PLACE DES VOSGES

Description

Essentials about Place des Vosges in brief

Place des Vosges, located in the charming Marais district, is the oldest of the five royal squares in Paris and is considered one of the most beautiful in the city. The square has exact square dimensions with a side length of 140 meters.

The history and layout of Place des Vosges

Originally named Place Royale, the square dates back to the French King Henry IV, who had the square built as Paris’ first urban square in the early 17th century. While market squares and church squares are part of the historic cityscape in many European countries, such facilities are rarely found in northern France because the cities were usually too densely built. The Place des Vosges was therefore modeled on the regular central squares in many areas of Occitania and probably also on the royal Plaza Mayor in Madrid with its rectangular layout.

The basis of the square design of the Place Royale was a royal pavilion built at the south end of the square in 1604. All the other 35 buildings – with the exception of the slightly taller Pavilion of the King (Pavillon du Roi) and the Pavilion of the Queen (Pavillon de la Reine) – were to follow the same design. For the first time in Europe, all sides of a square were built on the basis of a uniform plan with three-story houses with arcades on the first floor.

The total of 36 city palaces were executed with facades of red brick. Henry IV wanted his square to have a mixed form of use consisting of craft workshops or manufactories on the first floors and apartments on the floors above. However, very quickly the houses on the Place des Vosges were bought by noblemen as residential residences. Behind the arcades of the first floor, merchants rented rooms, supplying the noble lords with all “necessities”. Place des Voges, by the way, got its name in 1800 after the French department of the Vosges was the first to pay the revolutionary tax levied at that time.

Today, the arcades running around the square are mainly home to art galleries, classy boutiques and restaurants. Fans of literature can visit the house of Victor Hugo here. The writer, who achieved world fame with “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” and “Les Misérables,” lived in the square for 16 years. His house is now a museum.