Guide Tour of the Grands Boulevards area, Paris, France
The Grands Boulevards are essentially the best of the Parisian boulevards. Parisians made the boulevards into promenades which have remained popular through the ages and changes in the city. The boulevards form an important part of the urban and social identity of Paris. The treasures of this lively area with theatres, show venues, covered passages, museums and more.
Built under Louis XIV on the site of ancient wall that surrounded the Paris, the Grands Boulevards were the first great promenade of the capital. In the western part, nobility and finance built magnificent mansions, while in the eastern part, called Boulevard du Crime, were established popular attractions. The Grands Boulevards, correspond to the Nouveau Cours built between 1668 and 1705 in place of the dismantled Louis XIII wall. The boulevards of Louis XIV were conceived by Pierre Bullet to link the Porte Saint-Antoine (situated where the Place de la Bastille now stands) to the Porte Saint-Honoré (situated where the Place de la Madeleine now stands).
Under the rule of Napoleon III, Haussmann create a uniform style of elegance, excellence., paving the way for wide boulevards that would not only connect the city’s neighborhoods, but would also allow it to breathe, expand to new areas and showcase its best landmarks. The wide tree-lined boulevards that crisscross the city, have turned Paris into one giant museum and those beautiful buildings that line the Grands Boulevards are among the city’s signature icons.
Filled with concert venues, theatres, cafés and restaurants, the Grands Boulevards area has long been popular with Parisians as a place of enjoyment and relaxation. There are many treasures to be uncovered here: grand architecture, places steeped in history, covered passages that have retained their old-world charm, and unusual museums.
Maupassant ‘s Bel-Ami wandered the boulevards in search of pleasure. Most of the novel Nadja by the surrealist André Breton takes place there, in the mid-1920s. And, in the 1950s, it was still on the boulevards that Fred Astaire felt the pleasure of being in Paris best in Funny Facing. In the 20th century, especially in the western part, many cafes and restaurants were replaced by office buildings or company headquarters.
In the 19th century, the Grands Boulevards became an essential meeting place for the Carnival of Paris, then very important. They see the crowd in carnival invade them to the point that, around 1900, the three fat days with Mardi Gras, and the Thursday of Mi-Carême, one must divert the circulation of vehicles and interrupt the passage of the famous omnibus Madeleine – Bastille. During their parades in Paris, the processions of the Bœuf Gras and the queens of Mi-Carême inevitably pass by.
The Grands Boulevards area in the 2nd arrondissement
The 2nd arrondissement of Paris, also known as the arrondissement of Bourse, is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. The 2nd arrondissement is one of the financial centres of Europe, houses the city’s most dense concentration of business activities. The main buildings are the former headquarters of the Stock Exchange and the National Library of France. Other major activities in the neighbourhood are journalism and fashion. In the fascinating historic sites like pedestrian style market streets, there are shopping arcades, fashion and jewelry showrooms.
The 2nd arrondissement is located in the city center, on the finger bank of the Seine. It is the smallest district of the city. In the 16th century, the city extended to the current level of the Grands Boulevards, then traced from the enclosure of Louis XIII. The 2nd arrondissement is very close to the historic center, there are many interesting streets, quiet, calm and freshness. The 2nd arrondissement is the home of Grand Rex, the largest movie theater in Paris.
The 2nd arrondissement offer a wide array of foodie delights, lots of history, and a side of Paris that many don’t ever see. The 2nd arrondissement with the beautiful ornately decorated covered passages of Paris, Several “Passages”, narrow galleries crossing a block of buildings from side to side and connecting two parallel streets. these passages generally contain shops of all styles but also cafes, hotels or museums.
The 2nd arrondissement is home to the galleries, covered passages lined with shops, which are quite possibly the prototypes of today’s shopping malls. The 2nd arrondissement is also the home of most of Paris’s surviving 19th-century glazed commercial arcades. At the beginning of the 19th century, most of the streets of Paris were dark, muddy, and lacked sidewalks. A few entrepreneurs copied the success of the Passage des Panoramas and its well-lit, dry, and paved pedestrian passageways. By the middle of the 19th century, there were about two dozen of these commercial malls, but most of them disappeared as the Paris authorities paved the main streets and added sidewalks, as well as gas street lighting.
Quartier of Vivienne
The Vivienne district is the 6th administrative district of Paris, it is located in the 2nd arrondissement. The Vivienne district contains both the Paris Stock Exchange (Palais Brongniart), the Richelieu-Louvois site of the National Library, the Church of Notre-Dame des Victoires, object of particular fervor, and the Opera Theater -Comical. The name of this neighbourhood (and the eponymous street opened between 1784 and 1830) probably comes from the Vivien family, which gave Paris an alderman (a municipal magistrate) in 1599. It was therefore decided to name this district Vivienne to refer to Louis Vivien, alderman and lord of Saint-Marc.
