Place des Vosges, Square in Le Marais, Paris, France
Place des Vosges is a square in the Marais district of Paris, arranged as a perfect 140-meter (460-foot) square with a leafy garden at its center. The surrounding 36 brick and stone houses share identical facades, steep slate roofs, and a walkway of red brick arcades at street level.
The square was laid out under Henry IV starting in 1605 and inaugurated in 1612 as Place Royale, with royal pavilions at the north and south ends. It was renamed in 1800 to honor the Vosges region, the first area to pay taxes to the revolutionary government.
Under the vaulted arcades, small art galleries and antique shops open onto the cobbled walkway, their windows showing prints, ceramics, and vintage objects. Visitors often slow down to look at the displays before stepping into the garden, where people read on benches or eat lunch from paper bags.
The central garden is level and easy to enter through gates on each side, with plenty of wooden benches and gravel paths. Early morning or late afternoon offers the calmest moments, since lunchtime and weekends draw the largest crowds here.
The bronze equestrian statue in the garden is Louis XIII, commissioned by Cardinal Richelieu and erected in 1639; it was destroyed during the Revolution. Charles Dupaty's replacement, finished by Jean-Pierre Cortot, was inaugurated in 1825. The garden's four fountains were designed by Cortot and fed by the Ourcq. A sign on the lawn reads "PELOUSE AU REPOS".
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