In other words, in five months, the Paris Olympics will begin. France has put a lot of thought into making it a different and unique one.
So,For the first time in history, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was not held in a stadium, but on the Seine.
It's a good idea, but it's a mess to implement, and it's a headache to not mention the security aspect alone.
In the process of implementing the plan for the opening ceremony, the used bookstalls on the banks of the Seine became the first obstacle.
On July 25 last year, the Paris City Police Department, after considering security concerns, made a request to the Paris Used Book Stalls Cultural Association to allow nearly 60% of the used book stalls along the banks of the Seine to be temporarily relocated during the Olympic Games.
As soon as this demand came out, it immediately aroused various voices of opposition.
In addition to the dissatisfaction of the operators of the second-hand book stalls, more than 40 people, including former members, French academicians, teachers, researchers of national academic units, etc., made a joint book together, and directly shouted to France
This is a disaster! It's not right, it's not right!
However, although this incident is quite violent, it has not been followed up, and it has always been a mystery whether the used book stalls can be preserved during the Olympics.
And this Tuesday, the Elysee Palace finally made an official announcement:
In the absence of an agreed solution acceptable to both parties, the Republic** Pony asked the Minister of the Interior and the Paris police chief to protect all booksellers and take security measures under the condition of not moving.
This means,These adorable green boxes are finally able to meet people from all over the world during the Olympic Games.
So, why can a small second-hand book stall touch the hearts of so many French people, it has to start from its history more than 500 years ago.
At that time, there were no such green boxes, and some were just itinerant booksellers.
At that time, Catholicism ruled France, and Protestant books were designated as "****After the outbreak of the Wars of Religion, these so-called" were scattered into the hands of booksellers. They carried heavy books on their backs and sold them along the low walls by the river, as well as some portraits and ancient books.
Subsequently, during the French Revolution, many libraries were looted, and a large number of books were scattered everywhere, but it was still these booksellers who once again spread the books**.
Gradually, the Seine became a regular stall for booksellers, who began to set up stalls along the river.
More and more stalls are chaotic and difficult to manage, and in 1859, the city of Paris issued regulations on bookstalls, setting up fixed-point bookstalls, each stall is 10 meters long, and implementing franchises. The hours of operation are in accordance with nature, from sunrise to sunset.
It wasn't until 1930 that the uniform green tin box officially appeared. It doesn't look good on the outside, but it's extremely practical, with a rain proof lid and a closed box and a lock when you close the stall, and you can go home.
Since then, the location and number of used book stalls have remained basically fixed. And since it is a used book stall, it has not forgotten to standardize management: at most one of every four bookboxes can be used for tourist souvenirs, and the other three must be used to sell antiques and old books.
In this way, the second-hand bookstalls that have accompanied Paris through hundreds of years of history are like a train carrying guns and roses, slowly moving towards an unknown but warm tomorrow.
In 1991, the riverbank landscape of the Seine was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and these small used bookstalls are an essential part of it.
Today, there are 240 second-hand booksellers along the Seine, each with four wooden boxes, who manage the nearly 1,000 bookcases and tens of thousands of books waiting to be read on the banks of the river.
And that's not all,These booksellers are the only owners in Paris where land is at a premiumThe only requirement is that it is open at least four days a week and must sell used books, but there is no restriction on the sale of souvenirs. Only when a bookseller dies or abandons business will the city** reopen applications.
The years are quiet, is this how it is interpreted?
But in today's materialization of society and the dilution of the humanistic spirit of the city, the feelings of quiet and good years also have a price.
If you've visited a second-hand book stall over the years, you'll probably find that today's second-hand book stalls are becoming more and more like souvenir shops. Postcards, bottle openers, fridge magnets, keychains, mugs, small tower models, ......Tourists love it, it's all here.
The reason is simple, money.
Souvenirs seem to have a wider audience than old books.
The reality of putting the cart before the horse makes people mistakenly think that books are the foil, and even some stalls have all their income from souvenirs, which is a bit sad, but helpless.
Jér Me Callais, president of the Paris Used Bookstalls Cultural Association, said frankly"If we don't get back to our second-hand book stalls and provide better quality second-hand books, within a decade, everything we were proud of will be gone. ”
Something had to be done. Otherwise, I'm sorry for the booksellers who have been working on the used bookstall with clear eyes, sorry for the students who finally found a rare book and smiled, and sorry for every heart that lingers by the Seine and puts down the hectic heart.
Therefore, as early as 2018, the city of Paris** wanted to apply for intangible cultural heritage for used book stalls, so that it could exist better and longer.
But the road has not been smooth.
You must know that France can only submit one application to UNESCO every two years, and there are too many things that France wants to apply for the World Heritage List first, berets, baguettes, and zinc roofs in Paris all want, and used book stalls can only wait in line.
In 2019, with the approval of the French Ministry of Culture, the second-hand book stall was granted the admission ticket to declare the world's intangible cultural heritage, but more than four years have passed in a blink of an eye, and there is still no result.
However, judging from this incident, the French still have a special affection for second-hand book stalls, after all, it is those green tin boxes fixed on the bridge piers that make the Seine the only river in the world that flows on knowledge.
Even if fridge magnets and mugs trump old newspapers and magazines today, there are still many people who know what used book stalls are all about.
Paris is so big, let the second-hand book stalls continue to be the train that carries history to the future, okay?