In this district, the main point of interest is the Galerie Vivienne (listed as a historical monument in 1974). Built in 1823 and inaugurated in 1826, it housed (yesterday and today) numerous shops. Having fallen into disuse over the years and threatened with demolition, it was not until the installation of Jean-Paul Gaultier and many high-fashion boutiques that it was able to regain its former panache.
Covered Arcades
Out of the 150 or so covered walkways once lining the city, less than 30 remain and a largest number of them in the 2nd arrondissement. Starting in the late 18th century, covered passages transformed shopping in Paris, the developers who bought these properties sought to maximize their profits by subdividing them and creating passages lined with small businesses and boutiques between the larger buildings.
Prototype of the current shopping malls, the Galleries began to appear in 1786, when the Duke of Orleans at the time realized that there could be money in be done by renting its interior gardens to shopkeepers. With their glass roofs and tiled floors, these galleries were a resounding success with the new bourgeoisie of the early 19th century, well before the arrival of electric light and sidewalks.
At that time, Paris retained much of its medieval character. Going out to shop meant trudging through crowds down narrow muddy lanes, getting splashed with water (and worse things) by passing horses, walking past open sewers, and trying not to choke from the stench permeating the city. So when developers transformed the passages between buildings into arcades covered by glass roofs to let sunlight stream in while keeping out rain, floors paved with tile to keep feet dry, and shops and cafes lining both sides began springing up around the city.
Galerie Vivienne
The Galerie Vivienne is one of the covered passages of Paris, France, located in the 2nd arrondissement. It is 176 metres (577 ft) long and 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide. The gallery has been registered as a historical monument since 7 July 1974. François-Jacques Delannoy conceived the decor in neo-classical Pompeian style covered with an elegant canopy, with mosaics, paintings and sculptures exalting trade.
The restoration work rehabilitated the abundant ornaments around the half-moon windows, and the goddesses and nymphs that adorn the rotunda. The floor mosaics, with a terrazzo background, are by Giandomenico Facchina and Mazzioli. Their sobriety underlined by the repetition of simple geometric shapes is reminiscent of the style of the mosaics of the rue de Rivoli. The large 42 m long gallery is followed by a glazed rotunda with a hemispherical glass dome, the whole being original.
Passage Choiseul
Passage Choiseul is one of the covered passages of Paris, France located in the 2nd arrondissement. It is a registered historic monument in France. It is the continuation of Rue de Choiseul. The passage was built between 1826 and 1827, first to the designs of the architect François Mazois, then Antoine Tavernier. Mazois died before the building was complete, and Tavernier completed the work. The author Louis-Ferdinand Céline lived here as a child in the early 20th century. The Passage Choiseul is mentioned in two of his novels. In 1907 the glass roof was replaced. The passage later fell into disrepair. In the 1970s visitation increased when Kenzo opened a boutique in the passage.
Today, Passage Choiseul is a shopping and food area. It has restaurants, clothing stores, book stores, jewellery shops, art galleries, art supply shops and a hair stylist. The entrance to the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens is located in the passage. The ground floor is mainly retail and the upper floors are primarily residential. It is the longest covered passage in the city, at 190 meters long and 3.7 meters wide. In 2012, renovations and restoration were begun under Jean Frédéric Grevet.
Passage des Panoramas
The Passage des Panoramas is the oldest of the covered passages of Paris, France located in the 2nd arrondissement between the Montmartre boulevard to the North and Saint-Marc street to the south. It is one of the earliest venues of the Parisian philatelic trade, and it was one of the first covered commercial passageways in Europe. Its name came from an attraction built on the site; two large rotundas where panoramic paintings of Paris, Toulon, Rome, Jerusalem, and other famous cities were displayed.
It was an ancestor of the city gallerias of the 19th century and the covered suburban and city shopping malls of the 20th century. They were a business venture of the American inventor Robert Fulton,. Bazaars and souks in the Orient had roofed commercial passageways centuries earlier but the Passage de Panoramas innovated in having glazed roofing and, later on, in 1817, gas lights for illumination. The doorway of the modern building, of the house, which opened on rue Saint-Marc, facing the rue des Panoramas, was the gateway of the original mansion.
