Walk from Pompidou-museum to the Bastille via the Marais

Musée Pompidou
Place Georges-Pompidou
75004 Paris
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 78 12 33, Monday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm, excluding public holidays

Tel : +33 (0)1 44 78 12 33, du lundi au samedi de 9h à 19h, hors jours fériés

Architects : Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers

Access

• Métro :
  • Station Rambuteau –  line  
  • Station Hôtel de Ville – lines  
  • Station Châtelet – lines     
• RER : Station Châtelet Les Halles – lines   
• Bus  Lines :    
  • Vélib :
    • station n°4020, opposite 27, rue Quincampoix
    • station n°3014, opposite 34, rue Grenier Saint-Lazare
    • station n°3010, 46, rue Beaubourg
  • Parking Centre Pompidou : access at 31, rue Beaubourg
• Book your parking space at negotiated rates without reservation fees thanks to ParkingsdeParis.com, partner of the Centre Pompidou.

Short description

Musée d’Arts et d’Histoire du Judaïsme (mahj)
71, rue du Temple
75003 Paris

Access

• Métro :
  • Station Rambuteau –  line  
  • Station Hôtel de Ville – lines  
  • Station Châtelet – lines     
• RER : Station Châtelet Les Halles – lines   
• Bus  Lines :    
  • Vélib :
    • station n°4020, opposite 27, rue Quincampoix
    • station n°3014, opposite 34, rue Grenier Saint-Lazare
    • station n°3010, 46, rue Beaubourg
  • Parking Centre Pompidou : access at 31, rue Beaubourg
• Book your parking space at negotiated rates without reservation fees thanks to ParkingsdeParis.com, partner of the Centre Pompidou.

Short description

The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme (mahJ) is a French museum located in the Marais district of Paris, housed in the former Hôtel particulier de Saint-Aignan.

With the third-largest Jewish community in the world, France has a Jewish history stretching back over 2,000 years, particularly in the Marais, where Jews have lived since the Middle Ages. The mahJ presents one of the finest collections of Jewish religious objects and works of art, bearing witness to the history of the Jews of France, Europe and North Africa.

The permanent collection is organized around chronological, geographical and thematic themes, highlighting the diversity and unity of Jewish communities. In addition to temporary exhibitions, the museum offers cultural events and educational activities. It also has a media library and bookshop, as well as an auditorium.

The building, the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan, has a rich history, having been restored and dedicated to the museum in 1998, under the initiative of Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris.

Café de la Gare – Theater
41 rue du Temple
75004 Paris

Access

• Café de la Gare
  41 rue du Temple
  75004 Paris
  •  Metro: Hôtel de Ville station (lines 1 or 11) exit 7 or Rambuteau station (line 11) exit 3
  • RER: Châtelet-les-Halles station (lines A, B, D)
  • Bus: Georges Pompidou stop, lines 38, 47 and 75 (opposite rue Pierre-au-Lard) – Georges Pompidou stop, line 29 (at the intersection with rue Rambuteau) – Hôtel de Ville stop, lines 76 and 96 (rue de Rivoli)
  • Parking: Parking Georges Pompidou (very expensive, very beautiful) – Parking Beaubourg (less expensive, less beautiful.

Short description

The Café-de-la-Gare Theater, located in the heart of the Marais district at 41 rue du Temple, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. It has been one of the temples of Parisian laughter since 1969. Coluche, Gérard Depardieu and Benoît Pœlvoorde, all confirmed actors, have walked the stage of this unique 300-seat theater.

Musée des Archives nationales – Hôtel de Soubise
60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois
75003 Paris 3ème
Tel: +33 1 40 27 60 96

Access

Musée des Archives-Nationales – Hôtel de Soubise
60 Rue des Francs Bourgeois
75004 Paris 4
Tel: +33 1 40 27 64 19

• Metro: Hôtel de Ville (lines 1 and 11), Rambuteau (line 11), Arts et Métiers (line 3), Saint-Paul, Châtelet-les Halles stations
• RER: Chatelet-Les Halles station (lines A, B and D) and St Michel-Notre Dame station (line C)
• Bus: 29, 58, 67, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 96.

Short description

The Archives-Nationales museum, created in 1867 under Napoleon III, exhibits to the public the archival documents conserved by the “Archives-Nationales” institution.

The Archives-Nationales holds 373 linear km of archives documenting the history of France from the 7th century to the present day.

