🏛️ Lieu
Patrimoine & Culture
Le Café des Oiseaux
📍 Bar-le-Duc, Meuse
· 40 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 55000 Bar-le-Duc
À propos
Established around 1786-1787 on the rue de la Neuveville, where visiting troupes used to gather, the theater acquired its full reputation when it was joined by the Café des Oiseaux, created by naturalist Louis Poirson. In his book Gare de l'Est, academician Jean Mistler described its immense collection of naturalized animals as "without doubt the most extraordinary café in Europe".
A coach house near the Entre-Deux-Ponts district, where theatrical troupes used to perform, was transformed into a veritable auditorium in the 1780s.
The town of Bar-le-Duc was regularly called upon to help, as it had to be refurbished several times, in particular to meet safety requirements. In 1889, the theatre was given the title of "Théâtre municipal", and after 1914, it was once again privately owned. In 1896, it hosted the first cinematographic screening in the city.
The most important works were undertaken around 1850 by Louis Poirson, who converted the façade into a vestibule opening onto the street, and above all created a corridor to the right of the theater leading to the Café des Oiseaux, opened in 1838. It was here that his collection of quadrupeds, birds, insects, shells and minerals was assembled, arranged in glass shelves around the room. Some equally curious objects completed the decor (Maréchal Oudinot?s billiard table, a painted wooden palm tree with bronze foliage, a fountain?
bronze foliage, a fountain?)
The facade, adorned with sculptures by Caveneget, respects the style chosen for theaters at the time. Inspired by classical architecture, it features fluted columns in the Ionic and Corinthian orders, a triglyph frieze and triangular pediments. On the first floor, a gallery opens onto the street via arcades. The upper part of the building originally alluded to the theater, with sculptures of the Comédie and the Tragédie framing the Bar-le-Duc coat of arms, and four busts of playwrights placed on the ground floor
four busts of authors on the balustrade of the roof terrace.
Poirson?s incredible collection of over fifty thousand pieces was dispersed after the Second World War. The fountain that stood in the center of the café for over a century was rediscovered in 1993. It has since been installed on the château esplanade in the upper town.
A coach house near the Entre-Deux-Ponts district, where theatrical troupes used to perform, was transformed into a veritable auditorium in the 1780s.
The town of Bar-le-Duc was regularly called upon to help, as it had to be refurbished several times, in particular to meet safety requirements. In 1889, the theatre was given the title of "Théâtre municipal", and after 1914, it was once again privately owned. In 1896, it hosted the first cinematographic screening in the city.
The most important works were undertaken around 1850 by Louis Poirson, who converted the façade into a vestibule opening onto the street, and above all created a corridor to the right of the theater leading to the Café des Oiseaux, opened in 1838. It was here that his collection of quadrupeds, birds, insects, shells and minerals was assembled, arranged in glass shelves around the room. Some equally curious objects completed the decor (Maréchal Oudinot?s billiard table, a painted wooden palm tree with bronze foliage, a fountain?
bronze foliage, a fountain?)
The facade, adorned with sculptures by Caveneget, respects the style chosen for theaters at the time. Inspired by classical architecture, it features fluted columns in the Ionic and Corinthian orders, a triglyph frieze and triangular pediments. On the first floor, a gallery opens onto the street via arcades. The upper part of the building originally alluded to the theater, with sculptures of the Comédie and the Tragédie framing the Bar-le-Duc coat of arms, and four busts of playwrights placed on the ground floor
four busts of authors on the balustrade of the roof terrace.
Poirson?s incredible collection of over fifty thousand pieces was dispersed after the Second World War. The fountain that stood in the center of the café for over a century was rediscovered in 1993. It has since been installed on the château esplanade in the upper town.
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