Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [58]
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IF WALLS COULD TALK
Centuries of history are inscribed on the façades and pediments of the 4e arrondissement and in the narrow streets, alleys, porches and courtyards; today the Marais is one of the few neighbourhoods of Paris that still has most of its pre-Revolution architecture intact. These include the house at 3 rue Volta (Map) in the 3e arrondissement, parts of which date back to 1292; the one at 51 rue de Montmorency, also in the 3e and dating back to 1407 which is now a restaurant called Auberge Nicolas Flamel; and the half-timbered 16th-century building at 11 and 13 rue François Miron (Map) in the 4e.
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The artefacts on display in the museum’s sublime rooms chart the history of Paris from the Gallo-Roman period to modern times. Some of the nation’s most important documents, paintings and other objects from the French Revolution are here (Rooms 101 to 113), as is Fouquet’s stunning Art Nouveau jewellery shop from the rue Royale (Room 142) and Marcel Proust’s cork-lined bedroom from his apartment on blvd Haussmann (Room 147), where he wrote most of the 7350-page literary cycle À la Recherche du Temps Perdu (Remembrance of Things Past).
MUSÉE PICASSO Map
01 42 71 25 21; www.musee-picasso.fr in French; 5 rue de Thorigny, 3e; adult/18-25yr €7.70/5.70, under 18yr free, 1st Sun of the month free; 9.30am-6pm Wed-Mon Apr-Sep, 9.30am-5.30pm Wed-Mon Oct-Mar; St-Paul or Chemin Vert
The Picasso Museum, housed in the stunning Hôtel Salé, built for a wealthy farmer called Aubert de Fontenay in 1656, forms one of Paris’ best-loved art collections. It includes just over 3500 drawings, engravings, paintings, ceramic works and sculptures from the grand maître (great master), which the heirs of Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) donated to the French government in lieu of paying inheritance taxes. Among the collection is his Girl with Bare Feet, painted when Picasso was only 14. You can also view part of Picasso’s personal art collection, which includes works by Braque, Cézanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Degas and Rousseau.
MUSÉE COGNACQ-JAY Map
01 40 27 07 21; www.cognacq-jay.paris.fr in French; 8 rue Elzévir, 3e; permanent collections free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun; St-Paul or Chemin Vert
This museum in the Hôtel de Donon brings together oil paintings, pastels, sculpture, objets d’art, jewellery, porcelain and furniture from the 18th century assembled by Ernest Cognacq (1839–1928), founder of La Samaritaine department store (now undergoing a complete overhaul) and his wife Louise Jay. Although Cognacq appreciated little of his collection, boasting to all who would listen that he had never visited the Louvre and was only acquiring collections for the status, the artwork and objets d’art give a pretty good idea of upper-class tastes during the Age of Enlightenment.
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top picks
MARAIS & BASTILLE
Place des Vosges
Hôtel de Sully (opposite)
Musée Carnavalet (opposite)
Musée Picasso (opposite)
Mémorial de la Shoah
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ARCHIVES NATIONALES Map
01 40 27 60 96; www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr in French; 60 rue des Francs Bourgeois, 3e; Rambuteau or St-Paul
France’s National Archives are housed in the Soubise wing of the impressive, early-18th-century Hôtel de Rohan-Soubise, which also contains the Musée de l’Histoire de France (Museum of French History; 01 40 27 62 18; www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/chan in French; adult/senior & 18-25yr €3/2.30, under 18yr free, 1st Sun of the month free; 10am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm Mon & Wed-Fri, 2-5.30pm Sat & Sun; Rambuteau or St-Paul). The museum contains antique furniture and 18th-century paintings but primarily documents – everything from medieval incunabula and letters written by Joan of Arc to the wills of Louis XIV and Napoleon. The ceiling and walls of the interior