Tag Archives: Louis XIII

Places des Vosges

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The Place des Vosges is one of the five Royal Squares in Paris. Inaugurated in 1612, it was initially named Place Royale after kings Henri IV and Louis XIII. Its name was changed to Place des Vosges in 1792 for the département Vosges in eastern France which was the first to pay its taxes under the French Revolution.

This royal square for once is a square, 140m to each side, with identical façades all along, two stories high, built of red bricks with strips of stone quoins. On the ground level, vaulted arcades allow pedestrians to go around the entire square shielded from the elements.

Only at the center of the north and south sides, the pavilions of the Queen and the King rise above the regular roofline. Despite all those names, the only royal who ever lived on the Place des Vosges was Anne of Austria, and even her residence in the Pavillon de la Reine was short-lived.


At the center of the square stands the equestrian statue of Louis XIII. The original statue, built in 1639 was destroyed during the revolution.
Up until the revolution, the square served as a meeting place for the nobility. Today, when the weather is fine, it becomes a meeting place for families, friends, students, and kids’ birthday parties.

Over time, the square has seen many famous residents come and go. The most well-known is probably Victor Hugo who lived at number 6, house which is now the Victor Hugo museum. Other writers who lived on the square include Colette, Alphonse Daudet and Georges Simenon. It was also home to contemporary French politicians like Jack Lang and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. It is said that even Cardinal Richelieu lived at number 21 for a while.

The numbering begins at the rue de Birague at the south side of the square with the Pavillon du Roi being number 1. From there, it’s rising even numbers to the right-hand side and rising uneven numbers to the left-hand side, making the Place des Vosges an exception to the systematic street numbering in Paris.

rue de Birague and the Pavillon du Roi

The square can be accessed via the rue de Birague on the south side, which connects the Place des Vosges to the rue Saint Antoine, the rue des Francs Bourgeois from the Marais on the northwest corner, the rue du Pas de la Mule at the northeast corner from the boulevard Beaumarchais, and through a door in the southwest corner leading into the gardens of the Hôtel de Sully.

exit from the Place des Vosges in the southwest corner

If you leave the Place des Vosges this way, you can cross the courtyard of the Hôtel de Sully and emerge onto the busy rue Saint Antoine which a little further becomes the rue de Rivoli, a main east-west axis of the city.

Garden of the Hôtel de Sully
Hôtel de Sully on the rue Saint Antoine
The location of the Place des Vosges on a map of Paris
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Market Day in Paris

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Have you ever been to a French market? I don’t remember my first experience which dates back to a school exchange in 9th grade, but I do remember first venturing by myself to what I think is the biggest market in Lille, the city in northern France where I began my studies. It was a little disorienting at first, all those marketers advertising their wares in loud voices, sometimes trying to shout one over the other. This is a staple of every French market I’ve visited so far.

And the sheer quantity of food on offer! There are fruit I’ve never seen before but fortunately a little sign will give me the name. There are many kinds of fish (all much fresher than those on offer in a certain Gaulish village), including shellfish, and don’t get me started on the cheeses!

Unhygienix’ fishmonger’s stall in the village of Asterix

A huge advantage of a market over a supermarket is that when you want to buy fresh fruit such as, say a melon de Charente, the market seller will ask you when you plan to eat it (Tonight? During the next few days?) and find you one with the matching degree of maturity. Another highlight of markets for me are the local farmers selling their yogurts and other fresh milk products that you would have a hard time finding on supermarket shelves. Finally, and that’s my husband’s go-to place, the chicken-roaster. Go to the Sunday market, buy your groceries, and get home with a chicken fresh from the spit (or half a chicken, or chicken legs) for Sunday lunch.

But let’s go back and look at Paris markets. According to the City of Paris website, the first market was located  on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Lutetia in the 5th century.

Though not in Paris, this is an old French market hall

Fast forward to 1860, when there were already 51 markets. One of them is the oldest existing covered market, dating back to 1615 under King Louis XIII, the Marché des Enfants Rouges. It is located in the 3rd arrondissement and open every day except Mondays from 8h30 till 20h30, (closing later on Thursdays but earlier on Sundays).

Place d’Aligre market in the 12th arrondissement

As of today, Paris has a total of 95 markets, with around 9,000 marketers. This number includes food markets, flea markets, and specialized markets. The City of Paris website gives these details: 72 open-air food markets (including 3 organic markets), 10 covered markets, plus the specialized markets such as flower market, bird market, clothes market, flea markets and 2 creative markets where artist show their original art.

Generally, the food markets are open from 7am to 2.30pm on weekdays and from 7am to 3pm on weekends. Due to customer demand, five markets were created that are open in the afternoon once or twice a week.

For outdoor markets, the market team of the City of Paris sets up the “skeleton” of the market stalls. Indoor markets have it easier, everything is already in place.

If you travel across France, you will find old market halls that are basically wooden roofs open on the sides, or open-air markets in small villages or mid-sized towns. Every town in France has a market, just check their website or ask at the tourist office about market day. And don’t be afraid if you don’t speak French, you can always point at the items and hold up a few fingers.

Fresh strawberries on a Brittany market
Markets and old market halls across France

Enjoy!

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L is for Louis

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Many French kings were named Louis, and their combined reigns stretch over hundreds of years of French history.

