Collapse of the wings of the Moulin Rouge: discover the four other windmills of Paris

It is one of the emblems of Paris. Thursday April 25, 2024, red Mill lost his wings in the night. An amputation which deprives the legendary building of its splendor. And if the owners want to be reassuring, we will have to wait several weeks before seeing the most famous blades in France cut through the air again. In the meantime, the curious can get off the beaten track and explore the four other mills in Paris, equally historic.

The Moulin Blute-fin and Radet

Located on the Montmartre hill, a stone’s throw from the Moulin Rouge, the Blute-fin and Radet mills continue to amaze visitors who walk along rue Lepic. They are the only ones of the twelve mills of Butte Montmartre to have survived the ravages of time. Built from 1529, they were destroyed one by one between 1758 and 1854. The Blute fin mill and the Radet mill were built respectively in 1622 and 1717. They were then the properties of the Debray family, millers of their fathers in son.

In the 1830s, the Radet mill was finally transformed into a tavern and took the name Moulin de la Galette.

The Charity Mill

He had already lost his wings many years ago. Located in the heart of Montparnasse cemetery, in the 14th arrondissement, it bears witness to the time when the land was occupied by three farms. Its year of construction dates from the beginning of the 17th century. It was then one of the many flour mills in the Montparnasse district, before being transformed into a tavern to the Revolution.

When the cemetery was opened in 1824, the mill was transformed into a caretaker’s house. It was then necessary to wait a century, in 1931, for it to be classified as a historic monument.

Longchamps mill

To see this mill, head west. Of the four mills still standing in Paris, it is the most recent. Built in the 19th century, it is located within the grounds of the Longchamps racecourse, in the 16th arrondissement. Still in service, it serves as a water pump to supply the reservoir of the Bois de Boulogne waterfall.

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