The rotundas were destroyed in 1831. In the 1830s, the architect Jean-Louis Victor Grisart renovated the passage and created three additional galleries inside the block of houses: the Saint-Marc gallery parallel with the passage, the gallery of the Variétés which gives access to the entry of the artists of the Théâtre de Variétés, and the Feydeau galleries and Montmartre. Stern the famous engraver settled there in 1834, then merchants of postcards and postage stamps, and some restaurants moved in. The part of the passage close to the Montmartre boulevard is richly decorated, while the distant part is more modest. The passage, as it was in 1867, is described in chapter VII of Émile Zola’s novel Nana.
Passage of the Princes
The Passage des Princes is a Parisian covered passage in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. It was the last covered passage built in Paris in the 19th century. The banker Jules Mirès bought the Grand Hôtel des Princes et de l’Europe, a palace located at 97, rue de Richelieu, as well as a plot for the construction of a passage constituting a shortcut for pedestrians. It was a gallery with a fairly simple decor surmounted by a double-sloped glass roof punctuated at each bay by double metal arches forming arabesques. The passage was inaugurated in 1860, under the name of “passage Mirès”, and was appreciated at the time for its appearance of good taste and its spaciousness.
Between 1879 and 1883 was opened at the corner of the passage, on the boulevard des Italiens side, the gallery of Modern Life, founded by Georges Charpentier where most of the Impressionists exhibited. The passage was destroyed in 1985 for a real estate operation but was rebuilt identically in 1995 by the architects A. Georgel and A. Mrowiec. Nevertheless, the open angle that it originally formed was then straightened to form a right angle, which made it possible to make better use of the premises: shops on the ground floor, offices on the first to fourth floors, dwellings on the fifth and sixth. Various elements of the original decor were then reused, such as a beautiful 1930s dome in colored glass decorated with roses, reinstalled on the portion located near the boulevard des Italiens or the access porch on the sideRichelieu Street.
Passage of the Grand-Cerf
Passage du Grand-Cerf is a covered passage located between 10, rue Dussoubs and 145, rue Saint-Denis, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, in the Bonne-Nouvelle district. Passage du Grand-Cerf is home to boutiques selling craftsmen, creators, decorators, fashion designers and communication professionals. The current architecture of the passage dates it back to 1845 rather than 1825. This is actually the year when this passage was covered by a large glass roof. The use of metal structures made it possible to place it at a high height and thus free up large glazed surfaces in height, at the level of the interior facades of the shops.
Sentier neighborhood
The Sentier neighborhood covers the corner of the 2nd arrondissement that lies roughly east of Rue Montmartre and north of Rue Réaumur and is a fascinating mix of Paris’s traditional wholesale fabric and clothing district, tech companies, and foodies. Today, the Sentier is associated with ready-to-wear due to the strong presence of textile stores, it is also a popular place for start-ups.
But it is also a district that offers pleasant walks thanks to its pretty covered passages which plunge us into the Paris of yesteryear, but also thanks to its historic alleys and its popular atmosphere. The wholesale shops make for fun window-shopping. In addition to Chef Marchand’s mini-empire, also many other appealing spots for a meal or quick drink.
This rectangle of buildings is today a breeding ground for textile shops… These last years, commercial activity has diversified. Many Internet start-ups have also taken up residence, renaming the district “Silicon Sentier”. The district is also crossed by the streets of Cairo, Aboukir and Nil. They evoke Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt in 1798. The Sentier district is particularly popular for a street well known to Parisians: rue Montorgueil. Greengrocers, cafes, restaurants, grocers…
By crossing a few sidewalks, Sentier district surprising changes in atmosphere that operate in certain districts, which takes on several faces: the Place des Victoires and the surrounding streets (rue des Petits Pères, rue la Vrillière, rue Hérold, etc.) constitute the part of the corner, while towards the Eglise St Eustache, it is the “bobos” who come to seek out the sunny terraces.
St. Denis Street and its surroundings are much more noisy and popular. Crossed among others by rue d’Aboukir, rue du Caire, its square of the same name and rue du Nil (the names of these streets are a reminder of Napoleon Bonaparte’s fabulous expedition to Egypt in 1798), the district of Sentier is traditionally the Parisian place for the manufacture and the wholesale and retail trade of multi-ethnic textiles.
Sentier, a district steeped in history. On the left sidewalk, the charming little square of Cairo is a former court of miracles. A little further on, at number 20 rue Etienne Marcel, lies a vestige of medieval Paris with a very curious name: the Tour Jean Sans Peur. Former fortification tower erected in the 15th century, it was built under the will of Duke Jean I of Burgundy, known as Jean Sans Peur. On November 23, 1407, Jean sans Peur had his cousin, Louis d’Orléans, assassinated.