Louis Ist, born in 778, was the third son of Charlemagne, and became his successor after the death of his two older brothers. His grandson was Louis II, whose son in turn was Louis III, but it was his brother Charles who became the father of Louis IV and great-grandfather of Louis V.

Are you lost yet? Me too.

Louis VI at Saint Denis Basilica (bottom left)

Let’s leave the Carolingian dynasty for the Capetians. After Louis V who died in 987, it took a change of dynasty to get to Louis VI, born in 1084. His son was Louis VII, his great-grandson Louis VIII and with the following generation we finally get to someone interesting: Louis IX, better known as Saint-Louis. We’re in the 13th century now, and Louis is king for over forty years. His reign is seen as the golden age for the kingdom of France which reached economic and political summits during this era. He had a reputation of being very pious and a high moral integrity.
He was canonized in 1297, twenty-seven years after his death, and remains the only French king to receive that distinction from the Catholic church.

Following his death, it took three generations to get to Louis X, the last Louis of the Capetian dynasty. And even after entering the Valois dynasty, it was some time before Louis XI became king in 1423. (He was the son and successor of Charles VII who was crowned with the help of Joan of Arc, with whom you might be more familiar than any of these kings.)

Onward, to cousin Louis XII, who died without giving the kingdom a successor, so the crown went to yet another cousin, François d’Angoulême (the first king named François). Contrary to Louis XII, he had a number of children, yet none of them was named Louis. (His daughter Louise died aged 3 but she couldn’t have become queen anyway.)

Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne at Saint Denis Basilica

Enter the Bourbon dynasty and the reigns of the most famous kings named Louis:

Louis XIII with his prime ministers Cardinal Richelieu and Mazarin, arch-enemies of the Three Musketeers

Louis XIV, the Sun King, who built the glorious palace of Versailles to escape the dangerous streets of Paris

Louis XV who lent his name to the architectural style Louis Quinze and reconciled France and Austria, sealing the alliance with the marriage between his grandson Louis and Marie-Antoinette.
Can you see it coming? That grandson is none other than Louis XVI who lost his head during the French Revolution.
Which makes his brother, Louis XVIII, who returned to the throne after the first fall of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1814, the last king of France by that name (and one of the last kings of France full stop).

Louis XVIII at Saint Denis Basilica

You’ll wonder what happened to Louis XVII and what possessed the parents to name two of their sons Louis, especially as they were born only one year apart?
I can only answer the first question: Louis XVII, or Louis Charles, was the second son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. He was considered Dauphin after the death of his older brother but died aged ten during the French Revolution, 19 years before his uncle claimed back the throne.

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Royal Squares, Circles, and Triangles

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In France, and even more so in Paris, a place royale, literally a royal square, was meant to surround a royal statue, mostly an equestrian statue in the Roman tradition, but later also pedestrian statues. People could walk in the square and admire the statue of their king.
There are five places royales in Paris that have undergone changes over the course of history.

1 – Place des Vosges


Initial name: Place Royale
Inauguration: 1612
Statue: Louis XIII
Origin of the name: The French Département Vosges (in eastern France), was the first to pay its taxes under the French Revolution.
Location: Marais, 4th arrondissement
Story: Ordered by Henri IV, it was inauguration at the occasion of the engagement of Louis XIII with Anne of Austria.

2 – Place Dauphine


Inauguration: 1614
Statue: no statue in the square, but a statue of Henri IV stands in the middle of the Pont Neuf
Origin of the name: Named for the Dauphin, the heir apparent, the future Louis XIII.
Location: Île de la Cité, 1st arrondissement
Story: Created by Henri IV following the construction of the Pont Neuf. (It’s actually a triangle, by the way.)

3 – Place des Victoires


Inauguration: 1686
Statue: Louis XIV as Roman Emperor
Origin of the name: in celebration of the military victories of Louis XIV
Location: 1st and 2nd arrondissements
Story: Financed by the Duke de la Feuillade, Marshal of France, it is the first square created by a private individual to celebrate his sovereign. (Also it is actually a circle, not a square.)

4 – Place Vendôme


Initial name: Place Louis Le Grand (Louis XIV)
Other names: Place des Conquêtes (Conquests Square), and during the Revolution, Place des Piques (Pike Square, from the pikes on which were displayed the heads of the beheaded by the guillotine)
Inauguration: 1699
Statue: initially Louis XIV (destroyed in 1792), presently Napoléon Ier at the top of the column
Origin of the current name: The square was built in the place of the Hôtel de Vendôme, a hôtel particulier or townhouse.
Location: 1st arrondissement between rue de la Paix and the Tuileries Gardens
Story: Initiated by Louis XIV, his grand project never saw the light of day. In the end, the square was built by the City of Paris. One of its prestigious addresses houses the Ritz.

5 – Place de la Concorde


Initial name: Place Louis XV
Other name: Place de la Révolution
Inauguration: 1772
Statue: Louis XV, destroyed and replaced by the Egyptian obelisk
Origin of the name: Reconciliation of the French people at the end of the Terror (bloody period during the French Revolution)
Location: 8th arrondissement, between the Tuileries Gardens and the Champs-Élysées, on the “royal axis”
Story: During the Terror, it was the location of the guillotine where among many others, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were beheaded.

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