Marais Quarter

first      previous      next      last     

Marais /maʁɛ/ means “swamp” or “marsh” in French, and the area of Paris that carries this name supposedly was marshy at one time, long, long ago. Today it is quite dry and urban, of course, and it is a very charming part of the city, filled with art galleries, trendy restaurants and cafés, equally trendy and often unconventional stores, small theaters, museums, and the like. Pedestrian traffic is quite heavy throughout every day in this neighborhood.

It was hard for me to find any particular spot that truly represents the atmosphere of the Marais adequately, so I selected one of the larger streets in the late afternoon to show just a bit of the atmosphere of the area. This is the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, a (relatively) large and busy street that passes right through the northern half of the Marais. The “look” you see here is fairly typical of the neighborhood. It’s a great place for strolling.

The heart of the Marais is also traversed by the rue des Rosiers, a center of Jewish community life that I describe separately. In addition, and in contrast to the rue des Rosiers, much of the Marais district has a large homosexual population, and this is pretty obvious in many parts of the neighborhood (bars, shops, etc.).

Photographed on July 24, 2001.