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Introduction

Musee Picasso

Musee Carnavalet

Musee Cognaq Jay and walk

Place des Vosges
Musee Victor Hugo

Jewish area-Rue des Rosiers

Carreau du Temple -market-Musee du Judaisme

Village Saint - Paul Hotel de Sens

Ile de la Cite
Cathedrale 
Notre Dame de Paris

Ile Saint-Louis

Place Hotel de Ville

Paris -3rd/4th arr-Marais-Place de Vosges-Musee Victor Hugo

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Arriving through the rue de Birague, here is the most beautiful square in Paris: PLACE DES VOSGES.The history of this square is a long one. It’s in the Hotel de Tournelles that Henri II died of the wounds he received after a tournament. His wife, Catherine de Medicis tore the building down and on the spaces that were set free, a horse market was set up for some time.

The place was also a favourite duelling spot! King Henry IV decided to build a new hotel des Tournelles and as he had certain ideas about aesthetic and economical preoccupations, he decided, in 1605, the building of a square based upon new architectural criteria. : regular plan, identical facades interrupted by two symmetrical pavilions: Pavillon du Roi et Pavillon de la Reine. Until that time, you could build anyhow, anywhere, as you pleased without any prepared plan. That's what gives this special touch to the old streets of the Middle Ages. The inauguration took place for the double marriage of the king and his sister in 1612 and it soon turned out to a very residential area. Henri IV started then to build houses around the square (financed by the authorities) and soon the wealthy aristocracy settled down here (the marquise de Sevigne was born at no.1). First called “Place Royale”, it is an example of admirable planning and lay out , surrounded by arched galleries in front of the beautiful houses . 

Take your time, look and walk around, admire the great refinement of colors: the roofs are blue and the windows are  in white stone and red brick, just like the arches. The central garden you see now didn’t exist at that time. It is planted with tile trees today and houses a statue of Louis XIII set up in 1825.  

Look at the Pavillon de la Reine, with its sculpted doors, monumental staircases, splendid ramps, interior yards and gardens. Finally, the place Royale was renamed Place des Vosges, to honour the first region in France who paid taxes in 1800.
Victor Hugo, France’s greatest poet “alas” as said Andre Gide, lived here from 1832 until 1848 at no.6, Sully at no.7, Theophile Gauthier and Alphonse Daudet at no 8 and Richelieu at no. 21, Hotel de Richelieu. Even Georges Simenon rented an apartment on the place des Vosges for a while.
Today, the place still radiates the aristocratic atmosphere of old times.  It’s a quiet square, with nice fashion boutiques, speciality shops, antique shops, the very special small knick –knack shop “Max Spira”, tea parlours and the famous and dignified restaurant l’Ambroisie. Street musicians add sometimes more animation to the place.  A feast for the eyes.  

At no. 6, the house of Victor Hugo is a museum: LE MUSEE VICTOR HUGO. Closed on Mondays, no charge on Sundays. 
He was only 30 years old when he moved in, and could already afford such an expensive house, the hotel de Rohan-Guemenee. The novel “Notre Dame de Paris” had made him a fortune!  1832 to 1848.  You can admire the pens which he used to write most of his great tragedies and the greatest part of Les Miserables, a reconstruction of his bed room, the Hugo bust of Rodin and the “shelf” of the four poets” with the ink pots of Alexandre Dumas, Georges Sand, Lamartine and of course Victor Hugo.   Leave the place des Vosges and enter the rue des Francs Bourgeois to the left. Walk until the rue Pavee, make a left and when you see the rue des Rosiers you are where I wanted you to be: the heart of the Jewish area since the middle ages with its kosher restaurants and butchers, its bakeries and all Jewish religious items.

Bibliography:

--Vie et histoire des arrondissements de Paris, ed.Hervas (1985-1988) --Nouvelle Histoire de Paris, ed.Hachette --Le Pieton de Paris, by L.P.Fargue, ed.Gallimard 1997 --Histoire et dictionnaire de Paris, by A.Fierro, ed.Laffont, 1996 --Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris, by J.Hillairet, ed.Minuit    --Dictionnaire des monuments de Paris, by J.Colson and M.C.Lauroa, ed.Hervas 1992 --Guide du Routard 1998-1999 (Ed.Hachette) --Paris, 2000 d'histoire, by J.Favier, ed.Fayard 1997 --Naissance de Paris, by M.Fleury, ed.Imprimerie Nationale 1997 --Paris 19eme siecle, l'immeuble et la rue, by F.Loyer, ed.Hazan, 1994