In 1994 Dutch artist Jan Dibbets was commissioned by the City of Paris to create a memorial to French mathematician, physicist, astronomer and politician Francois Jean Dominique Arago. He designed bronze discs like the one pictured above. If you look down when you are wandering the streets of Paris you might notice these medallions inlaid in the pavement. All of them are aligned on a line running north to south over 9.2 kilometers along the Parisian Meridian, also called the Arago line.
The line was made famous when it was mentioned in the novel The Da Vinci Code where it is referred to as "the Rose Line". I have seen it at Saint-Sulpice Church and I'll look for some of the others next time I'm in Paris.
Some of the medallions can be seen at these spots:
- 15, rue Dereure (75018)
- 9, boulevard Haussmann (75009)
- 15, rue Saint-Augustin (75002)
- 24, rue de Richelieu (75001)
- Galerie de Nemours (75001)
- Palais Royal (75001)
- Place Colette (75001)
- Rue de Rivoli, on the Place du Palais Royal (75001)
- Louvre Museum (behind the Pyramid) (75001)
- 28, rue de Vaugirard (75006)
- Saint-Sulpice Church (75006)
- The Observatory (75014)
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