The 19th-century grandeur of Baron Haussmann's Grands Boulevards offsets the bustle of bankers, theater-goers, sightseers and shoppers who frequent the area around the Opera.
In the neighbourhood, a profusion of shops and department stores draws the crowds. Much of the area's older character is found in the early 19th-century shopping arcades, with elaborate steel and glass roofs. They are known as "galleries" or "passages" and were restored to their former glory in the 1970s.
Galery Vivienne, which is the smartest, has an elaborate, paterned mosaic floor. the Passage des Panoramas, Passage Verdeau and the tiny Passage des Princes are more old-style Parisian.
These streets abound with food shops of all kinds, noted for their mouthwatering displays of expensive jams, spices, pâtés, mustards and sauces.
Elegant squares and formal gardens, among which the famous Tuileries park, give the area its special character. Parallel to the Jardin des Tuileries are two of Paris's foremost shopping streets, the rue de Rivoli and rue St-Honoré, full of expensive boutiques, booksops and five-star hôtels.
Monuments to monarchy and the arts coexist with modern luxury at its most ostentatious : the best example of it remains the Musée du Louvre, though other places, like place Vendôme, home to exquisite jewellery shops and the luxurious Ritz Hôtel, also are a heady mix of wealthy and the chic.
The Palais
Garnier(Opéra) :
The palace, often refered to as "l'Opéra", with its somptuous grand staircase, is a monument of the ostentatious wealth of the French Haute Bourgeoisie under the Second Empire (1851-1870). It was built by Charles Garnier, with added decoration from Chagall (1964), who painted a false ceiling.
Address : Place de l'Opéra, 9th; phone : 40 01 25 14- Open for visits daily 10am-4.30pm; museum daily 10am-5pm.
The Tuileries
gardens :
It lies between the Opera and the river, bounded by the vast Place de la Concorde in the west and the Louvre to the east. These gardens have replaced the Tuileries Palace, that burnt down during the 1871 Paris Commune unrest, leaving only the real tennis court, the Jeu de Paume, which is now used for contemporary art shows, and the Musée de l'Orangerie.
Address : Entrances along rue de Rivoli, 1st. Open summer daily 7am-9pm ; winter daily 7.30am-7.30pm.
The Louvre
Palace :
This complex combines one of the world's greatest art collections with IM Pei's avant-garde glass pyramid.
It was built over several centuries, from the 12th century (foundations) to the 19th century ( building of the last wing). The main form of the Palace is due to King François I, who began the Cour Carrée in the 16th century.
Although the Louvre first opened to the public as a museum in 1793, it was President Mitterrand 's Grand Louvre Project, beginning in 1987 with IM Pei's glass pyramid in the Cour Napoléon, that made this venerable museum one of the world's most modern.
Address : Cour Napoléon, 1st; phone : 40 20 50 50 - Open Mon-Wen-Sat 9am-3pm, Sun 9am-6pm.
| Marais-Beaubourg-Les
Halles-Bastille | Ile
de la Cité-Ile Saint Louis |
| Quartier
latin | Saint
Germain des Près |
| Montparnasse |
Champs Elysées-Invalides |
| Paris Home Page
| Montmartre-Pigalle |
| [Postcards from Paris] | [ Home ] | [ Regions ] | [B.B.S.] |