Tag Archives: Victor Hugo

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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Cluny La Sorbonne

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The name of this métro station on line 10 indicates two important sites it serves – the Sorbonne University and the Hôtel de Cluny which houses the Musée national du Moyen Âge, the Museum of the Middle Ages (and also Roman thermal baths).

The station was opened in 1930, initially named only Cluny. At the beginning of WWII, in September 1939, it was closed and due to its proximity to the next station on either side, was not reopened for many years, becoming a “phantom station”. (There are still a few of those in Paris today.)

Cluny was finally reopened in December 1988 to create a correspondence with the RER B and C at the nearby station Saint Michel-Notre Dame (also served by line 4). For this occasion, the station undergoes a full renovation and is renamed Cluny-La Sorbonne.

When you enter the platform, you will immediate notice the mosaics on the ceiling, called The Birds, by French painter Jean Bazaine, as well as a number of mosaic signatures of famous Sorbonne students, among them Racine, Molière, and Victor Hugo.

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Arc de Triomphe

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The Arc de Triomphe, or Triumphal Arch, was built on the orders of Napoléon Ier. Its construction began at the same time as that of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, in 1806. By the time it was achieved in 1836, Napoléon had long since disappeared and a king sat once again on the French throne, namely Louis-Philippe.

Built on a hill, the Arc de Triomphe is easily visible both from the Place de la Concorde and the Esplanade de La Défense.

Napoléon Ier had the arch built following the victorious battle of Austerlitz. Initially, he wanted it to be located on the east side of the city, near the Bastille, so that returning armies would enter the Faubourg Saint Antoine by passing under his arch. However, he could be convinced that the current location was better suited (especially for financial reasons).

Today, the Arc de Triomphe still is a monument with a strong historical connotation, which was only reinforced by the burial of the unknown soldier from WWI beneath it in 1921. The eternal flame arrived two years later, one of the first of its kind in the modern era. It is rekindled every evening at 6.30pm.
When the European Union flag was flown inside the Arc de Triomphe at the beginning of January 2022, to mark the French presidency of the European Union (January-June 2022), it earned much criticism, and the flag was taken down. (The EU circle of stars on a blue-illuminated Eiffel Tower was fine, as the tower does not bear the same historical significance.)

Several times a year, the sun rises or sets in the axis of the Arc de Triomphe: sunrise on February 4, 5 and 6 and November 7, sunset on May 7, 8 and 9 as well as August 3, 4 and 5.

Among the events that took place at the Arc de Triomphe, the most notable ones are the transfer of Napoléon Ier’s ashes in 1840, the vigil of Victor Hugo prior to his funeral in the Panthéon, and sadly the yellow-vest riots’s third protest on December 1st, 2018, during which the Arc de Triomphe was smeared, damaged and graffitied.

In September 2021, the Arc de Triomphe was wrapped up by Christo and Jeanne Claude.

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The Panthéon – for great men and women

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The Pantheon is located on the Sainte Geneviève mountain in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Built in the 18th century, it was originally meant to accommodate relics of Sainte Geneviéve, the patron saint of Paris, but since the French Revolution, it honors distinguished French citizens, as the inscription on the front says:

AUX GRANDS HOMMES LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE
To the great men, from a grateful nation

When the remains of a distinguished person are transferred to the Panthéon, they obtain a almost mythical status. Only very few panthéonisés have been directly buried there, such as Victor Hugo.
The “grands hommes” are still in a large majority men, the first woman was the wife of a grand homme whose family only agreed to the transfer if his wife’s remains could accompany his. The first woman to accede to Pantheéon status on her own merits was Marie Curie. Only three more women have followed her since, two Résistantes, and more recently, Simone Veil.

How do you become a grand homme? Only the national assembly can propose new candidates for the Panthéon, the final decision is made by the president.

On November 30, 2002, Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, was transferred to the Panthéon.
Location of the Panthéon
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