A little further on, the elegant Place des Victoires dedicated to the military victories of Louis XIV (whose equestrian statue stands in the middle) is one of the four royal squares of the capital (along with Place Dauphine, Place Vendôme and the Place des Vosges). The arcades of the square are home to a few luxury boutiques whose superb windows continue to attract tourists and wealthy Parisians. A little further north, the Place des Petits Pères hides the Roman basilica of Notre Dame des Victoires. Dedicated to Mary since 1836, it has an impressive number of offerings and relics.
Main Attractions
As the 2nd is the smallest arrondissement, it is easy to travel many places within it on foot. Discover the 2nd arrondissement by take a walk to different neighborhoods, from the French restaurants, to the market on rue Montorgueil, and the small museum where you can learn about the history of the city…
The Bourse neighborhood, named after the former Paris stock exchange once located in the majestic Palais Brogniart, occupies the 2nd district’s middle swath. This is where you can explore the city’s largest concentration of 19th century historic glass-roofed arcades.
A walking tour of the galleries can easily be accomplished in an hour or so. Prototypical indoor shopping malls, the galleries got their start in 1786 when the Duke of Orleans realized that there was money to be made by renting out his cloistered garden to small shops. With their glass roofs and tiled floors they were a welcome respite to the newly emerging middle-class shopper of the early 19th century, in the days before electric light and sidewalks.
West of Avenue de l’Opéra is the 2nd arrondissement’s most glamorous neighborhood where you’ll find glitzy designer boutiques, upscale restaurants, and 4- and 5-star hotels including the renowned Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme, thanks to the well-heeled crowds drawn to the world-famous jewelry emporiums along Rue de la Paix, the Paris Opera House just steps away.
At the eastern end of the 2nd arrondissement, explore the Sentier neighborhood, Paris’s newest hot destination, still filled with wholesale textile stores and garment manufacturers although they are now losing ground to hip bistros, bars, and upscale hotels.
Rue Sainte-Anne with many popular Asian restaurants offering cheese, wine, and baguettes in the wonderful pedestrian-only Rue Montorgueil market street. Rue de Nil, home to the Chef Grégory Marchand’s renowned Frenchie restaurant and other eateries, bars, and shops featuring locally-sourced produce, meat, fish, and cheese.
Palais Brongniart
The Palais Brongniart housed the historical Paris stock exchange. It is located at the Place de la Bourse, in the II arrondissement, Paris. The Commodities Exchange was housed in the same building until 1889, when it moved to the present Bourse de commerce. Moreover, until about the middle of the 20th century, a parallel market known as “La Coulisse” was in operation. Since 1987, spot share market prices have been managed by computer on the premises of the banks, outside the Palais Brongniart. The latter then hosts, for another twelve years, the futures market for contracts on the CAC 40 index, the Matif, until November 6, 1998. The Brongniart Palace is currently a place for conferences, congresses, seminars, receptions, lunches, dinners, cocktails, galas, trade fairs, exhibitions.
Palais Brongniart is a rectangular neoclassical Roman temple with a giant Corinthian colonnade enclosing a vaulted and arcaded central chamber. From 1901 to 1905, Jean-Baptiste-Frederic Cavel designed the addition of two lateral wings, resulting in a cruciform plan with innumerable columns. The painter Alexandre Denis Abel de Pujol (1785-1861), made the decorations of the ceiling, as well as Charles Meynier (1768-1832), paintings in grisailles representing the different cities of France, completed with a frieze of garlands where the different stock exchanges in Europe. Éloi Labarre (1764-1833) the architect decorated the stockbrokers’ meeting room. The sculptor Louis-Denis Caillouette (1790-168), made the statues of Justice and Europe, Asia bas-reliefs above the doors, as well as Jean-Baptiste Joseph De Bay (1779-1863). The vault in grisaille by Auguste Vinchon(1789-1855), and Merry-Joseph Blondel (1781-1853).
Tower of John the Fearless
The Tour Jean-sans-Peur located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, is the last vestige of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, the residence first of the Counts of Artois and then the Dukes of Burgundy. The tower contained bed chambers and the grand stairway of the original residence, which stood next to it. It is one of the best surviving examples of medieval residential architecture in Paris.
