A short history of the Marais

In the 12th century, the Templars cleared the marshlands north of the walls of King Philippe Auguste. From the 16th century, especially after the creation of the Place Royale (Now Place des Vosges ), the aristocracy built large mansions with the building style used between the 16^th and the 18th century. The transfer of the royal residence at the Louvre and then Versailles marked the beginning of the decline of the Marais.

In the 19th century Le Marais became denser by becoming an industrious area devoted to clothes and jewelry. But the buildings are hardly maintained, even mansions are often disfigured by warehouses and workshops. In 1969, André Malraux made the Marais the first "conservation area".

St Gervais Place

Called St. Gervais Place since  May 9 1881, it was formerly encompassed in the street Francois Miron, which was named Monceau-Saint-Gervais before 1838 . It  was often called “carrefour de l'Orme”( the crossroads of the Elm). There is an elm tree protected by a chain.

The elm

In the Middle Ages, claims were settled under the predecessors of this tree. It also served as a meeting point. It was shot down during the Revolution and served in the construction of gun carriages. The current  elm was planted in 1935.

Companions of duty shop 

“Les Compagnons du devoir” (The Companions of Duty) is the generic name of several French associations, movements of companionship created in the era of major projects in the Middle Ages when the cathedrals were built up (around the twelfth century). Those associations provided young people more than 15 years old, training in traditional trades, based on learning, community life and the journey called “Tour de France”. The Paris House (old inn run by a “Mother”) is close to the "Place de grève”( strike) where in the Middle Ages, the "market for builders was held every week : where the workers and the Companions were engaged. They "topaient" (to agree shaking hands) under the elm tree located on the Place Saint-Gervais

Saint-Gervais- St Protais Church

Built on the foundation of the first known building on the right bank in Paris, namely a basilica whose  existence from the late fourth century has been proven , is the oldest parish on the right bank of the Seine. The construction of the present church, begun in 1494 and took over 150 years. Although the design of Saint-Gervais looks rather Gothic; the facade made by the architects Salomon de Brosse and especially Metezeau Clement II, completed in 1621, was inspired by French classicism.

"Couperin" : Francois Couperin, said "the Great" (Paris November 10, 1668/September 11  1733) was a famous French composer, organist and harpsichordist . He was particularly an/the organist at the prestigious organ of the Saint Gervais church.

International Youth House

Shoah Memorial 

The Shoah Memorial opened in January 2005 on the place of the Memorial of the Unknown Jewish Martyr. Resource Centre, the first archive in Europe about the Holocaust, the memorial is also a "museum of vigilance."

Hôtel de Chalon and Luxembourg

The Chalon-Luxembourg mansion was built from 1623 on behalf of William Perrochet, treasurer of France.  It has been scheduled as an ancient monument only in 1977.

House No. 11 with the sign of Reaper and No. 13 with the sign of the Sheep. 

They are listed as being from the "beginning of the sixteenth century", but perhaps they were originally from "the fourteenth century."

Ourscamp House

Ourscamp house, headquarters of the Association for the preservation and enhancement of historic Paris, is a mansion which origins are in the Middle Ages. Initially, this house was an urban pied-à-terre for the Cistercians from the Ourscamp abbey , installed in Oise. It has a gothic thirteenth century cellar which was from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, a place of storage of goods.

Hotel de Beauvais

Built in 1655 by Antoine Lepautre, the first King’s architect, this building has changed over the centuries. Its latest modification is that made by the state to house the headquarters of the Administrative Court of Appeal of Paris and a legal resource center.

Hotel d’Aumont

Built following the plans of Le Vau in the seventeenth century (1644-1648) for Michel Antoine Scarron, a King’s counselor, the hotel was occupied by the end of its construction by the Duc d'Aumont, which asked Mansart to enlarge and transform the main building, from 1656. In 1938, the Hotel d'Aumont was purchased by the City of Paris who rehabilitated it. The administrative court moved there in 1959.

Hotel de Sens - garden

Conventional garden made in 1955 in the spirit of the old gardens of the Renaissance.

Hotel de Sens - Bibliothèque Forney

Built in 1475 by the Archbishop of Sens, from which depended Paris. It is the oldest civil Middle Ages building  of this magnitude in Paris.

The hotel houses since 1961 the library Forney l specialized in Art and Technology. Artisans can come to draw or borrow books and models.

MIJE (Home students)
17th century house.

Walls of Philippe Auguste

In order to defend Paris against   invasion by the English settled in Normandy, King Philip Auguste had built a massive wall around the city between 1190 and 1210.

St Paul Village
Maze of alleys and courtyards where are installed  antique shops, second-hand dealers and decorators.

Fountain

Hôtel de Sully

Hotel with Renaissance architecture. In the garden, Sully, Henry IV minister, has installed an orangery.

Place des Vosges

Built in 1612 by Henri IV following a project of his step-mother Catherine de Medici, this is the first square in Paris designed properly sequenced and consistent. It contains 36 pavilions and until 1800 was called Place Royale. It was first  a horse market place than became a place of lavish celebrations and favorite residence.

Victor Hugo Museum

Former Hotel Rohan Guéméné , in which Victor Hugo (French writer and poet - 1802-1885) lived until 1848.