Butte Aux Cailles (B&W)

Butte aux Cailles, literally Quails’ Hill is an area of South Paris in the 13th arrondissement which is sort of and old 19th century village in which not much has changed for more than 150 years or so. It is also home to the famous (or infamous it depends on the point of view) Commune, in which Parisians decided to live their own lives and become entirely independent from the State. It ended up in carnage and many monuments were burnt to the ground. A real tragedy, which has left its traces and is still debated with passion on the left bank, even though this debate is probably lost on many including myself. In order to understand the Commune, I recommend Zola’s The Debacle which describes the 1870 Franco-Prussian war and its consequences on post imperial Paris. Just so you know, Zola was not very happy with what the Communards had done to the Paris monuments. As you have noticed, Jimmy Sommerville knew about that part of our History.