It was completed between 1409–1411 by Jean sans Peur. The original hôtel occupied about a hectare of land, the boundaries of which are now marked by the rues Étienne Marcel, Montorgueil, Saint-Sauveur, and Saint-Denis. The tower itself is located at 20 rue Étienne Marcel, in the courtyard of an elementary school. It was in 1866-1868 that the tower was rediscovered. It is then classified as historical monuments by a decree of theSeptember 29, 18841, then restored in 1893. Since 1999, the tower is open to the public and presents changing expositions on life in the Middle Ages.
National Library of France
The Bibliothèque nationale de France is the national library of France, located in Paris. Heiress to the royal collections built up since the Middle Ages, it has one of the richest collections in the world. It is the national repository of all that is published in France and also holds extensive historical collections.
Each year, the library receives more than 70,000 books by legal deposit as well as more than 250,000 issues of periodicals and thousands of specialized documents, but it also makes purchases and receives donations. The BnF is also known for its digital library, Gallica, which allows direct consultation of the reproduction of more than 7,600,000 documents in text, image or sound format. The François-Mitterrand site also hosts the Inathèqueof France, responsible for the legal deposit of radio and television and also comprising a film fund.
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. It was also called the Théâtre-Italien up to about 1793, when it again became most commonly known as the Opéra-Comique. Today the company’s official name is Théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique, and its theatre, with a capacity of around 1,248 seats.
Capucines Theatre-Museum
The Théâtre-Musée des Capucines is a private museum dedicated to perfume, and located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris at 39, boulevard des Capucines, Paris, France. The museum was created in 1993 by the Fragonard perfume company within a former theater, the Théâtre des Capucines, dating to 1889. It exhibits 19th-century copper distilling apparatus, alembics, flasks, pots-pourris, and perfume roasters, as well as the animals and plants that provide raw materials for perfumes. A collection of perfume bottles illustrates 3000 years of perfume making.
The Grands Boulevards area in the 9th arrondissement
The 9th arrondissement of Paris, also known as arrondissement of Opéra, is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It contains many places of cultural, historical, and architectural interest, including the Palais Garnier, home to the Paris Opera, Boulevard Haussmann, and its large department stores Galeries Lafayette and Printemps.
The 9th arrondissement hosts one of the business centers of Paris, located around the Opéra. With its historic opera, its museums and its emblematic boulevards, the 9th arrondissement is a district full of charm, which acts as a bridge between the heart of Paris and the heights of Montmartre. It is known for its grand Haussmann boulevards, lined with private mansions, between banks and chic boutiques, hidden passageways housing charming shopping arcades and its exclusive Parisian department stores.
The arrondissement is also to major Parisian cultural venues, and has many theaters including Folies Bergères, Théatre Mogador and Théatre de Paris. Such as the Opéra Garnier. In addition, the Drouot auction house attracts many visitors, such as, further north, the museum of romantic life in rue Chaptal and the Gustave-Moreau museum, located in rue Catherine-de-La-Rochefoucauld.
The 9th arrondissement of Paris is a diverse section of the French capital. In the four corners of the borough, other cultural nuggets are hidden. In the district of New Athens, the Museum of Romantic Life, located in the former residence of the painter Ary Scheffer, reveals the works of the artist and devotes the first floor to the writer Georges Sand. Very confidential, the Gustave Moreau National Museum takes visitors on a discovery of the Symbolist painter’s apartment and workshops. Grévin Paris, the famous wax museum on Boulevard Montmartre, remains an unmissable outing with family or friends. The Museum of Freemasonry, installed at the headquarters of the Grand Orient rue Cadet, tells the story, the rites and the symbols of this ancient brotherhood.
Quartier of Faubourg-Montmartre
Located in the south-east of the 9th arrondissement of Paris, the Faubourg-Montmartre district is the 35th administrative district of the capital. It is bounded to the north by the streets of Montholon and Lamartine. The Boulevard des Italiens and the Boulevard Poissonnière mark its southern border while to the west, we find Laffitte and Fléchier streets. To the east Faubourg-Poissonnière Street, separates it from the Chaussée d’Antin district.
By its name, the Faubourg-Montmartre directly echoes the Montmartre district. Formerly a commune of extramural market garden lands, it bordered Paris and was located on the main road leading to the Montmartre Abbey. One could find in its surroundings some “follies”, these luxurious country houses where the rich bourgeois used to receive their mistresses to do “follies”. After a period of significant urbanisation under Louis XVI, the capital expanded in 1784 through the annexation of surrounding villages. During the French Revolution, the district took the name of “section du Faubourg-Montmartre”.