The Archives-Nationales (Paris site) and the Museum The Archives-Nationales are housed in the Hôtel de Soubise and the Hôtel de Rohan, two of the finest hotels in the Marais district.

The Museum exhibits regularly updated archive documents and temporary thematic exhibitions.

The exhibition rooms are also exceptional interiors that can only be viewed on guided tours at the same time as the decorations of the Chancellerie d’Orléans reassembled in the Hôtel de Rohan.

Picasso Museum (Musée national Picasso-Paris)
5 rue de Thorigny
Paris, 75003, France

Access

• Metro – Line 1 (Saint-Paul Station) – Line 8 (Saint-Sébastien Froissart Station) – Line 8 (Chemin Vert Station)
• RER – Châtelet – Les Halles
• Bus – 20, 29, 67, 69, 72, 75, 76, 96
• Parking : 132 rue du Temple – 7 rue Barbette – 31 rue Beaubourg – 16 rue St Antoine – 5 rue Pernelle – 4 rue de Lobau – 4 place Baudoyer

Short description

The Picasso-Museum is the main French national museum dedicated to the life and work of Pablo Picasso and the artists who were linked to him.

The inventory of the Picasso-Museum’s online collection made in 2015, included 4,609 works out of a total of 4,949, of which 4,862 were by Picasso. There were also 17,623 photographs, 384 films, 11,000 books, 89 of them illustrated by Picasso, and 200,000 archival items.

Of the 297 paintings, 254 were by Picasso and 43 from his private collection of master paintings: 8 Matisse, 7 Renoir, 4 Le Douanier Rousseau, 3 Cézanne, 3 Corot, 2 Braque, 2 Derain, 2 Miró, 1 Courbet, Gauguin, Vuillard, Marie Laurencin, Modigliani, Van Dongen, Ernst, Balthus, Ortiz de Zárate, Chardin, Le Nain, and  Maître du Cortège du Bélier

Picasso was an artist who practiced his art in many fields. The same was true of the objects he collected throughout his life: Ceramics, Engravings, Paintings, Photography, Sculpture.

Also the history of the Hôtel Salé which became the Picasso Museum

Musée Cognacq-Jay
8 rue Elzévir
75003 Paris
Tél : 01 40 27 07 21

Access

Musée Cognacq-Jay
8 rue Elzévir
75003 Paris

• Metro: Saint-Paul (line 1), Chemin-Vert (line 8), Rambuteau (line 11)
• Bus: routes 29 (Turenne-Saint Gilles / Payenne), 69 (Saint-Paul), 76 (Saint-Paul), 96 (Saint-Paul)
• Vélib’: station n°4013 Vieille du Temple – Francs Bourgeois, station 3002 Saint Gilles – Turenne

Short description

The Musée Cognacq-Jay is housed in the Hôtel de Donon at 8, rue Elzévir, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris’s Marais district. It is the museum of collectors Ernest Cognacq and his wife.

The Musée Cognacq-Jay brings together the 1,200 18th-century European works acquired between 1900 and 1927 by Ernest Cognacq, founder of the Samaritaine department stores, and his wife Marie-Louise Jay. It also recreates the atmosphere of a Parisian residence in the Age of Enlightenment, with its interior staircases, the Salle Wagram, Salon with François Boucher’s Le Retour de Diane chasseresse, and the exhibition room under the great roof.

Rue Des Francs Bourgeois
75003 et 75004 Paris

Access

• Metro – Line 1 (Saint-Paul, Bastille or Hôtel de Ville stations) – Line 7 (Pont Marie and Sully-Morland) – Line 8 (Chemin Vert and Bastille) – Line 5 (Bastille) – Line 11 (Hôtel de Ville station)
• Bus : Lines 29-72-76-86-87-91

Short description

Rue des Francs-Bourgeois features the private mansions at nos. 31 bis to 29, 30 and 26. The chapel at the end of the garden at no. 29 is a former tower of Philippe Auguste’s enceinte, the rue des Francs-Bourgeois having replaced the old road outside this enceinte.

