[An illustration of a ship, symbolizing the symbol of Paris]

Histoire de Paris

Olympe de Gouges
Née à Montauban le 7 mai 1748, Olympe de Gouges, veuve à 18 ans, vient s’installer à Paris où ses contemporains attestent de sa beauté. Autodidacte, elle complète sa formation intellectuelle pour rédiger une œuvre abondante, théâtrale et politique. Inspirée par le droit naturel du genre humain, elle se déclare contre l’esclavage, et réclame des refuges pour "les vieillards sans forces, les enfants sans appui et les veuves". Animée d’un féminisme chaleureux et lucide, elle publie en septembre 1791 une "Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne", véritable défense de "ce sexe autrefois méprisable et respecté, et depuis la Révolution, respectable et měprisé". Installée ici, dans un pied-à-terre proche de l’Assemblée ,elle déclare : "Nul ne doit être inquiété pour ses opinions, même fondamentales: la femme a le droit de monter sur l’échafaud, elle doit avoir également celui de monter à la tribune". Jugée, sans avocat, pour offense à la souveraineté du peuple, elle est guillotinée le 3 novembre 1793.

One of the series of signs describing historical places in Paris. The signs were placed starting in 1992 and are also called sucettes Starck (Starck’s Lollipops) after Philippe Starck who designed them.

The sign is dedicated to Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793), a playwright and journalist who was known for her feminist views, and the demand for equal rights for women. During the French Revolution, when anyone suspected of opposing the regime was executed, she was also executed by guillotine. The sign is found in the house where she lived.

The house was photographed on the same day Click for a larger image

Translation of the text on the sign:

[An illustration of a ship, symbolizing the symbol of Paris]

History of Paris

Olympe de Gouges
Born in Montauban on May 7, 1748, Olympe de Gouges, widowed at 18, came to settle in Paris where her contemporaries attest to her beauty. Self-taught, she completed her intellectual training to write an abundant, theatrical and political work. Inspired by the natural law of the human race, she declared herself against slavery, and demanded refuge for “the elderly without strength, the children without support and the widows”. Driven by a warm and lucid feminism, in September 1791 she published a "Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens", a true defense of "this sex which was once contemptible and respected, and since the Revolution, respectable and despised". Installed here, in a pied-à-terre near the Assembly, she declares: "No one should be worried about their opinions, even fundamental ones: women have the right to mount the scaffold, they must also have the right to go to the podium." Tried, without a lawyer, for offenses against the sovereignty of the people, she was guillotined on November 3, 1793.