"
Welcome Harry to Diagon Alley,
" Hagrid says to the sorcerer's apprentice.
Then he taps the end of his umbrella on a few bricks on a dark wall that conceals the Hogwarts students' favorite shopping street.
Twenty years later, this fictional street from JK Rowling's novels has come to Paris, a stone's throw from Place Rhin-et-Danube in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
The story begins more than a year ago, when a street art collective decides to make a joke and invite the world of Harry Potter to the heart of the city of muggles. During the first confinement, and while all the restaurants and bars are closed, they put up a cardboard sign very similar to the style of Parisian road signs and pointing to Diagon Alley. For Muggles, Diagon Alley is a fictional shopping street in the heart of London. For lovers of magic, it is none other than one of the most extraordinary streets in the British city, a must for anyone wishing to enter Hogwarts, the wizarding school.
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This sign, at the top of which the false cardboard is now perched, is located in the middle of the terrace of the Café Parisien, a brasserie overlooking the Place Rhin-et-Danube. More than a month ago, the owner of the café sent a request to Marie de Paris so that this sign could be moved and no longer clutter his terrace. This is why, Tuesday October 26, agents of the roads of Paris went on the spot in order to move the panel of a few meters. Discovering the panel damaged by the rain, they place an order with the town hall of Pari to replace it. The next day, they return with a new and complete road sign, indicating a tourist walk bearing the name of "
Diagon Alley
".
The original panel, installed by the street art collective in 2020 LeFigaro
Since then, everyone has been looking for this mysterious collective of street artists.
“
I tried to find the exact names of the artists on the Internet, but I couldn't find anything.
I have the impression that they have disappeared since this installation,
”explains Sylia, the daughter of the owner of the Parisian café.
What is certain is that the sign points to a pedestrian path, rue Francis Ponge which itself leads to the Jardin Hérold which dominates all of Paris.
Nice walk for sure, but still not the magical path Harry Potter took to buy his school supplies.
Repaired by the owners of the Café Parisien, the cardboard panel will remain behind the bar: "
It is part of the decor now, everyone is used to it, including us, we are going to display it high up
", Sylia concludes.
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If this sign makes many residents of the neighborhood laugh, some remain skeptical, especially on social networks where #saccageparis activists blame the cost of the operation.
The sign could however become a real tourist attraction, especially since the municipal employees directed it towards a real pedestrian alley.
And, so far, nothing says that the roads of Paris made a mistake;
it may be a coup of the International Confederation of Wizards.
