Passage du Prado, Covered passage in 10th arrondissement, France.
Passage du Prado is a covered passageway in the 10th arrondissement that runs about 120 meters between Boulevard Saint-Denis and Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis. The corridor consists of two segments that meet beneath a rotunda, all sheltered by a glass roof.
Opened in 1785 as the open-air Passage du Bois-de-Boulogne, it is among the oldest covered passages in Paris. It was roofed in 1925 in the style of the 1925 Exposition des Arts décoratifs, and in 1930 took the name Passage du Prado after the Madrid museum, inaugurated with a ceremony presided by Oscar Dufrenne. Renovation began on 26 March 2012, with lighting by Yann Kersalé.
The passage's name, given in 1930, refers to the Prado Museum in Madrid; before that it was called passage du Bois-de-Boulogne after a public ball held there. Today the corridor is lined with nail salons, whose solvent smells have drawn complaints from residents, and in 2014 three neighbourhood associations gathered 200 signatures on a petition to the mayor about the passage's condition.
The passage is accessible daily with two main entrances at Boulevard Saint-Denis and Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis. Its narrow width of about 13 feet (4 m) makes navigation straightforward, and the glass cover protects from the elements.
The passage opened in 1785 under the open sky as the Passage du Bois-de-Boulogne, named after a nearby public ballroom; it kept that name for 145 years. It was only glazed in 1925, and in 1930 it was renamed after the Prado Museum in Madrid. The cast-iron roof supports, with their finials and scrollwork, refer to the 1925 Exposition des Arts décoratifs.
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