Walking Tours in Paris: The Marais

The Marais in Paris is one of our favorite destinations for a walking tour.  During Year 4, we have enjoyed 3 tours there, including one tour with a hilarious guide and her charming son and another tour with a university professor. 

The Marais, which means marsh, was once a marsh near the Seine just outside the ancient center of Paris.  Although close by, the area was inhospitable.  Over time, a road was built, the swamp was drained and farms and homes started to appear.  Fast forward to the 1600's and the Marais has become the place for Parisian nobility to live, especially after the 1605 creation of a royal square of luxury mansions, Place des Vosges.   Following a golden age, the area was no longer fashionable but it remained a vital community for several important groups, including Eastern European Jews following the French Revolution.  The Marais was home to small factories and working class families.  

By the mid-1900's, the Marais had declined and was a blighted, troubled area.  In fact, a large part of the neighborhood was slated to be bulldozed but was saved by then-President Pompidou. The government stepped in to protect buildings of cultural significance, and rehabilitation began.  Over the past forty years, the Marais has enjoyed a robust renewal with the resurgence of the Jewish community, the arrival of the LGBT community, and the restoration of countless buildings from the Marais' earlier golden age.  In addition, luxury shops and top tier restaurants have recently  opened in the Marais.  As a result, the Marais is enjoying a second golden age.  

Our walking tours covered a lot of the Marais, which is located in the 3rd and 4th arronndissements.

Let's start with a visit to the historic Place des Vosges.

Panoramic view of Place des Vosges

From the 1600's, the large square has been lined with tall mansions.  For a time, it was the fashionable quarter for the wealthy of Paris.  Victor Hugo lived on the square in 19th century.  His house is now a museum.  (Film director Woody Allen also supposedly has a house there.)

The square's construction was started by King Henry IV in 1605 and the completed square was inaugurated in 1612 as part of the celebration of the engagement of his son, King Louis XIII, to Anne of Austria.  

Our first tour of the Marais was sparked by the visit of Marie-Chantal's lifelong penpal, Susan Morris.

Susan Squared in Place des Vosges

Near the square is a 17th-century mansion where King Henry IV's finance minister, the Duke of Sully, once lived.  The Hôtel de Sully is now the headquarters of France's center for national monuments.  

Nearby is one of the synagogues in the Marais (pictured below). The Agoudas Hakehilos synagogue (also known as the Pavée synagogue) was opened in 1914.  Because of past terrorist attacks, access to the building is tightly controlled.  The surrounding area is also patrolled by soldiers.  

We also visited another synagogue that is tucked away in a building.  Our guide Karen Reb Rudel (one of the best guides ever) has access during certain times of the week.  The synagogue, Adath Yechouroun, was established in 1912.  

The Marais is home to many houses from the middle ages.  Two of the oldest houses in Paris are pictured below.  They still appear as medieval, half-timbered houses.

We learned something interesting.  Many of the oldest houses in Paris are still standing, but they have new facades and their interiors have been renovated.  The bones of the medieval houses are still present, but the facades look relatively modern.  You can see for yourself by comparing the two very similar houses below--same width and height, similar windows and similar number of floors.  One reason why half-timbered houses are so rare in Paris is because they were prohibited because the timber allowed fires to spread so easily.  Much of the existing exposed wood was then covered with stucco, stone, or brick.

A visit to the Marais is incomplete without dining at L'As du Fallafel.  Our guide Karen, who seems to know everyone in the Marais, arranged for us to bypass the line and enjoy a delicious lunch.  

During one tour, we visited a lovely park that was once the garden of the adjacent mansion.  We learned that having a garden was status symbol--a sign of great wealth--because land inside the walls of Paris was so expensive.  

The Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis (pictured below) is located in the center of the Marais.  It replaced an earlier church and was completed in 1641.  The architectural style is a blend of Italian Renaissance and French Gothic.  The architects were Jesuits who partially modeled the church on the Jesuits' mother church in Rome, the Church of the Gesù, which we visited during Year 2.

While roaming the streets and alleys of the Marais, we spotted lovely flora here and there.

Another Marais church that we visited was L'église Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais de Paris.  Completed in 1621, the church is a mixture of styles because it took more than 120 years to build.  The facade is Baroque, while the other end of the church, built much earlier, is Gothic.  

The church was the scene of a terrible event during WWI.  In 1918, the church was filled for a Good Friday service when a German shell exploded through the roof, killing 91 worshipers.

Today, the church is home to a religious order, the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem. Sister Josepha, the nun we met in Florence during Year 2, is a member of the Order.  

A large tree stands in Place Saint-Gervais in front the church.  The tree, known as L'Orme de Saint-Gervais (the Elm of Saint-Gervais), was a place during the middle ages where people would traditionally meet to settle their debts.  The saying went:  Attendez-moi sous l’orme! (Wait for me under the elm!").  The tree has been replanted over the centuries.  The current tree is more than 80 years old.  

The Elm has been a popular symbol in the past.  For example, the balcony railings on a nearby building include a depiction of the Elm.

Jean-Claude wondered if the saying "Wait under the elm" is the medieval equivalent of "the check's in the mail".

While touring, we spotted some unique carvings at street corners, like the two below.  The carvings represent what can be found along the street, such as a particular craft or, in the case of the lion, the King's menagerie of exotic animals.  

Another street corner had a shrine to ward off evil spirits.

We also discovered remnants of one of Paris' walls from the late 1100's, the Wall of King Philippe Auguste.  He ordered the wall built to protect Paris during his absence while on a crusade.  Part of the wall, including part of a watchtower, is pictured below.    

The watchtower is where Gabriel de Montgomery was held in 1559 after his lance maimed King Henry II during a joust. The king died from the injury, so Montgomery was imprisoned for regicide. Montgomery escaped, but was captured and executed many years later. 

During tour, we spotted some unusual new architecture.  Below is an out-of-the-ordinary building from 2018, completed with wire mesh and external stairways. (No, it is not a prison.)

Below is something even more interesting.  Our guide showed us remnants of the Bastille.  After being stormed on July 14, 1789 at the start of the Revolution, the Bastille was town down and its stones were scattered everywhere--in new buildings, for example.  The stones pictured below are resting in a small park near the Seine. 

Paris' Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) is located in the Marais next to the Siene.  The building was designed in the French Renaissance style and was completed for the time in 1628.  It was partly destroyed by fire in 1871 during the Paris Commune.  It was rebuilt and closely resembles the original on the outside, but the design of the interior was updated.  

The Hôtel de Ville city hall is notable for another reason.  The large plaza in front of the Hôtel de Ville  (the Place de Grève) was the traditional site of public executions for several centuries, including during the French Revolution.  

We enjoyed touring the Marais and heartily recommend Sight Seeker's Delight.  

Thanks for joining us for a walking tour in the Marais.

P.S.  At the end of one of our Marais tours, we visited Le Mémorial de la Shoah (the Memorial of the Shoah).   You can read about the Memorial in the next post.