Paris- Explore Old Jewish Quarter - the Marais

Picasso Museum,Historic Place des Vosges, Victor Hugo’s House

Mar 23, 2007 Cathy Smith

See what Paris looked like in the early 19th-century before its medievial heart was destroyed by Baron Haussman. Somehow the Marais managed to escape the destruction.

In the l850’s medieval Paris was gutted by Baron Haussman (sometimes referred to as the human bulldozer) who was given carte blanche by Napoleon III to turn the ancient city into a modern metropolis. He ruthlessly cleared out thousands of inhabitants and demolished dozens of small crowded streets in order to create the broad boulevards that we see today.

Whether by accident or design,the Marais managed to escape the onslaught and today this is where you must go to glimpse what Paris was like before Haussman.

The area is full of narrow winding streets and the best way to go is on foot and explore the small shops, specialist bookshops, and craft workshops, as we as dozens of cafes and tea salons.

Paris - Marais - The Place des Vosges

The Place des Vosges is the heart of the Marais. The tree-lined square is the largest expanse of green in the quarter and is popular with local residents who bring toddlers to play, lunch-time sandwiches to munch, or to just rest awhile on a shady bench.

Tranquil arcades house cafes and antique shops and the magnificent houses which surround the square - all of them designated historic monuments - have been home to some of France’s most famous figures. Cardinal Richelieu, the ruthless and powerful politician, lived here and tried to stop duelling in the square by beheading the participants. Victor Hugo, the great poet and novelist who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables , lived at No.6. The house is now a museum to his life and includes the strange pieces of furniture he designed and decorated himself. Closer to our own times, the writer Georges Simenon created his best-selling Inspector Maigret novels here.

Paris - Marais - The Picasso Museum

Strolling around the Marais you will come across many beautiful l7th-century mansions with an elegant forecourt at the front and a large garden at the back. One of these houses, the Hotel Sale (built in the l7th-century for a man who had made a fortune out of collection salt taxes) is now the Picasso Museum which contains the largest collection of the artist’s works in the world. What makes this collection even more attractive is that these were works that Picasso himself owned and there are paintings from every period of his life.

Paris - Marais - Sidewalk Cafes

Parisians seem to have developed a nice taste for doing nothing - and they mostly do nothing at the sidewalk cafes. So, when in Paris do as the Parisians do. The Marais is full of charming cafes; find one and settle down for a treat. There are few things more pleasant or civilized than a Parisian terrasse and remember you are not just paying for a cup of coffee - the table is yours for as long as you like. You can use it to write your postcards or read your newspaper. Spend as long as you wish, there will be no pressure on you to buy more or to move on.

Paris - Marais - The Jewish Quarter

Don’t leave the Marais without taking a walk around the old Jewish Quarter where Jews have lived since the l3th century. Mostly centred around the rue des Rosiers, this is a lively area with cobbled streets lined with kosher delicatessens, Middle Eastern restaurants and Hebrew booksellers, junk/antique shops as well as designer boutiques and art galleries.

The labyrinth of narrow alleys and crooked streets which make up the Jewish Quarter represent the ancient face of the Marais. But the liveliness of the street life, the bustle of busy shops and cafes, and the boutiques full of up-to-date haute couture show that the old and the new are in harmony in the Marais.

The Marais is also the centre of gay culture in Paris.