Square des Recollets, Urban park in the 10th arrondissement, Paris, France
The square des Récollets is a small urban park in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, set along the bank of the Canal Saint-Martin. It has benches, shaded paths, patches of grass, and a line of chestnut trees that run along the water's edge.
The square opened in 1891 and takes its name from the former convent of the Récollets, a religious order that established itself in the area in 1604. After the French Revolution, that convent changed hands several times and was used as a hospital and then a military building.
The neighborhood around this square was once shaped by crafts and industry, and today it draws locals who come to sit, chat, or walk along the canal. Just next to the park stands the Hôtel du Nord building, now a restaurant, whose facade is well known to Parisians and visitors alike.
The square sits along the quai de Valmy, beside the Canal Saint-Martin, and is within easy walking distance of the Jacques Bonsergent metro station on line 5. The park is generally open throughout the day, though occasional maintenance work on its walls may limit access to some areas.
Part of the old Récollets convent still stands nearby and now hosts a center for architecture exhibitions, giving a second life to the building that inspired the park's name. Visitors who walk a little further from the square can see the original structure, still in use centuries after it was built.
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