Paris Puzzle – 540 Pieces

Designed by Abbot Jean Delagrive in 1728, this map of Paris shows the French capital still surrounded by fields and with the center not yet fully built. The title and the author’s name can be read in the cartouche at the top right. Various figures, such as Piety and Justice, surround the map, while at the bottom are Minerva, Neptune, Mercury, and Venus. On the left is a portrait of King Louis XV, then 18, and the author’s dedication. Around the map, Delagrive designed the façades of several famous buildings, such as the Palais du Louvre, the Sorbonne, the Hôpital des Invalides, and the Church of Notre Dame. On either side is an alphabetical list of the streets, churches, and buildings depicted on the map. Delagrive’s map was the first to show the newly constructed Champs-Élysées and the first map available for public purchase.

Biography of Jean Delagrive

Jean Delagrive was born in 1689 in Sedan and died on April 18, 1757, in Paris. He was a French Lazarist priest , known for his contributions to cartography and geometry . He was the official geographer of the city of Paris. He was also a member of the Royal Society of London.

After his initial studies in the Ardennes, he arrived in Paris and entered the Congregation of the Mission or Congregation of the Priests of Saint-Lazare.

Having become a priest, he was sent to Poland and taught theology in Krakow in 1713. In 1714, he returned to Paris and devoted himself to geometry and cartography. In 1718, he published the Plan of the Capital, a publication he considered too imperfect. He destroyed the plans and strove to obtain publications that were more faithful to his statements.

He was appointed geographer of Paris and published a map in 1728. He was particularly concerned with mapping the course of the Seine and its tributaries. In 1740 he also published a book on the geometrically surveyed Environments of Paris. The first atlas of Paris and its suburbs as well as the first detailed map of the Seine are preserved in the Department of Maps and Plans.

The Abbot Delagrive is responsible for the location of the Hôtel des Monnaies in Paris, on one of his maps the name of the Champs-Élysées would have appeared for the first time.

He also did not forget his passion for geometry and in particular published a manual of spherical trigonometry in 1754. These works are also cited in the Encyclopédie or Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.