The 13th has many cinemas, with three alone on the Avenue des Gobelins. The Rodin Cinema (75 ave des Gobelins), named so because the relief sculpture on the facade was done by Rodin when he was still an apprentice for the City of Paris, closed a few years ago and is currently being gutted to make room for some sort of cinema cultural center, due to open in 2012.
In the meantime, the construction workers poured an extra layer of cement on the sidewalk to protect it during construction. This poor tree, almost directly in front of the entrance, did not get any breathing room at all. They cemented it right up to its neck, and chopped off most of the branches that would block their equipment. There are now electric extension cords hanging over it. Granted, it’s a small tree, I think it was planted to replace an old diseased tree about three years ago. It’s still alive for the time being, as you can see at the top a few leaves have popped out. Who knows how long the poor little tree will last though without any way to get a decent drink of water.
The Rodin facade of the old cinema (it will be preserved, of course).
I see you went back to photograph the tree. It was a tad bizarre.
That is brilliant!!
I lived in paris and i love the "insolite" part of the city. You captured it perfectly!