You may have passed near it without knowing that you were crossing the oldest tree in Paris. We imagined asking a few questions to the locust of Square Viviani (5th), opposite Notre-Dame, almost a monument, too. 421 years are watching you.
Can we ask you to tell us about your birth?
Are you ready to time travel? I was planted in 1601, during the reign of Henri IV. It was a year after the birth of his son Louis XIII who was going to succeed him when he was assassinated by Ravaillac in 1610. Well in reality, it was not so simple because the child was only 9 years old, but you will look at your history books. Back to me! Imagine that I was sent in the form of a seed from America, to Jean Robin herbalist of Henri IV. Hey, yes, I'm American, from the Appalachian region, in eastern North America, but a Parisian resident for 421 years! If I had been planted in my country of origin, I could have appreciated this mountain range but the landscape here, very different, suits me too. There's a lot of traffic, it's a bit noisy, of course, but I see the Seine and people come to admire me a lot and I admit that I like that. And then, isn't it like Paris to be a land of welcome?
You are talking about Jean Robin, is that why you were called Robinier?
Yes, it's true that's what people call me: Robinia or false acacia. So I have to re-establish the truth about my identity. my latin name is good Robinia , it was adopted by Linné, another 17th century herbalist in homage to the one who had planted me, Jean Robin. I look like an acacia in my leaves, but I'm not one. I am from the Fabaceae (or legume) family. It is one of the most important families of flowering plants. Moreover, from May to June it is where I am the most beautiful because I have long clusters of white flowers that smell very good. I am deciduous, in winter I lose my leaves. It is said of my species that it is very robust and that I can live a very long time: I believe that I rather proved it...
Can you tell us more about Jean Robin?
As I told you, Jean Robin was the king's herbalist. In 1597 the Faculty of Medicine, which was very close to here, acquired a “garden of herbs” and this garden was entrusted to Jean Robin. But you know the medicinal gardens existed since the Middle Ages in the capital. Anyway, this is where Robin left me. Unfortunately the garden closed in 1617 but the herbalist did everything to have the king establish a royal garden of medicinal plants: the future Jardin des Plantes. You still know him today. Historians have admitted, moreover, that the stock of plants in the royal garden came from this garden where he had planted me.
So you were in the garden of the Faculty of Medicine?
Hey, yes, and this faculty of medicine was one of the "companies" of the University of Paris, one of the most important and oldest medieval universities, founded in 1200. It closed in 1793. But you see the church behind me ? It was where the first assemblies of the university sat.
Did this church already exist?
Yes, I am next to the one that is even considered the oldest church in Paris, it is the Saint-Julien le Pauvre church. It is from the sixth century, it beats me in age! In reality in the 6th century, it was the church of a hospice but it was vandalized in the 9th century and rebuilt in the 12th century. Well after the closing of the University in 1783, it was a bit abandoned. During the Revolution, it was a salt store, then it was an annex of the Hôtel-Dieu, then it was returned to worship in 1889.
You must have seen a lot of celebrities pass by?
Yes, it is said that Dante and Thomas Aquinas attended the University. And I am from the century of Racine, Corneille and Jean de la Fontaine! Besides, I regret that La Fontaine didn't write a fable about me, he preferred an oak tree… It's true, I was still young in his time. Ever since the square that surrounds me has existed – it was created in 1928 and bears the name of Viviani, the first Minister of Labor – I have been at the heart of a pretty place for a walk! Some come to read, some try to pick my flowers – do you know that you can make delicious donuts with them? But shh, it's not allowed to pick them… And then what are they photographing me!
How do you feel today ?
I have to confess something to you: my trunk is a vestige within which several trees have joined together. The aerial roots of my subjects develop inside my very old trunk which tends to want to crack. And we keep my suckers (yes I tend to spread myself…). The advantage is that I can be transplanted to ensure my future.
Who installed this railing in the form of a bench around you?
It was the City of Paris that installed it for me in 2010. Yes, it is a circular bench, it makes sense, doesn't it? This allows the earth around me, which is covered with shredded material, to breathe. And it's very natural, the coping is made of chestnut braiding according to a method that was used in the Middle Ages. And the bench is oak. Passers-by can sit there and enjoy my shade in the summer and it also protects me because I am really very old now and fragile. I don't hope to collapse but sometimes I feel very tired.
Is that why they also installed these sorts of concrete pillars for you?
Yes, it may surprise some but like a very old man, I need support. What allows me to stand up are these cement props which are cleverly concealed by this mass of ivy. But rest assured! The City of Paris lumberjacks regularly monitor and intervene to limit its development. The ivy shouldn't suffocate me by hiding the light too much. These pillars and the circular bench were only designed to protect me and give me a few more years to live. Because yes, it's true, I am the oldest tree in Paris. But I'm not the greatest. A few miles from here, rue de Varenne I have a little brother , small in age (and yes he only dates from 1890!) but not in size, he is 30 meters tall, twice my height. There are also the two plane trees in front of the Grand Palais which date from 1900. They would also have something to tell you about… But we should make room for the youth…