Rue Sainte-Croix De La Bretonnerie
75004 Paris, France

Access

• Metro: line 1 (Stations Hôtel-de-ville and Saint Paul) – line 11 (Station Rambuteau)
• RER: line A (Station Châtelet-Les Halles)
• Bus: 29, 38, 69, 72, 74
•  Velib:
  • Station Vélib’ 4014 (Blancs-Manteaux – Archives)
  • Station Vélib’ 4018 (Saint-Bon – Rivoli)
  • Station Vélib’ 4013 (Vieille du Temple – Francs Bourgeois)

Short description

Busy street of specialized stores and cafes for the gay community of the Marais. The first multicolored flags that marked the new territory in the mid-1990s have disappeared, as if their presence had become obvious enough. Instead, the flags are displayed on the margins, for example on rue des Lombards.
One of the stores to visit: concept store, gifts, a profusion of offbeat and colorful objects to awaken your interiorFleux stores at 39, 40, 43 and 52 rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 75004 Paris.

Pierre Hermé – Macarons et chocolats
18 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie
75004 Paris
tel:+331 43 54 47 77 et 01 43 54 47 77

Pierre Hermé also has a Café a few 200 m from this store at 4 rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris
Open/Close:
For more information click on Pierre-Herme-boutique in english or/ou Boutique Pierre Hermé en français.
Access
Pierre Hermé – Macaroons and chocolates
18 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie
75004 Paris

• Metro : Hôtel de Ville Station (lines 1 – 9 and 11) – Saint Paul Station (Line 1) – Chemin Vert Station (Station 8)
• Bus
• Velib
• Parking : click here

Mariage Frères – Le Marais
30-32 et 35 rue du Bourg-Tibourg
75004 Paris
Tel. +33 (0) 1 42 72 28 11

Open/Close:
Open Monday to Sunday from 10:30 to 19:30
Restaurant & Salon de Thé

• Réservations (de 12h à 13h30, pour le déjeuner et le brunch)
• reservations@mariagefreres.com

Access

• Metro – Saint-Paul (Line 1) – Hotel-de-Ville (Line 1) – Pont-Marie (Line 14)
• RER – Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame (Line C)
• Bus – Lines 67, 69, 75, 76, 96

Rue des Rosiers
75004 – Paris

Access

• Metro: line 1 (Station Saint Paul) – line 7 (Station Pont Marie) – line 11 (Station Rambuteau)
• Bus: lines 69, 72, 96, 29, 76, N11, N16, 67
• Vélib
  • Station Vélib’ 4014 (Blancs-Manteaux – Archives)
  • Station Vélib’ 4013 (Vieille du Temple – Francs Bourgeois)
  • Station Vélib’ 11027 (Saint-Ambroise – Parmentier)

Short description

Rue des Rosiers is at the heart of the Jewish Quarter. It has also become a traditional stop for falafel (a small fritter made from chickpea and bean flour).
Indeed, the most important place in Paris for Judaism is located in the Marais. It’s called the Pletzl (Little Square in Yiddish). The 4th arrondissement (Métro St Paul) has welcomed Jews from near and far since the 13th century. Even today, despite the district’s gentrification, it retains a strong community identity. On rue des Rosiers, rue Malher and rue des Hospitalières-St-Gervais, you’ll find numerous restaurants, bookshops, kosher delicatessens, synagogues and shtiebels (small oratories).
On August 9, 1982, 15 rue des Rosiers was the scene of a horrific event. Jo Goldenberg’s Jewish restaurant at this address was bombed by members of Abu Nidal’s Fatah-Revolutionary Council (FCR), a Palestinian terrorist organization violently opposed to the PLO and Fatah. Six people were killed and 22 wounded. Bullet marks only disappeared from the window in 2010, when the restaurant was replaced by a clothing store, which has since closed. The plaque in memory of the victims having disappeared, a new one was installed by Paris City Hall in 2011. The façade has been listed as a historic monument.

Rue Pavée
75004 Paris

Access

• Metro: line 1 (Station Saint Paul) – line 7 (Station Pont Marie) – line 11 (Station Rambuteau)
• Bus: : 29, 67, 69, 72, 96
• Vélib
  • Station Vélib’ 4014 (Blancs-Manteaux – Archives)
  • Station Vélib’ 4013 (Vieille du Temple – Francs Bourgeois)
  • Station Vélib’ 11027 (Saint-Ambroise – Parmentier)
• Parkings :

Short description

At 10 rue Pavée is the Synagogue (architect Hector Guimard, 1913). In the Art Nouveau style, it was built at the time when Ashkenazi Jews who had taken refuge in the neighborhood from Central Europe were settling. It is a perfect example of “the transition between the modern style and the style of the 1920s: the harmony is total between the rigor of a reinforced concrete construction, the simplicity of the ornamentation, the elegance of the curves and counter-curves of the façade” (B. Oudin).

Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris – BHVP
Hôtel de Lamoignon
24 rue Pavée – 75004 Paris
Tel. +33 (0) 1 44 59 29 40

Access

• Métro : lines 1 (Station Saint Paul)
• RER : line A (Station Charles de Gaulle)
• Bus : 29, (arrêt Payenne) et lines 69, 76, 96, (arrêt Saint-Paul)
• Vélib :
  • Station 3013, 36 rue de Sévigne
  • Station 4010 :105 rue de Sévigné
  • Station 3002 : 26 rue saint gilles.
• Parkings :

Short description

The Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris (BHVP) is a public library specializing in the history of Paris and the Île-de-France region. Part of the network of municipal libraries of the city of Paris, it has been located since 1969 in the Hôtel d’Angoulême or Lamoignon, at 24 rue Pavée, in the 4th arrondissement.
Its collections deal with the history of Paris and the Île-de-France region in all its aspects: topographical and monumental history, urban, political, religious, social and cultural. It also holds important collections concerning theater and literature.
Its mission is to make available to anyone interested in these subjects the documentary resources that it preserves and enriches.
The hotel was built in 1584 for Diane de France, Duchess of Angouleme, legitimate daughter of Henri II, who left the letters D on the main façade overlooking the courtyard. The decoration composed of bows, arrows, quivers and dogs’ heads evokes Diane’s taste for hunting. The facade is of a rather rare composition: the Corinthian pilasters (with foliage) encompass the three floors. The hotel was rented and then bought in 1688 by Chrestien François de Lamoignon de Malesherbes who embellished the garden, which can be seen from the rue des Francs-Bourgeois. In 1718, he created the portal which bears the letters L M. In the decoration, two loves represent the virtues of the owner: one carries a mirror symbol of truth, the other a snake for prudence.
The Hôtel Lamoignon now houses the historical library of the city of Paris. The contemporary extension of 1966 hosts exhibitions.

Hôtel Carnavalet – Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris
23, rue de Sévigné
75003 Paris
Tél : 01 44 59 58 58

Access

• Métro – Line  – Station Saint-Paul
• Bus – lines 29, 69, 76, 96

Short description

The Hôtel-Carnavalet Museum is the Parisian municipal museum dedicated to the history of Paris from the city’s origins to the present day. Located in the historic Marais district, the Carnavalet Museum opened in 1880 and occupies two private mansions from the 16th (Hôtel Carnavalet) and 17th centuries (Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau).
Its visitable spaces in the two hotels represent an area of 3,900 m2 or a route of 1.5 km. In addition, there are temporary exhibition spaces (360 m2). 3,800 works and objects are on display in the permanent exhibition area. The total number of objects belonging to the museum is 610,000.

Place des Vosges
75004 PARIS

Architects : Louis Métezeau, Androuet du Cerceau et Claude Chastillon

Access

• Metro (Subway): line 8 (Chemin Vert station)
• RER :
• Bus : 29, 69, 76, 96, Balabus
• Parkings : Parking: quite a few nearby

Open/Close: No closing period
Short description

For more information click on Place des Vosges square in english or/ou Place des Vosges en français.
The Place-des-Vosges square is the jewel of the Marais district  in Paris. It is also the oldest square in Paris, just before the Place Dauphine (near the Pont-Neuf – See our “Stroll …”). Started in 1605 (finished in 1612, 2 years after the assassination of Henri IV , on the occasion of the engagement of his son Louis XIII and Anne of Austria), it is the twin sister of the Place Ducale of Charleville-Mézières built in 1606.
It owes its existence to a fatal accident: on June 20, 1559, during a tournament in which he participated to celebrate the marriage of his daughter (Elizabeth) with Philip II of Spain, King Henry II of France was seriously injured by a shard of spear received in the head. He died 20 days later.

Maison de Victor Hugo
Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée – 6 place des Vosges
75004 Paris
Tel. +33 (0) 1 42 72 10 16

Access

• Metro: Line 1 – Saint Paul or Bastille stations – Line 8 – Chemin Vert station
• Bus : lines 29, 69, 76, 96

Short description

The Maison de Victor Hugo is the former Hôtel de Rohan-Guémené. Victor Hugo rented the apartment on the second floor for sixteen years, from 1832 to 1848.

It was in the study of this apartment that Victor Hugo wrote several of his major works: Lucretia Borgia, The Burgraves, Ruy Blas, Marie Tudor, The Twilight Songs, The Inner Voices, The Rays and the Shadows, a large part of Les Misérables,

But it was also 16 years of social and political life and a family drama: his daughter Léopoldine married Charles Vacquerie (1817-1843) on 15 February 1843 and died in a boat accident on September 4 of the same year.

