Vintage Parc Montsouris Postcards and the Legend of The Giant Issoire

Parc Montsouris in the 14^th district of Paris is shrouded in legends and mystery. I appreciate my Parc Montsouris Vintage postcards more fully after learning about the 13^th century 15 foot Portugese giant named Issoire, Isore , or Ysore who was slain there.

This monster of a man camped at Montmartre and accosted and robbed travelers. He banged daily at the gates of Paris roaring for combat and hoping for a fight and a bit of mayhem. The prudent Parisians cowered and refused to fight this strong scoundrel.

King Louis the Pious sent a pleading message to the courageous monk William of Orange. The desperate king asked the former warrior to take up arms against the dreaded Issoire. William donned his old armor and set off to face this 15 foot challenge. William lopped off the giant’s head with his rusty sword after a heated hand to hand fight.

The giant was buried in the labyrinth of Roman gypsum quarries which were later turned into the Catacombs at the end the 18^th century. If the bones of Issoire were ever in this quarry they will never be found. The remains of six million Parisians have been poured on top of him from all of the discontinued cemeteries in Paris

This was necessary due to the desperate overcrowding in the medieval cemeteries in the center of Paris, which had also become a hygienic problem. From 1785 to 1786 millions of bones and rotting corpses were transported from the unsanitary city cemeteries to the catacombs. It was a monumental project to transport the bones in huge carts at night across the city!

The Park is thankfully no longer the home of a beastly giant. It is a serene green get away from the hustle and bustle of Paris that has been captured in this series of vintage postcards.

Jacques Prevost captured the park’s charm best in his poem The Garden:

Thousands and thousands of years
Would not be enough
To tell of
That small second of eternity
When you held me
When I held you
One morning
In winter’s light
In Montsouris Park
In Paris
On earth
This earth
That is a star

Hungarian Lucky New Year Symbols in Vintage Postcard form

Cpaphil is happy to announce that a chunk of our Hungarian vintage postcards will be traveling back to their place of origin. It was a joy to put these cards onto the website. I felt transported to Budapest through the fantasy vintage postcards. I immediately did research on the history and culture of this unfamiliar country.

I found that the chimney sweep, red and white mushrooms, four leaf clovers and pigs are quite auspicious symbols of good luck. Apparently gifts were given on New Year’s Day to people who delivered bread or did other chores. In return, these purveyors of services often handed out little cards with a blessing or good wishes.

Meeting a chimney sweep, called a Schornsteinfeger or Schlotfeger , at New Year’s meant good luck for you during the year, especially if he gave you one of his little cards.

I am blogging about New Year’s traditions a bit out of season. Spring is approaching. But Cpaphil found the cards fascinating and a step away from the vintage postcard material we are accustomed to. If our guests have any comments please post them on this brand new blog. We appreciate your thoughts!

The Lion of Belfort and it's creator Frederic Bartholdi - Vintage Postcards

Cpaphil has recently been presented with unusual ‘’Lion of Belfort” vintage postcards. This stunning Parisian monument is located in the 14^th district in the Place Denfert -Rochereau (previously known as the Place d’Enfer) The sculpture is by Frederic Bartholdi.The lion seen on this vintage postcard symbolizes the heroic resistance of Belfort during a 103 days long Prussian assault (from December 1870 to February 1871). The city was protected from 40,000 Prussians by merely 17,000 men (only 3,500 were from the military) lead by Colonel Denfert - Rochereau.



Frederic Bartholdi can also be credited with the monumental Statue of Liberty under the patronage of Edouard de Laboulaye who was a prolific French abolitionist. He believed that the end of slavery marked the realization of the American democratic ideal embodied in the Declaration of Independence. His use of references to the French role in the American Revolution to generate support for his efforts on behalf of American slaves and freedmen are critical to understanding his conception of the Statue of Liberty. Auguste Bartholdi was largely apolitical and adapted his self-presentation to advance his career as an artist.

The statue’s design almost certainly evolved from an earlier concept Bartholdi proposed for a colossal monument in Egypt, for which the artist used his drawings of Egyptian women as models. Bartholdi changed a broken shackle and chain in the statue’s left hand to tablets inscribed “July IV, MDCCLXXVI” (July 4, 1776) at Laboulaye’s request, to emphasize a broader vision of liberty for all mankind.

Guignol Vintage Postcards - The famous French puppet born in Lyon

Guignol was the fruit of the imagination of a hardworking dentist from Lyon named Laurent Mourguet. The character depicted in these vintage postcards was devised in 1808.

Mourguet was originally a silk weaver but became a dentist due to lack of money. He would travel from place to place pulling teeth with his large pliers. Eventually people became scared of him, after hearing the screams of other patients having their teeth pulled.To solve this, he created a puppet show in his likeness to ease people’s fears of him. The puppet became so popular he stopped being a dentist completely and became a renowned puppeteer.

Many Guignol shows were quite satircal. He complained about the King and Lords throughout France. The government made the gatherings illegal which in turn made the shows even more enticing!