Sunday Morning Stoll around the Marais, Paris, Paris, France

It was a crisp February morning when I emerged from the Metro at Pont Marie. The River Seine flowed sluggishly past me on my left and the district of Marais was on my right. I was immediately drawn to my right at the sight of an elegant hôtel particuliers for which this district is famous.

Le Marais is one of the oldest districts of Paris, capital of France. It was once, as its name suggests an area of marshland. Religious communities were the first to settle here a heritage reflected in some of the magnificent churches and a temple that still grace the area. In 1543 King François ordered the division of the Marais to cope with the expanding population of the city. It was soon popular with the royalty, the rich and the famous and today many of the magnificent buildings they lived in can still be seen and enjoyed today. These include several hôtel particuliers, not in the sense that hotels are known today but huge private mansions with several bedrooms where guests of the owners could stay. Good examples of these mansions still to be seen in the Marais are Hôtel de Soubise now the National Archives Museum and Hôtel de Sens, the oldest example of this type of building.

A charming French-style garden still borders the back of the Hôtel de Sens. Neatly trimmed miniature hedges contain small flower beds, still very attractive even in winter. This garden is open to the public throughout the year. This building has an interesting history. It was originally built to house the Archbishop Tristan Salazar but it was fifty years before it was completed in 1591and he died that same year so he never actually lived there. Nor did his successors. From 1605 to 1606 the building was occupied by Queen Margot (Marguerite de Valois) whose marriage to Henry IV had been annulled by the Church in 1599 so that he could marry Marie de Medici. Riotous parties held during that period did not go down well with the people. Thereafter this building was rented out, seized during the French revolution to be sold to private companies and finally purchased by the municipality of Paris in 1911. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).