Main /

Elephant Boheme

Charles Ribart was an 18th-century French architect. In 1758, he planned an addition to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, to be constructed where the Arc de Triomphe now stands. It consisted of three levels, to be built in the shape of an elephant, with entry via a spiral staircase in the underbelly. The building was to have a form of air conditioning, and furniture that folded into the walls. A drainage system was to be incorporated into the elephant's trunk. The French Government, however, was not amused and turned him down. Napoleon would later conceive a similar construction, the Elephant of the Bastille.

the elefant of the bastille

The Elephant of the Bastille was a monument in Paris which existed between 1813 and 1846. Originally conceived in 1808 by Napoleon, the colossal statue was intended to be created out of bronze and placed in the Place de la Bastille, but only a plaster full-scale model was built. At 24 m (78 ft) in height the model itself became a recognisable construction and was immortalised by Victor Hugo in his novel Les Misérables (1862) in which it is used as a shelter by the street urchin Gavroche.

---

les miserables - filmset

The Elephant at the Moulin Rouge

The most remarkable feature of the early Moulin Rouge was visible only from the rear. Next to the outdoor Jardin de Paris stood an enormous stucco elephant, originally constructed for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. A gentleman with a single franc to spare could ascend a spiral staircase inside one of the elephant's legs. Upon reaching the hollow belly of the beast, the adventurous visitor was entertained by a different belly: that of a dancer. When the Moulin Rouge was rebuilt in 1906, the elephant was gone.

Baz Luhrmann's 2001 motion picture Moulin Rouge! features Nicole Kidman. Her boudoir is in a set replica of the famous Jardin de Paris Elephant, a giant pachydermoid structure inspired by Lafferty's elephantine works, built in 1889 in the garden cafe adjacent to the rear of the original Moulin Rouge and torn down prior to 1906 renovation of the cabaret hall.

James Vincent de Paul Lafferty (1856-1898) was an Irish-American inventor, most famous for his construction of Lucy the Elephant, the Elephantine Colossus

Coney Island elephant hotel - Colossal Elephant or the Elephant Colossus, or by its function as the Elephant Hotel, burnt down

Lucy the elephant - still exists, restored,---> see http://www.levins.com/lucy.html

elephant rocks

Sardinia. Near Castelsardo

elephant rock, iceland, heimaey