In Paris, the apartment of the poet Prévert is threatened by a Moulin Rouge expansion project.

The Paris Council (the deliberative assembly of the City of Paris), meeting this week, adopted a resolution asking the State to intervene "quickly" to save this "unique" heritage, a witness to the cultural and literary history of the French capital.

Jacques Prévert, whose work has been translated into several languages ​​and continues to be studied in French classes in many countries, lived for more than 20 years in Cité Véron, a narrow dead-end street lined with vines located behind the wings of the famous cabaret, before settling in Normandy (northwest) shortly before his death in 1977 at the age of 77.

His apartment opens onto a terrace which he shared with Boris Vian and his second wife, Ursula Vian-Kübler, where the parties of the College of Pataphysics, the parodic learned society invented by Alfred Jarry, took place.

But it is also part of an iconic site in the history of live entertainment, the one where the music-hall legend, Mistinguett, performed for more than ten years, until the early 1930s.

His grand revues raised the temple of the "French cancan" to the height of its glory, after it had been completely destroyed by fire in 1915.

"The 'Mistinguett room' is the historic room of the Moulin Rouge," explains its general manager, Jean-Victor Clérico, to AFP.

The rehabilitation of the site, originally an Italian-style theatre, would offer future shows a "stronger stage setting" than the hall currently hosting the public - between 550.000 and 600.000 visitors per year - which is considered "at the end of its life".

The Parisian cabaret therefore decided last September not to renew the leases for the apartments of Jacques Prévert and Boris Vian, which it has owned since 2009, and which the Mistinguett room encompassed.

"We have until March 2026 to leave," laments Eugénie Bachelot-Prévert, the poet and screenwriter's granddaughter, to AFP. Home to the "Chez Jacques Prévert" association, the apartment also serves as a small museum open to visitors, but only on certain days and by appointment.

"All the memories of my grandfather"

It contains the writer's office, his old telephone, his dining room, his small canvases and the room of his daughter Michèle, furnished with the four-poster bed that served as a backdrop for the film Notre-Dame de Paris (1956) with the Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida.

"All of my grandfather's memories are there," the heiress sums up. She also highlights the very particular architecture of the apartment that the writer had designed by Jacques Couëlle, renowned for his houses with organic and sculptural forms.

With its walls hollowed out with niches and whitewashed with lime, it is also "this Mediterranean spirit in the heart of Paris that will be destroyed by the Moulin Rouge transformation project," worries Eugénie Bachelot-Prévert.

The Moulin Rouge suggested that he relocate the apartment elsewhere, taking his furniture with him.

But "a reconstruction elsewhere could not restore the spirit and energy of the Montmartre district, which is inscribed in the collective memory and in the artistic history of the 20th century," according to the Paris City Hall.

The wish emanating from the communist elected officials asks the State to "recognize and protect without delay" the site "in situ", "in respect of its memory".

Prévert's heir, who plans to turn it into a permanent museum, is in discussions with the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC). "The Ministry of Culture is closely monitoring this matter" and "is currently in discussions" with the parties involved to find a solution, it told AFP.

The mayor of the 18th arrondissement, Eric Lejoindre, has offered mediation to "explore solutions that preserve the site's history while respecting the Moulin Rouge's property rights." He told AFP that there has been no response so far.

"Our elected officials wanted to gain some attention before the municipal elections. At no point were they interested in our project, even though they are quite happy to bask in the limelight at the Moulin Rouge when it suits them," complains Jean-Victor Clérico.

He specifies that he wants to "allow time for discussion" with the heirs of Jacques Prévert and Boris Vian, beyond March 2026, knowing that the rehabilitation of the Mistinguett hall "will extend over several years between now and 2030".

When questioned by AFP, Nicole Bertolt, the executor of Boris Vian's estate, said that she and the writer's grandson were "taking time to reflect" and that they were trying to "find a way to reach an agreement with the Moulin Rouge".