Grande halle de la Villette 4.34

The Grande halle de la Villette, formerly a slaughterhouse and now a cultural center, is located in Paris, France. It is situated on Place de la Fontaine aux Lions within the Parc de la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement. While the Grande Halle is within Paris' main abattoir district, the historical building now serves as a venue for trade fairs, exhibitions, music festivals, and open-air cinema.HistoryLa Villette was a warehouse district and industrial section of northeastern Paris, stretching within a plain formed between the Goutte d'Or and the Buttes-Chaumont, and built around the Canal de l'Ourcq and the Canal Saint-Denis. As part of Haussmann's renovation of Paris, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann proposed concentrating all the abattoirs and meat markets on the city's outskirts at La Villette.Designed by Jules de Mérindol and Louis-Adolphe Janvier, construction of the Grande Halle took place during the period of 1865–1867. While the La Villette complex opened in the 1860s with a total of three market halls, only the Grande Halle aux Boeufs, preserved for its architectural value, survives. La Villette took on a nickname la Cité du Sang by butchers, or La Villetouse in slang.