By 1855, the Place was already a tourist destination, with several
omnibuses traversing the square, and the Church highlighted. Ticket offices for the omnibuses and trains opened on the Place by 1857. By 1867, a “generally well kept
water-closet” opened for people who were waiting to change omnibuses, as well as railroad ticket offices. After the
war and
insurrection, British and American tourists were directed to see the fountain and flowers sold at the Place. As of 1894, the square, laid out in 1811 by
Napoleon’s decree, was already described as “Old and New Paris” and a flower market had been established. As of 1916,
motor buses replaced the old omnibus. In the 1920s, there was an annual
fête in May; stores selling antiques, books, and costumes lined the Place. In his memoir of those days,
Ernest Hemingway wrote in
A Moveable Feast about the Place and its sites, both fixed like the benches, trees, statues of bishops, and lions, as well as the unfixed, walking pigeons. A café on the square, “Café de la Mairie, served food and drinks” to
Lost Generation writers, which included Hemingway,
F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Djuna Barnes, and
Samuel Beckett. The Café was known in the 1950s and 1960s for its “flair.” The big draw for tourists has always been the Church, In 1975,
George Perec famously wrote, “There are many things on the Place Saint-Sulpice.” In a
Futurist perspective, “Place Saint-Sulpice 2.0 is a layered place, in part a public place, in part a parochial location.” ==Features==