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In La Vanguardia Readers' Photos we can see the map of Paris that can be discovered hidden under the vaults of the Rambla in the city of Girona. But what is that map doing in this place?
As a plaque says, it is a tempera painting from the 19th century. The plan was painted by the Girona decorator Salvi Camós i Ventura (Girona, 1835 – 1914) as an advertising claim for Dolors Solana's store, Merceria – Perfumería Emperatriz, now defunct.
The peculiar layout of the city of Paris painted at the end of the Rambla vaults represents the central area of the French capital, with the Cité Island and the Louvre. It was restored in 1982.
As a curiosity, if we looked at both the map of the city of Girona and that of Paris, we would realize that they have rivers as a common denominator. In the case of the French capital, the famous Seine.
And, as far as Girona is concerned, the city is located at the confluence of the rivers Onyar, Güell, Galligants and Ter. Would the Onyar be the equivalent of the Seine in the Gerund capital?
In fact, one of the most photographed urban landscapes in Girona are the Onyar houses, which have facades that face the river in the section of La Rambla and Argenteria street in Barri Vell. Together, they make up a work included in the Inventory of the Architectural Heritage of Catalonia.
