Description
The Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in Paris, in the Marais, a perfect square of red brick and stone with arcades all around and a garden of old lindens in the middle. It is among the most elegant places in the city and a favorite spot for a picnic or a quiet walk.
Look at the facades: every house front follows the same design, red brick with strips of stone, steep blue slate roofs and arcades underneath. The two taller pavilions are named after the King and the Queen.
At number 6, the Maison de Victor Hugo, the writer lived from 1832 to 1848, and his apartment is a museum. Others who lived on the square include Cardinal Richelieu, Madame de Sévigné, born at number 1bis, and the minister Sully, at number 7.
In the middle stands a statue of Louis XIII on horseback, with fountains and lawns around it.
The square begins with a joust. In 1559, at one held to celebrate his daughter's wedding, Henry II was struck in the eye by a lance. He died days later in the nearby Hôtel des Tournelles, and his widow, Catherine de' Medici, had the palace torn down. On that empty ground, a new idea was born.
From 1605 to 1612 Henry IV built the Place Royale there, 140 meters on each side. It was inaugurated in 1612 with a grand carousel for the engagement of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, and it became the model for residential squares across Europe.
No king ever lived here, despite the pavilions' names, except Anne of Austria, who stayed in the Queen's pavilion for a short while. The name came in 1800, in honor of the Vosges, the first département to pay its taxes for the Revolutionary army.
Look at the facades: every house front follows the same design, red brick with strips of stone, steep blue slate roofs and arcades underneath. The two taller pavilions are named after the King and the Queen.
At number 6, the Maison de Victor Hugo, the writer lived from 1832 to 1848, and his apartment is a museum. Others who lived on the square include Cardinal Richelieu, Madame de Sévigné, born at number 1bis, and the minister Sully, at number 7.
In the middle stands a statue of Louis XIII on horseback, with fountains and lawns around it.
The square begins with a joust. In 1559, at one held to celebrate his daughter's wedding, Henry II was struck in the eye by a lance. He died days later in the nearby Hôtel des Tournelles, and his widow, Catherine de' Medici, had the palace torn down. On that empty ground, a new idea was born.
From 1605 to 1612 Henry IV built the Place Royale there, 140 meters on each side. It was inaugurated in 1612 with a grand carousel for the engagement of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, and it became the model for residential squares across Europe.
No king ever lived here, despite the pavilions' names, except Anne of Austria, who stayed in the Queen's pavilion for a short while. The name came in 1800, in honor of the Vosges, the first département to pay its taxes for the Revolutionary army.