Louis Fraysse
Square Edouard VII
British King in Paris Just steps from the Opéra Garnier and the Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris’s ninth arrondissement is the quiet Square Edouard VII, a home to the Théâtre Edouard VII and many restaurants and offices. The square … Read More
Cité Durmar
A Fight to Keep the Peace Located at number 154, rue Oberkampf, in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, the Cité Durmar is a leftover of 19th-century industrial Paris. Its inhabitants – sculptors, graphic artists, publishers, bric-a-brac traders and craftspeople – see themselves … Read More
Square des Peupliers
Poplars to Mark a Lost River The Square des Peupliers is a triangle-shaped street near the Butte aux Cailles in Paris’s 13th arrondissement. Its name is a reminder that poplar trees (peupliers) once grew alongside the Bièvre, a river that … Read More
La Commune: 1871, Paris Capitale Insurgée
Édouard Manet’s “Guerre Civile” (1871) © Musée Carnavalet – Roger Viollet The Paris Commune, a euphoric workers’ uprising followed by a bloodbath, remains a mystery to most foreign visitors to the city. An exhibition at Paris’s Hôtel de Ville … … Read More
Rue des Thermopyles
As Narrow as Termopylae The Rue des Thermopyles is so-named because the street is as narrow as the pass where the legendary battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 B.C. The cobblestoned, plant-filled, cat-friendly Rue des Thermopyles, off the busy … Read More
Juger Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann blindfolded before being taken to Israel, photographed by Zvi Aharoni, the Mossad agent who found Eichmann in Argentina. Fifty-one years ago, a team of Israeli agents captured a German citizen living under a false name in Argentina. The … Read More
Port Royal Cloister
The Silence of the Cloister The 17th-century Port Royal Cloister on Paris’s Left Bank was once the heart of the Port-Royal Abbey, which had a rich yet troubled history as the stronghold of Jansenism, a 17th-century Catholic theology that was … Read More
Collège des Trente-trois
One of Paris’s hidden treasures, the 17th-century Collège des Trente-trois, can be found behind a carriage entrance at no. 34, rue Sainte-Geneviève (Métro: Maubert-Mutualité or RER: Luxembourg) in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Beyond the gate, you’ll feel cut … Read More
Secret Paris
Villa Santos Dumont Villa Santos Dumont, one of the most picturesque streets in Paris, is a quiet, cobblestoned dead end full of flowers and trees located in the eastern part of the 15th arrondissement. The street dates back to the … Read More
Three Exhibitions
Canine reception in a neighborhood hotel. Photo © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos-Institut des cultures d’Islam What a great idea: Invite renowned British photographer Martin Parr to be the artist in residence at a little-known Islamic cultural center hidden away … Read More