Parc Bougainville

Bougainville Park was renovated in 2003 with benches, tables, a play area and a "fare pote'e" making the park a more agreeable place to visit.
Formerly called the Place Publique de Papeete, it was once a place where festivities and ceremonies were held, such as on June 29, 1880 when King Pomare V ceded the Society Islands to France.
In the 1840s, there were several administrative buildings in the park, including the military general store, Port Authority offices, the Post Office and the Customs Office.
In February 1906 all of these builings were destroyed by a cyclone. The Post Office was rebuilt and remains the only administrative building in the park. There were public baths alongside the river in the 1920s.
In 1934, the Place Publique de Papeete was renamed Place Albert 1er in honor of the third king of Belgium (1875-1934). On April 6, 1968, a bronze bust of the navigator Bougainville, was installed in the park and the locals gradually took to referring to the park by that name. To avoid a possible diplomatic incident with Belgium, Papeete town council established a by-law which formally baptized the park Place Albert 1er. However, the local population never took to that name and eventually, in 2005, it was officially re-baptized "Parc Bougainville".