The district was created in 1790 during the French Revolution and was then called the Section du Faubourg-Montmartre. The district is bordered to the south by the Grands Boulevards, includes a large number of performance halls. The most famous is certainly the music hall of the Folies Bergère located rue Richer, whose name is taken from the nearby rue Bergère. Radiating out from rue du Faubourg Montmartre, this bustling shopping district features several of Paris’s typical covered arcades, Passage Jouffroy, Passage Verdeau and Passage des Panoramas, worth exploring if you’re looking for something a bit different. Cafes and restaurants are plentiful too, including the Bouillon Chartier, dating from the 19th century.
There is also the Trévise theater (presenting more specifically one-man shows), the Nouveautes theater (boulevard comedy) and the Palace which has recently regained its original vocation, after having been a mythical nightclub in the 1970s. The Max Linder cinema is located at 24, boulevard Poissonnière. It has a single projection room, which nevertheless has 560 seats and a large screen. The town hall of the 9th arrondissement is located rue Drouot, in a former private mansion of the 18th century, much remodeled during the following century. This street is also known to house the Drouot auction house. The building is used by various auctioneer studies.
The district is home to Paris’s wax museum, the Musée Grévin; the headquarters of the Grand Orient de France and Museum of Freemasonry; the Drouot auction rooms; the 9th arrondissement’s city hall (in an 18th-century town house) and the quiet residential streets of the Cité Bergère and Cité de Trévise. It also has a vibrant night life, with numerous bars, cabarets, theatres and cinemas, including the Folies Bergère, the Palace, the Variétés, Nouveautés and Trévise theatres, and the Max Linder and Grand Rex cinemas.
Main Attractions
Located in the center of Paris, the 9th arrondissement is surprisingly contrasting. From the Haussmannian Grands Boulevards to the popular Pigalle, it is a multi-faceted district, both historical and family-oriented, cultural and commercial, touristic and festive. The 9th arrondissement nonetheless immense in terms of its influence, it houses one of the jewels of French heritage: the very prestigious Palais Garnier. From the Grands Boulevards to Pigalle, discover the historical, cultural, commercial and festive facets of the 9th arrondissement.
The residential district was developed during the Belle Epoque era of the early 1900s when the Paris bourgeois class was burgeoning. The 19th-century redevelopment work of Baron Haussmann is evident in the 9th, and it was perhaps the most affected of the Paris arrondissements. The wide, straight boulevards and streets are the legacy of Haussmann.
It’s one of the busiest of the Paris arrondissements, with the Belle Epoque department stores Galeries Lafayette and Printemps drawing shoppers from all over the city. In the southeast of the arrondissement, stroll along the Grands Boulevards to do some luxury shopping in the Parisian department stores, nestled in elegant Haussmann buildings.
The 9th arrondissement is a very culturally rich district between these many museums, also many theaters, cabarets and cinemas. The 9th arrondissement has 10 cinemas, the best known of which are the Max Linder Panorama but also the Gaumont Opéra currently under construction. The film Les Quatre Cents Coups, by François Truffaut, largely highlights the 9th arrondissement, where most of the action takes place, and which is also the place where the director spent his childhood and adolescence. The 9 arrondissement is also an ideal district to enjoy a festive and entertaining “Paris by night”.
The 9th arrondissement has 10 cinemas, the best known of which are the Max Linder Panorama but also the Gaumont Opéra currently under construction. The film Les Quatre Cents Coups, by François Truffaut, largely highlights the 9th arrondissement, where most of the action takes place, and which is also the place where the director spent his childhood and adolescence.
Grand Rex
Le Grand Rex is a Parisian cinema and concert venue. It is located at No. 1, boulevard Poissonnière in the 2nd arrondissement, on the grands boulevards. Its facades and roofs, as well as its hall and its decor have been listed as a Monument historique since a decree on October 5, 1981. This giant cinema has a capacity of more than 2700 people in its great hall and posts an average attendance levels of 1 million visitors per year. In 2021, the Grand Rex offers its clients a new attraction which immerses the spectators in riddles to help save the greatest cinema classics. This escape game which progresses through different rooms representing the main themes of the 7th art forces the clients to focus to collect a maximum of points.
It is one the biggest halls in Paris. Its designers are the architect Auguste Bluysen and the engineer John Eberson. The façade is designed by the sculptor Henri-Édouard Navarre and the decoration of the great hall by Maurice Dufrène. It could have a capacity of more than 5000 spectators on a surface area of 2,000 m², with a ceiling peaking at more than 30 meters, representing a luminous starry vault. The cinema is also known for its interior decor. Specialized in “atmospheric halls”, its architects built more than 400 decors of phantasmatic cities under cloudy, clear or starry skies in the United States. Here, the great hall has been decorated by an “ancient Mediterranean” city in relief, located in the open air with its colorful walls reproducing the Art deco atmosphere of the “French Riviera” villas.
