Jardin des Halles

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This is a small part of the Jardin des Halles (Halles Garden), a park that covers most of the area formerly occupied by the Parisian food market several decades ago. (The markets are now in the suburb of Rungis).

This photograph was taken at the eastern end of the gardens. The sunken area occupying most of this picture is right over the newer wing of the vast Forum des Halles underground shopping center. The glass pyramids are part of the roof of a municipal greenhouse that operates at one end of the shopping center. Below ground on the left, behind the greenhouse, is a municipal swimming pool, but it is barely visible from the surface at all (it can be seen through the greenhouse windows if you are standing in just the right position, but it isn’t visible in this photograph).

You are looking southeast in this photo, taken from the northwestern corner of the gardens. In the distance, on the left, you can just see the blue roof of the Pompidou Center, which is only a short distance east of the Halles area.

Click directly on the photo to see a smaller version (half this size). Photographed on April 30, 2000.