Paris - Place des Vosges - 4me

Plate XXXIX - Place des Vosges…

One of the guide books I consulted recommended this area for the quaint shops in the vicinity of the Place des Vosges, and especially for Jewish delicacies. I must confess I never saw them, but then maybe quaint is in the eye of the beholder, or maybe it’s just that I’m not Jewish – or both.

With steeply pitched roofs of blue slate and walls of sandstone quoined red brick, the buildings surrounding the square (and unusually, it really is a square - reputedly the oldest in the city) provide a shaded walk along the vaulted arcades. It is a beautiful place, with open lawns and shade giving linden trees.

Madame de Sevigné (the legendary Parisian beauty and letter writer) was born here. Victor Hugo lived here. Over the years so too did Cardinal Richelieu, Duc de Sully, Marion Delorme and Georges Dufrénoy.

Originally known as the Place Royale - even though no royal ever took up residence – the building pictured here is known as the Pavillon de la Reine. The département of the Vosges, a region of eastern France noted for its granite and red sandstone formed mountains was the first to contribute taxes to the Revolutionary army campaigns, and it is for Vosges this former royal square now remains named. The present buildings, each house front identical, date from 1612 and replaced the Hôtel des Tournelles, demolished by Catherine de Medicis during her reign. The public may still visit the former home of Victor Hugo, best known for his works The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Les Miserables.

And who knows, maybe there also is a quaint gefilte fish and chop-liver bagel shop somewhere around here?