Republic of Texas Embassy, Paris, France

As you well know, I'm a big Texas history buff. So, with ample time here in Paris, I chose to visit one of the most obscure tourist sites imaginable: The site of the former legation of the Republic of Texas in Paris.

Yes folks, that's right. Texas used to have an Embassy in France. And France used to have one in Texas too.

I'm not sure who was more a fish out of water, the French ambassador in Austin, or the Texian ambassador in Paris.

The French Ambassador found himself living in a ramshackle town with mud for streets named Austin. The town had originally been named "Waterloo" - after the battle in which Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo (an amazing coincidence - like Lou Gherig contracting Lou Gherig's disease).

Of course, the French Ambassador was the frequent dinner guest of Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar, who just happened to be named after two great Frenchmen of the revolutionary generation, so if he felt slighted by the former name of the town, he probably got over it. What he didn't get over, as the historians tell us, is coming out of his front door one day and having an arrow from a Comanche raiding party sail past his head and stick in the wall nearby.

The Texian ambassador's exploits are less well recorded, but they certainly must have been interesting. He was quartered here at this spot at the Place Vendome (whether this exact building was here at the time or not I was not able to tell, but the address matches).

Place Vendome is much more commonly known as the site of a square featuring this monument, which was built to honor Napoleon Bonaparte's exploits. The Texian ambassador, representing a country whose capitol was in a log cabin, probably couldn't enjoy the finest dinners in Paris, but at least he could see this out his window every day:


Unfortunately, this is a replica. In 1871, after the Prussian Army captured Paris, a communistic uprising in the city attacked monuments they associated with the militarism that they claimed had failed France and led to its prostration (though it could be argued that it was an insufficient militarism by that point). Anyway, the protesters tore down this monument, and it was a few years later when it was replaced using the original patterns.

For those interested in Texas' diplomatic exploits as an international diplomatic powerhouse, we also maintained embassies in Washington, D.C. and in London. Not sure of the location of the D.C. embassy (I'll research before I go there the next time), but the embassy in London is very well-known. The building that houses it later became the headquarters of the White Star Line, a transatlantic passenger liner service. You may have heard of it. The company went under a few years after its flagship, the Titanic, went under itself.

The Texian Embassy in London has actually been converted into a Texas-themed restaurant. Here's their webpage.