Les Passages Couverts
Amélie Dupont / Paris Tourist Office
Time Out says
In 18th and 19th century Paris, the areas around today’s Grands Boulevards donned themselves with glass-roofed shopping galleries known as les passages couverts (covered passages). These forerunners to modern-day malls simultaneously allowed you to take a shortcut through the city, shelter from the rain, shop, dine, and (for many men) spend a debaucherous hour in the arms of a lady. Who knows, Paris’s reputation for its ubiquitous merde may even have roots in this era, as most passages were equipped with a salon de décrottage – literally a de-pooping room, in which punters had their shoes scraped clean!
Nowadays these passages are real architectural gems – olde-worlde galleries perfect for tantric browsing. Galerie Vivienne (4 rue des Petits Champs, 5 rue de la Banque, 6 rue Vivienne, 2nd) is one of the prettiest with ochre paintwork and mythology-themed mosaics. It also has a tearoom. While Passage des Panoramas (11–13 bd. Montmartre, 151 rue Montmartre, 2nd) built in 1800, takes the credit for being the first public area in Paris to be lit by gas in 1817. Best for a mooch though, are Passage Jouffroy (10–12 bd. Montmartre and 9 rue de la Grange Batelière, 9th) and its continuation, Passage Verdeau (6 rue de la Grange Batelière and 31bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 9th) both built around 1847. Here you’ll find the Musée Grévin waxwork museum and dinky boutiques that flaunt everything from precious stones, stamps and jewellery to antique cameras and furniture.
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