Square des Épinettes, Urban park in 17th arrondissement of Paris, France.
Square des Épinettes is a 10,420 m² square in the 17th arrondissement, bordered by Rue Félix-Pécaut, Rue Maria-Deraismes, Rue Collette and Rue Jean-Leclaire. A bandstand with a pale shallow dome and slender posts stands at its centre. Two bronze sculptures are set in the grounds: Jules Dalou's Monument to Jean Leclaire (1896) and Louis-Ernest Barrias's statue of Maria Deraismes (1898).
The square was created in 1893 by Jean-Camille Formigé and redeveloped in 1980 and 1992, covering 10,420 m². In 1943 the Vichy regime took down its bronzes for non-ferrous metal mobilization and sent them to Germany. The bronze group of the Monument to Jean Leclaire was recast and re-erected on its base in 1971, and the Maria Deraismes statue was recast in 1983 by the Coubertin foundry.
The name comes from the white épinette, a vine variety once grown on this hill. A bandstand at the centre has long hosted open-air music, and two sculptures honour Jean Leclaire and Maria Deraismes, local figures whose bronzes were removed in 1943 and later replaced.
The square is bounded by Rue Félix-Pécaut to the north, Rue Maria-Deraismes to the east, Rue Collette to the south and Rue Jean-Leclaire to the west. Metro line 13 stops at Guy Môquet station. The bandstand occupies the centre, so paths radiate from it and make orientation easy.
The bronze group of the Monument to Jean Leclaire, cast by Jules Dalou in 1896, was taken down in 1943 under the Vichy regime's metal collection and sent to Germany. The version standing on the pedestal today was recast and re-erected in 1971, but the bucket the worker once held is gone.
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