Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1
Map of France showing the Paris Meridian and places mentioned in the text
This “Incredible Picnic” was the human part of a more general, more permanent
project in France, called
La Méridienne Verte
(the Green Meridian). In this project,
French organizations, national, regional and local administrations, environmental
groups, and estate owners planted trees along the same axis, across the Hexagon
from north to south. It was the idea of the architect Paul Chemetov (1928- ), whose
major work in Paris is the courtyard of Les Halles. The plan was to plant 10,000
saplings, and the species were chosen appropriately to the region and the climate as
it changed from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. In the north the trees were
oaks, cedars and chestnuts, in the south olive trees. The idea was that in time the
line of trees would become almost continuous, visible from space as the axis of the
