Marais is the quarter where kings lived in the 14th-16th centuries. It starts behind the City Hall, in which (in the previous building) the ball described by Dumas in the story with the queen’s pendants was held, and ends at the Place de la Bastille,
where the column with the Genius of Freedom rises and the modern Opera building flaunts. The outlines of the former fortress are paved with cobblestones, and you will be in for a surprise when you see their size…
On the same street there are residential buildings from the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, and castles, and mansions of the same era, and palaces of the 17th-18th centuries, and “Ottoman” buildings of the 19th century.
Le Marais means “swamp” in French: it was once the site of the ancient riverbed of the Seine. The river then flowed differently, but continued to flood the banks during floods. Already in the era of the Romans, the road to Paris ran along the street leading from the City Hall to the Bastille.
In 1358, King Charles V, frightened by a popular uprising, fled here from the castle on the Ile de la Cité. He settles near the Saint-Paul Church (Eglise Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis) and builds an entire palace complex. One mansion belongs to the king, another to the queen, the third to the royal children, nearby are palaces of nobles, a park, cages with lions and other wild animals. The entire complex is protected by the urgently built Bastille fortress.
However, the king's palace overlooks the Seine, where sewage is drained and smells bad. Therefore, Charles V rebuilds another palace, La Tournelle. It is in La Tournelle that kings will be born, live and die. Until the tournament, during which, in the middle of the 15th century, Henry II, the husband of Catherine de Medici, died from a splinter of a spear that accidentally hit him in the eye. Catherine de Medici will order the demolition of La Tournelle and begin to build the Tuileries (French Tuileries), and Henry IV will build the second royal square of Paris on the site of La Tournelle, which today is called Place des Vosges (French Place des Vosges).
The Place des Vosges, with the exception of the square in the center, has been preserved as it was in 1606. Here you can walk through the courtyards of the palace of the first minister of Henry IV, sit in famous restaurants, and marvel at the town-planning genius of Henry IV.
Marais – this is the most fashionable district of Paris in the 17th century, and the Place des Vosges – its center. That’s why Dumas settled Milady here, Richelieu’s nephew, Madame Delorme, Madame de Savigny lived here, and in the 19th century. - Victor Hugo and Théophile Gautier…
Not far from the square is the richest church of the 17th century. - Saint-Paul and Saint-Louis. The first stone in its foundation was laid by Louis XIII, the first mass was celebrated here by Richelieu, the hearts of Louis XIII and Louis XIV were kept here in silver vessels, which one of the revolutionary artists used as a basis for diluting paints…
Behind the church, in the building of the modern Lyceum of Charlemagne, the Jesuits once studied. Near – part of the city wall and tower of the 12th century, picturesque courtyards with antique shops, mansions.
On the banks of the Seine stands probably the most beautiful castle in Paris (15th century) - the Hotel de Sens (French Sens). In the 16th century it was the headquarters of Cardinal Guise, and here, already at the beginning of the 17th century, the 53-year-old Queen Margot settled.
Street Francs Bourgeois (rue des Francs Bourgeois) – the most fashionable street in Paris in the 17th century. It is like a thread on which precious stones are strung - mansions... In the courtyard of one of them is the only surviving sculpture of Louis XIV, cast during his lifetime, in the courtyard of another - French park, in the third – dazzling front yard…
In palaces of the 17th-18th centuries. there are libraries, associations, museums. Beaumarchais, Balzac, and Daudet lived in Marais. Flaubert, Zola, Turgenev … came to visit the latter on Tuesdays.
Today Marais – this is an area where you will see unique scenes: monosexual families live here, there is an old Jewish quarter, original fashion boutiques, jewelry, bars and restaurants, some of which you will not be allowed into... Everything here is a little different from the rest of Paris…
Less than a kilometer separates the Louvre with the throne rooms that were once located in it from the Place de Greve, which for many centuries served as a place of execution.
And this almost kilometer is literally overflowing not just with historically significant buildings, but with entire districts, more or less known to the Russian reader from French fiction…
The Palais Royal is known from the e...
The Gironde department (French Gironde, Occitan Gironda) and its main city Bordeaux have lived in the rhythm of growing and harvesting grapes for 2000 years. The first grape seedlings were planted in the 1st century after Christ by the Gallic tribe of Biturigi vivisci, who founded the city of Burdigala – Bordeaux. Today, the vineyards of Bordeaux extend across the department's 500 to 542 districts...
In the 1st century AD there was a small Roman settlement here – Divio (wonderful, divine – thanks to the purity of the local river). In the Middle Ages it was a powerful, well-defended city. In the 11th century it becomes the capital of Burgundy. During the XIV-XV centuries. The Burgundian dukes claim absolute power in the French kingdom. The ancestor of the Burgundian branch of Valois is consider...