With the Rue d’Aboukir, Rue Alexandrie, Rue du Nil… the 2nd arrondissement of Paris is a little corner of Egypt in central Paris. So perhaps it's no surprise that the walls of No. 2 Place du Caire (there you go again!) are covered in hieroglyphics, a fresco of battle scenes, three sculpted heads of Hathor, the the goddess of love, and the face of a man with an enormous nose. So who does this nose belong to? To Henri Bouginier, a French painter working in Paris at the start of the 19th century. But why is there a sculpture here of this obscure Parisian? Because his fellow painters didn't like him very much and thought him a scoundrel, so they had some fun caricaturing him on the walls of the capital. And since one thing often leads to another, the drawings resulted in a sculpture... it's as simple as that. It's Cleopatra who should be jealous! 2 place du Caire, IInd arrondissement of Paris
Read more
