Square Eugène Thomas

Square Eugène Thomas serves as a quiet, triangular gateway to the town hall of the twelfth arrondissement. You are standing in the smallest municipal square in this part of Paris. It took its current name in the early twenty-first century to honor Eugène Thomas, a local politician and teacher who became a prominent member of the French Resistance during the Second World War. Before it bore his name, the site was simply known as the square of the twelfth arrondissement town hall, having been laid out in eighteen seventy-six at the same time the town hall building itself was constructed. You can see a monument to the war dead standing within the space, featuring a statue of Victory sculpted by Raphaël Hubert. This bronze figure serves as a memorial for those from the district who perished in both World War I and the conflicts in the former French colonies during the mid-twentieth century. A cast-iron Wallace fountain stands near the edge of the square, offering a signature detail of Parisian street architecture. These dark, ornate fountains were originally installed across the city in the eighteen seventies to provide clean drinking water to residents after the Prussian siege and the civil unrest of the Paris Commune. While the square is small, its layout remains a fixed companion to the civic architecture of the surrounding municipal building.