Parc Montsouris is a public city park of Paris, in the 14th arrondissement, in Rive Gauche (the southern portion of the city proper). The park is 15 hectares in area and is designed in the style of an English garden, which was popular at the end of the 19th century. The park was created by Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann as part of a plan to add green areas to Paris. [1]
The park is bounded to the south by the "Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris" (CIUP), to the north and east by relatively affluent residential flats, and to the west by the residential corridor surrounding the avenue Générale Leclerc.
The water reservoir in the northeast portion of the park now covers a historical entrance to the Paris catacombs, which were primarily excavated as a quarry for building stones.
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Many commuters on the RER B (a main north-south train running from Charles de Gaulle airport to the southern suburbs) are familiar with the stop "Cité Universitaire" on the line. This stop is in Parc Montsouris itself, and is distinguished by its open air top and overhanging trees from the park.
According to the Park's official site[1] maintained by the French government, the area was originally called moque souris (literally translated as "mock mice") because the area was inhabited mainly by rodents. The name eventually evolved into Montsouris.
As a public garden, Parc Montsouris is a popular spot for students from the adjacent Cité Universitaire. When the campus was founded, the park was intended to be for students' use as compensation for their intellectual efforts. The main upper lawn was used once for a golf tournament. In the lower section of the park, an island in the middle of a tiny lake provides sanctuary to 40 species of wild ducks, geese, herons and other migratory birds. Some turtles imported from Florida regularly sunbathe on the lake's stony shores.
According to Montsouris chief gardener there are about 150 species of trees and shrubs.
Sculptures in bronze and marble punctuate the park area.
 Weeping beeches (Fagus sylvatica tortuosa) encircle the centre lake of the Montsouris Park. There are at least four of them weeping directly into the water and three others two steps away from it. |
 Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides) lying on a bed of Magnolia leaves beneath its branches close to the lake of the Montsouris park. |
 A duo of painted buckeye (aesculus sylvatica) trees at the entrance of Montsouris park on the upper lawn looks like a united one two-legged tree. Their exceptional sizes are due to their grafts on the horse-chestnut trees (aesculus hippocastanum). |
 Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), the unique one of the Montsouris park growing close to the footbridge over the RER suburb train, yields a red colour, in contrast to the Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) to its left and the Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra) to its right. |
 A lake in the park. |
Coordinates: 48°49′20″N 2°20′18″E / 48.82222°N 2.33833°E
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