Parc Kellerman
A Tri-Level Park
Parc Kellerman covers 5.6 hectares and was designed by Jacques Greber in 1937.
The park is named in honor of François Christophe Kellermann (1735-1820), the Duke of Valmy and named Marshal of France in 1804. He served in the French Army for more than fifty years.
The park is built on the site of the old Fortifications of Thiers, a wall of nearly 33 kilometers which at one time encircled Paris. The wall was dismantled after World War I.
Parc Kellermann is composed of three levels connected with stairways. The terraced park is built on the slope of the riverbanks of the Bievre riviere, the Beaver river. This river has several channels and runs 40 kilometers east from the Seine river and is a tributary of the Seine.
Due to its becoming polluted over 500 years of use by the city it was covered over between 1850-1950 and became part of the sewer system.
It has been claimed that it was along this creek, not the Seine river, where the first settlements were built. The Gaulois are said to have settled here long before the Parisii tribe occupied the Ile de la Cite.
There are several organizations attempting to re-vitalize and re-claim this river and the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has supported the efforts.
This park has a fountain and a large pond, children's playgrounds, a football field and tennis courts. It also has a apiary, a bee-hive, of six colonies, two of which are in transparent hives making the activities of the bees available for viewing. It was founded in 1988 and maintained by the non-profit group called L'Abeille Parisienne, The Paris Bee.
Parc Kellerman opens at 8 a.m. on week-days and at 9 a.m. on week-ends. The park closes at different hours during the year: January at 5:30 p.m.; February at 6 p.m.; March at 7 p.m.; April 15-May 15 at 9 p.m.; May 16-August 31 at 9:30 p.m.; September at 8:30 p.m.;October-November 15 at 6 p.m.; November 16-December at 5:30 p.m.
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