Place des Vosges

Place des Vosges

The place des Vosges is a beautifully proportioned, elegant square, situated in the Marais area of Paris. It is the oldest square in Paris, and the first example of planned development in the city. In 1559 Henri II was killed during a jousting tournament near the Hotel des Tournelles, which stood on what is now the north side of the square. His widow, Catherine de Medici had the palace demolished, and the huge space became a horse market. In 1605, Henri IV commissioned the square to be built in honor of Louis XIII's marriage and 36 rose-pink brick and stone arcaded mansions were built, all surrounding a central square. The houses were built to a specific design – the height and width of the facades are the same, and the roofs are half the height of the facades.

Henri IV named it the Place Royal, and it soon became the home of many aristocratic families. In 1800 it was renamed the Place des Vosges, when the administrative department of the same name became the first in the country to pay its taxes to Napoleon. The Marais went into decline for a long period during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but today it is as fashionable as ever, and the Place des Vosges is full of chic shops and interesting restaurants. Many famous people have lived here: Cardinal Richlieu, Blaise Pascal and Madame de Sevigne to name but a few. One of its best-known inhabitants, however, was Victor Hugo, who lived on the second floor of number 6. and wrote much of Les Miserables there. His home is now a museum, and is the only one of these lovely houses that is open to the public.