Victor Hugo had to go into exile from 1852 to 1870 to avoid going to prison after the coronation of Napoleon III.

He died in 1885 in his apartment on avenue d’Eylau where. It is on June 1, 1885, ten days after his death, that his remains was led directly to the Pantheon.

Bastille
Place de la Bastille
75012, Paris

Accès

• Metro: Line 1 – Saint Paul or Bastille stations – Line 8 – Chemin Vert station
• Bus : lines 29, 69, 76, 96

Short description

Bastille-Day of 1789 was the result of the state of France following the period of major economic and political crisis from 1783 to 1789.

The leaders ignored until the end the evolution of the events in progress. The financial crisis continued to worsen. This led to the convocation of the Estates General for May 1, 1789.

The consequence was a period of unrest that culminated in the storming of the Bastille on July 14 of that year. Everything then followed one another over the years …

Colonne de Juillet
Place de la Bastille
75004, Paris

Access

• Métro : line 1, 5 et 8  (Station Bastille)
• RER :
• Bus : 20, 29, 65, 69, 76, 86, 87, 91 et Balabus
• Parking : quite numerous in the vicinity 

Short description

The Bastille Column was erected after the second revolution of 1830, the first being the “Révolution of 1789“.

Charles X (brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII) tried to re-establish an authoritarian regime, by curbing the fervor of the liberal deputies with his “Saint-Cloud ordinances” of July 25, 1830. In response, Parisians rose up during battles that lasted only three days known as “the Three Glorious Days” (“lles Trois Glorieuses” – July 27, 28, and 29, 1830). Charles X and the royal family then fled Paris.

The liberal deputies, mostly monarchists, took the popular revolution in hand. They finally opt for a more liberal constitutional monarchy with the help of a change of dynasty. The House of Orleans, the younger branch of the House of Bourbon (Charles X) succeeded the older branch. The Duke of Orleans is proclaimed “King of the French” and no longer “King of France”, under the name of Louis-Philippe 1er.

One year after the July revolution (1830), King Louis-Philippe laid the first stone of the new project on July 27, 1831. The construction lasted from 1835 to 1840.

The Saint-Martin canal flows under the July column. The foundations that support the monument were built straddling the waterway.

On either side of the canal, two crypts unfold in a semicircle. This is where the remains of the seven hundred victims of the revolutions of July 1830 and February 1848 were placed. On July 28, 1840, the French government, therefore, celebrated with great pomp the transfer of the bodies of the 504 revolutionaries of 1830. They had been buried for 10 years near the Louvre, in the “Jardin de l’Infante”. King Louis-Philippe 1er was in turn driven from the throne in February 1848 and fled. This revolution officially left 500 to 600 victims. 196 of them from the 1848 revolution were added in one of the 2 vaults under the Bastille column.

The Colonne of July is made of bronze. It weighs 179,500 kilograms. The metal part consists of a cubic pedestal that supports a 23-meter high shaft, crowned by a composite construction. It takes 240 steps to reach the top. Its height is 51 m.

Opéra Bastille
164 Rue De Lyon
75012 Paris  France

Access

• Metro – Bastille station – lines 1, 5 and 8
• RER – Gare de Lyon station – line A
• Train SNCF – Gare de Lyon
• Bus – 29, 69, 76, 86, 87, 91

Short description

The Bastille Opéra is a modern opera house located on the Place de la Bastille in Paris. It was designed by Carlos Ott and inaugurated in 1989 on the occasion of the festivities of the bicentenary of the Revolution

With its 2,745 seats, the main hall of the Bastille Opera compares to the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera (2,679 seats), the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (1,720) or the Metropolitan Opera in New York (2/3 of its 3,800 seats).

President François Mitterrand decided in 1982, on the proposal of his Minister of Culture Jack Lang, to build a new opera house in Paris, considering the Garnier opera house to be too small and outdated in technical terms. He wanted a “modern and popular” opera.

Tours led by a lecturer take visitors behind the scenes of this modern theater with impressive dimensions. They are suspended during the Covid period.

The Opéra Bastille is a veritable city that comes alive before and during the shows: stage technicians, sculptors and painters, seamstresses and hairdressers, etc., organized by “project”. Each project is in fact a given show, with specific “show objectives”.