Passage Agard, Pedestrian corridor at Cours Mirabeau, Aix-en-Provence, France
Passage Agard is a covered corridor connecting Cours Mirabeau to Place du Palais de Justice, lined with shops and homes on both sides. It contains twelve commercial spaces and residential units distributed along the entire pathway.
Félicien Agard created this passage in 1846 on the grounds of a former convent that he partially owned. The founding marked a shift in how the land changed from religious use to commercial and residential purposes.
This passage represents a typical 19th-century urban planning approach that combined shops with pedestrian routes through city centers. The space shows how merchants and residents shared the same walkway, reflecting how work and home life mixed together in that era.
The passage sits at 55 Cours Mirabeau and is secured with gates each evening, making it easily accessible during daytime hours. Visitors should plan to walk through when shops are open to get the full sense of daily activity here.
The passage was purchased in 2020 by a property company working with historians and architects on a renewal project. This collaboration shows how older spaces can be thoughtfully updated while keeping their original character intact.
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