Théâtre des Folies Bergère
Inaugurated in 1869, this theatre, still in activity, is registered on the list of historical monuments. Built in an eclectic style, one can enjoy theatrical performances, musicals or concerts where women and writers were long in the spotlight. Maupassant, Manet, Charlie Chaplin, Josephine Baker and Dalida are among the many artists who passed through its doors or walked on its stage.
Théâtre des Nouveautés
This Art Deco style concert hall was first a cinema in 1912, then a music hall in 1923, before it was converted into a mythical nightclub in the 1970s. Finally restored in a Roaring Twenties style, it has now become a general public venue. World-famous personalities came to enjoy its festive atmosphere or to perform there. Housed in a late 18th century building that was completely renovated, this site can accommodate 970 spectators.
Musée Grévin
The Musée Grévin s a wax museum in Paris located on the Grands Boulevards in the 9th arrondissement. The museum was founded in 1882 by Arthur Meyer, a journalist for Le Gaulois, on the model of Madame Tussauds founded in London in 1835 and named for its first artistic director, caricaturist Alfred Grévin. It is one of the oldest wax museums in Europe.
The Musée Grévin now contains some 450 characters arranged in scenes from the history of France and modern life, including a panorama of French history from Charlemagne to Napoleon III and bloody scenes of the French Revolution, with the original wax figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessing their technical evolution.
As the contemporaneous movie stars, athletes, and international figures such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Shah Rukh Khan, Pablo Picasso, Michael Jackson, Josephine Baker and Pope John Paul II use the modern techniques of modeling. The tableau of Charlotte Corday murdering Jean-Paul Marat created in 1889 includes the actual knife and bathtub used.
Its baroque architecture includes a hall of mirrors based on the principle of a catoptric cistula in 2018, a young American author, composer, interpreter and designer, Krysle Lip was in charge of the artistic and esthetical transformation of the Hall of Mirrors. The hall of mirrors was built for the Exposition Universelle in 1900. It was originally housed in the Palais des mirages designed by Eugène Hénard.
The Bouillon Chartier
Created in 1896 by the Chartier brothers, this restaurant is today classified as a historical monument. As you walk through its doors, you will discover a Belle Époque decoration, preserved since its inauguration. Open 365 days a year, the Bouillon offers a menu of traditional French cuisine at affordable prices.
The Grands Boulevards area in the 10th arrondissement
Hectic, cosmopolitan and unusual, surprising in many ways, There is a particularly dense and more bustling side to the cosmopolitan 10th arrondissement, the land of welcome for several communities from all over the world. Traditions, cultures, art of living and gastronomy come together, thus offering a unique cosmopolitan imprint.
At the bends of the streets of many architectural curiosities, the 10th arrondissement of Paris draws visitors with its lively streets, performance halls and shops. The major works of the Second Empire under the Third Republic, particular to the south, the redevelopment of the Place de la République, the construction of the Bourse du Travail de Paris and the arrondissement town hall, and to the north the creation of metro line, and its viaducts. To the north, the rise of the railroads is transformed the landscape of the borough.
Among the other specificities of the district, the presence of two covered markets, the Saint-Quentin market and the Saint-Martin market. Two of the last covered markets in Paris, and one of them is the largest market in the city. Covered markets that still exist in a few spots in Paris. Marché St-Quentin is the largest and busiest of those. And it has everything. Several butchers, two florists, fishmongers, lots of vegetable sellers, poultry specialists, and ethnic & regional foods. There’s even a shoemaker and a beer boutique. And there are a surprising number of restaurants that receive a nod from Michelin.
Quartier of Porte-Saint-Denis
The Porte-Saint-Denis district of Paris, near two of Paris’s six main railway stations in the 10th arrondissement: the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est. Denis is one of paris’s liveliest areas, a multicultural melting pot. The shopping streets here is the real heart of the city, with a huge array of food choices.
Major axis between two popular neighbourhoods, Strasbourg Saint-Denis and Gare du Nord, the Faubourg Saint-Denis Street is a real mirror of today’s Paris: multicultural, traditional and “bobo”. The Faubourg St. Denis exerts an enormous fascination on its residents. From the overlooked architectural grandeur of its twin arches to its teeming, multicultural street life, this square kilometre between Gare du Nord and the Grands Boulevards has an atmosphere that’s unique in Paris.
