Préfecture (22) on your left. It is here, at the heart of the Cité (cradle of the antique town of Nemetacum) that the cathedral and bishop’s palace once stood.
In 1802, the Hôtel de la Préfecture replaced the bishop’s private home, which. until the Revolution, was the home of Monseigneur de Conzié, future mentor to the princes in exile. Robespierre was a frequent visitor of these places, as in 1782 he was made an episcopal judge of the bishop’s court.
The cathedral [picture 23] was closed down under the Revolution and then destroyed. The current church of Saint Nicolas en Cité (23) [picture 24], built in 1832, is oriented differently and occupies a part of the site. It was in this cathedral that on 20 April 1789 a crowd of delegates of the three Orders came together from across me whole province, and the cahiers of grievances for each Order were adopted. It was here that Robespierre was elected the fifth of seven deputies of the Third Estate. He left his home town. only returning once, in October 1791.
Most of beautiful buildings in the centre of Arras were destroyed or badly damaged during the First World War, but rebuilt in the same way, except for certain modifications. such as the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall). At this time, some important roads were widened and alignments altered. The levelling of the fortifications between 1892 and 1898 had already changed the town’s appearance. Visitors are highly recommended to discover the town and the Cité as Robespierre would have known them, thanks to the relief map at the Museum of Fine Arts, in the Palais Saint-Vaast.
You can find the full brochure here.
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