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| Paris Bookstalls Are Told to Relocate During Next Year’s Olympics | Paris Bookstalls Are Told to Relocate During Next Year’s Olympics |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| The open-air bookstalls that line the River Seine are as symbolic of Paris as the Louvre or the Arc de Triomphe. | The open-air bookstalls that line the River Seine are as symbolic of Paris as the Louvre or the Arc de Triomphe. |
| But most of the boxy, dark green stalls must be dismantled and temporarily removed before the 2024 Summer Olympics for what officials say are security reasons. The booksellers, known as “les bouquinistes,” have said they will not budge, calling the order issued by the Paris police chief last week an affront to the French capital’s history and soul. | But most of the boxy, dark green stalls must be dismantled and temporarily removed before the 2024 Summer Olympics for what officials say are security reasons. The booksellers, known as “les bouquinistes,” have said they will not budge, calling the order issued by the Paris police chief last week an affront to the French capital’s history and soul. |
| “Paris without the bouquinistes is like Venice without the gondolas,” said Jean-Pierre Mathias, 76, who has had a stall along the Seine for about four decades. Mr. Mathias, a former philosophy teacher who sells works including an essay on Brigitte Bardot and a reprint of a 1781 book by a French barrister, said that he and other bouquinistes were signing petitions against the proposal. If that fails, he said, they will barricade themselves in front of their stalls to stop them from being dismantled. | “Paris without the bouquinistes is like Venice without the gondolas,” said Jean-Pierre Mathias, 76, who has had a stall along the Seine for about four decades. Mr. Mathias, a former philosophy teacher who sells works including an essay on Brigitte Bardot and a reprint of a 1781 book by a French barrister, said that he and other bouquinistes were signing petitions against the proposal. If that fails, he said, they will barricade themselves in front of their stalls to stop them from being dismantled. |
| Open every day from morning until dusk, the bouquinistes are both a fixture along the riverside and a symbol of Paris’s literary culture, attracting curious tourists and locals looking for rare books. The tradition dates to at least the 17th century, when peddlers sold secondhand books along the Pont Neuf from wooden carts and tables. By the 19th century, Napoleon authorized the bookstalls, popular with intellectuals and writers, and they became permanent. | Open every day from morning until dusk, the bouquinistes are both a fixture along the riverside and a symbol of Paris’s literary culture, attracting curious tourists and locals looking for rare books. The tradition dates to at least the 17th century, when peddlers sold secondhand books along the Pont Neuf from wooden carts and tables. By the 19th century, Napoleon authorized the bookstalls, popular with intellectuals and writers, and they became permanent. |