Coming from the south, from the subway station Strasbourg Saint-Denis, you will first see the porte Saint-Denis, an impressive triumphal arch built in 1672 to mark the boundary between Paris and its “suburbs”. The city has grown since then, but the street kept its “extramural” character, something like a popular border area to the bourgeois centre of Paris, but that welcomes its inhabitants in search of exoticism and simplicity.
The Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis is a street in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. It crosses the arrondissement from north to south, linking the Porte Saint-Denis to La Chapelle Métro station and passing the Gare du Nord. It also marked the eastern boundary of the enclos (later prison) Saint-Lazare. Historically, this street was an extremely upper-class area, occupied by jewellers and textile merchants, since it was part of the king’s processional route to the Basilica of Saint Denis.
Main Attractions
The Porte-Saint-Denis district is very dynamic, a popular district mix with boho-ized tends and strong identity as a melting pot. Walking around the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis is a great experience. Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis, also known as Little Turkey, offers multicultural culinary experiences and rugged but fashionable bars. Walk along the street towards the north, there is an Indian bazaar, then Mauritanian beauty salons.
The densely built rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis in the 10th arrondissement of Paris is bustling with life. The district clearly represents what Paris really is: a cultural melting pot. Along the almost mile-long street, there is not only a wide selection of restaurants but also two busy railway stations, Gare de l’Est and Gare du Nord. In the north, the street extends all the way to the La Chapelle subway station, and beyond it begins the African quarter La Goutte d’Or.
Culture takes center stage in the Porte-Saint-Denis district, there are many theaters offer an eclectic program of one-man shows to vaudeville and the great pieces of the classical repertoire. The shows make the big difference between one man show, humor, classical theatre.
Porte Saint-Martin
The Porte Saint-Martin is a Parisian monument located at the site of one of the gates of the now-destroyed fortifications of Paris. It is located at the crossing of Rue Saint-Martin, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin and the grands boulevards Boulevard Saint-Martin and Boulevard Saint-Denis. The current monument, fourth of the name, is a triumphal arch 18 meters high, built in vermiculated limestone; the attic is in marble. The spandrels are occupied by four allegories in bas-reliefs.
Porte Saint-Martin is a monument in Paris, located on the site of a gate of the former enclosure of Charles V. It was erected in 1674 by order of Louis XIV, in honor of his victories on the Rhine and in Franche-Comté, by the architect Pierre Bullet, a pupil of François Blondel, architect of the nearby Porte Saint-Denis. The adjacent walls have since been destroyed. Porte Saint-Martin is classified as a historical monument by the list of 1862. Restoration work was undertaken in 1988.
At the base of the monument, a Latin inscription indicates that within 60 days, Louis XIV crossed the Rhine, the Waal, the Meuse, and the Elbe rivers, conquered 3 provinces, captured 40 strongholds and took the city of Utretch in 13 days. To the left and right of the large opening are two obelisks applied to the wall. They are filled with sculptural groups of trophies of arms. At the bottom of the obelisks are two seated figures. The obelisks are both topped with the gilded coat of arms of the king of France: three fleur-de-lis and a crown.
Palace of mirrors
The Palais des Glaces is a Parisian theater built in 1876 at 37 rue du Faubourg-du-Temple, in the Porte-Saint-Denis district of Paris. The establishment, which specializes in café-theatre and has been directed since 2002 by Jean-Pierre Bigard, also director of the Comédie de Paris, comprises two halls: the main one with five hundred seats (divided between orchestra and balcony) and the Petit Palais des ice cream.
Hôtel Chéret
A private mansion built in 1778, the house has known several owners who each made their own modifications. Its facades are listed as historical monuments and bear witness to the architecture in vogue in Paris in the 18th century.
Manoir de Paris
A tourist attraction, which opened its doors in 2011, it offers visitors an interactive tour staged by actors. You can discover Parisian legends from the 18th to the 20th century, inspired by literature or folklore.
Musée du chocolat
Inaugurated in 2010, Chocolate Museum is entirely dedicated to chocolate. Choco-Story, The gourmet chocolate museum, retraces more than 4000 years of cocoa and chocolate history in words, images and flavors. The museum plunges visitors into the fabulous world of chocolate and takes them on an exciting adventure through time, to be lived intensely, all the senses awakened.
The museum, made up of three distinct parts: the origin of cocoa in pre- Columbian civilizations, its importation into Europe by Spanish colonists and its installation in consumption habits, the contemporary aspect of chocolate. The museum collections tells the origin and evolution of chocolate through a unique collection of a thousand objects. There is also a space dedicated to temporary exhibitions, renewed two or three times a year.