Place des Vosges

Lonely Planet review

The heart of Marais, Paris' most enchanting neighbourhood, is place des Vosges. Inaugurated in 1612 as place Royale, it is an ensemble of 36 symmetrical houses with ground-floor arcades, steep slate roofs and large dormer windows arranged around a large square. Duels were once fought in the elegant park in the centre.

Only the earliest houses were built of brick; to save time, the rest were given timber frames and faced with plaster, which was later painted to resemble brick.

The square received its present name in 1800 to honour the Vosges département, the first in France to pay its taxes. Today, the arcades around Place des Vosges are occupied by upmarket art galleries, pricey antique shops and elegant places to sip tea.

The author Victor Hugo lived in an apartment on the 3rd floor of the square's Hôtel de Rohan-Guéménée from 1832 to 1848, moving here a year after the publication of Notre Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and completing Ruy Blas while in residence here. The Maison de Victor Hugo is now a municipal museum devoted to the life and times of the celebrated novelist and poet, with an impressive collection of his personal drawings, portraits and furniture.