Paris to honour 13 November attack victims with a garden

The project has been in the making since 2016, and now the design concept has been revealed

The City of Paris has just unveiled the winning design concept for a memorial garden, honouring the victims of the terrorist attacks on 13 November 2015. The future site is a joint initiative of the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and the associations representing victims’ families. It will see the light of day in 2025, based on a project by Paris-based agency Wagon Landscaping.

A place for mourning the worst terror attack in France

Last week on 9 June, Paris unveiled the winners of a design concept for the future commemorative garden, dedicated to the victims of the terror attacks from 13 November 2015. The garden at Place Saint Gervais square is meant to serve as another place to mourn the victims and it will be accessible to anyone.

The concept of Wagon Landscaping (as in the Gallery above) represents the six places of the attacks, as the city website informs. The names of the deceased victims will appear on steles symbolizing each place affected, namely Le Stade de France, Le Carillon / Le petit Cambodge, La Bonne Bière / Le Casa Nostra, La Belle Équipe, Le Comptoir Voltaire, Le Bataclan.

The stone elements are meant to recall the harshness of this ordeal and the fractured lives, while the garden will allow the deployment of the living within this memory. The presence of water and plants will help support the development of biodiversity in the garden, making the tribute perpetual and alive.

The announcement of the design follows several years of joint work of the local authorities and the associations 13Onze15 Fraternité et Vérité and Life for Paris. It started with the idea of establishing a place for worship which dates from 2016, continued through its vote by unanimity at the City Council in November 2019 to last week’s selection of a concept.

The coordinated terror attacks in November 2015 took the lives of at least 130 people and injured over 350. So far, one Belgian national has been arrested and is currently awaiting trial. Salah Abdeslam is reportedly the only survivor of the group that actively participated in opening the fire on that night, while other 19 people are on trial for suspected assistance to the attackers. The verdicts are due on 29 June 2022.