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. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).