Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [108]
The golden age of the Marais’ hôtels particuliers was the 17th century, though construction continued into the first half of the 18th. The removal of the royal court – lock, stock and satin slipper – to Versailles in 1692 sounded the death knell for the Marais, and the mansions passed into the hands of commoners, who used them as warehouses, markets and shops. The quarter was given a major face-lift in the late 1960s and early ’70s, and today many of the hôtels particuliers house government offices, libraries and museums.
1 Hôtel d’Aumont Begin the tour at St-Paul metro station on rue François Miron, 4e, facing rue de Rivoli. Walk south on narrow rue du Prévôt to rue Charlemagne, once called rue des Prestres (Street of the Priests). To the right (west) on the corner of rue des Nonnains d’Hyères at 7 rue de Jouy stands the majestic Hôtel d’Aumont, built around 1650 for a financier and one of the most beautiful hôtels particuliers in the Marais. It now contains offices of the Tribunal Administratif, the body that deals with – sacré bleu! – internal disputes in the bloated and litigious French civil service.
2 Hôtel de Sens Continue south along rue des Nonnains d’Hyères, past the Hôtel d’Aumont’s geometrical gardens on the right and turn left (east) onto rue de l’Hôtel de Ville. On the left at 1 rue du Figuier is Hôtel de Sens, the oldest private mansion in the Marais. Begun around 1475, it was built as the Paris digs for the powerful archbishops of Sens, under whose authority Paris fell at the time. When Paris was made an archbishopric, the Hôtel de Sens was rented out to coach drivers, fruit sellers, a hatter and even a jam-maker. It was heavily restored in mock Gothic style (complete with turrets) in 1911; today it houses the Bibliothèque Forney (Forney Library; 01 42 78 14 60; admission free; 1-7.30pm Tue, Fri & Sat, 10am-7.30pm Wed & Thu) and its temporary exhibitions.
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WALK FACTS
Start Metro St-Paul
End Hôtel de Sully (Metro St-Paul)
Distance 2km
Time 1½ hours
Fuel stops Centre Culturel Suédois Click here, Ma Bourgogne
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3 Philippe-Auguste’s enceinte Continue southeast along rue de l’Ave Maria and then go northeast along rue des Jardins de St-Paul. The two truncated and crumbling towers across the basketball courts on the left are all that remain of Philippe-Auguste’s enceinte, a fortified medieval wall built around 1190 and once guarded by 39 towers. They are now part of the prestigious Lycée Charlemagne. On the opposite side of rue des Jardins de St-Paul are the entrances to Village St-Paul, a courtyard of antique shops and designer boutiques.
4 Église St-Paul St-Louis Cross over rue Charlemagne and duck into narrow rue Eginhard, a street with a tiny courtyard and a grated well built during the reign of Louis XIII. The street doglegs into rue St-Paul; at the corner above 23 rue Neuve St-Pierre, housing a bed-linen shop, are the remains of the medieval Église St-Paul. A bit further north, tiny passage St-Paul leads to the side entrance of the Église St-Paul St-Louis ( 01 42 72 30 32; 8am-8pm Mon-Sat, 9.30am-12.30pm & 4-7pm Sun), a Jesuit church completed in 1641 during the Counter-Reformation.
5 Former boulangerie-pâtisserie Rue St-Paul debouches into rue St-Antoine. Turn left, passing the front entrance of Église St-Paul St-Louis at No 99, cross over rue de Rivoli and head north up rue Malher. A former boulangerie-pâtisserie, or bakery-cake shop, at No 13 (now a clothes shop) has fine old shop signs advertising pains de seigle et gruau (rye and wheaten breads), gateaux secs (biscuits) and chaussons de pommes (apple turnovers).
6 Hôtel Lamoignon Continue north on rue Pavée (Paved Street), the first cobbled road in Paris. At No 24 stands Hôtel Lamoignon, built between 1585 and