20 Best Sights in The Marais, Paris

If it has to do with Parisian history, it's here: this fascinating hodgepodge of artifacts and art ranges from prehistoric canoes used by the Parisii tribes to the cork-lined bedroom where Marcel Proust labored over his evocative novels. Thanks to scores of paintings, drawings, photographs, furniture, and scale models, nowhere else in Paris can you get such a precise picture of the city's evolution through the ages. The museum fills more than 100 rooms in two adjacent mansions, the Hôtel Le Peletier de St-Fargeau and the Hôtel Carnavalet. The latter is a Renaissance jewel that was the home of writer Madame de Sévigné from 1677 to 1696. Throughout her long life, she wrote hundreds of frank and funny letters to her daughter in Provence, giving an incomparable view of both public and private life during the time of Louis XIV. The museum offers a glimpse into her world, but its collection covers far more than just the 17th century. The exhibits on the Revolution are especially interesting, with scale models of guillotines and a replica of the Bastille prison carved from one of its stones. Louis XVI's prison cell is reconstructed along with mementos of his life, even medallions containing locks of his family's hair. Other impressive interiors are reconstructed from the Middle Ages through the rococo period and into Art Nouveau—showstoppers include the Fouquet jewelry shop and the Café de Paris's original furnishings. From May through September, the museum's sculpted courtyard garden is home to Fabula café and restaurant, a delightful place for a coffee, snack, or meal in one of the Marais's prettiest gardens ( 16 rue des Francs-Bourgeois).

Home to the world’s largest public collection of Picasso’s inimitable oeuvre, this spectacular museum covers almost 54,000 square feet in two buildings: the splendid 17th-century Hôtel Salé and a sprawling structure in the back garden dedicated to temporary exhibitions. Diego Giacometti’s exclusively designed furnishings in the former are a bonus. The 200,000-plus paintings, sculptures, drawings, documents, and other archival materials (most of them donated to the City of Paris by Picasso or his family members) span the artist's entire career. Although it doesn't include his most recognizable works, it does contain many of the pieces Picasso himself treasured most. The first two floors cover his work from 1895 to 1972. The top floor illustrates his relationship to his favorite artists: landscapes, nudes, portraits, and still life works taken from his private collection detail his "artistic dialogue" with Cézanne, Gauguin, Degas, Rousseau, Matisse, Braque, Renoir, Modigliani, Miró, and others. The basement centers on Picasso’s workshops, with photographs, engravings, paintings, and sculptures that document or evoke key pieces created at the Bateau Lavoir, Château de Boisgeloup, Grands-Augustins, Villa La Californie, and his farmhouse, Notre-Dame-de-Vie, in Mougins. With excellent temporary exhibitions and plenty of multimedia components and activities that cater to kids, this is ideal for children and adult art lovers alike. Buy tickets online well in advance of your planned visit. Also, try to avoid visiting on weekends, when the crowds are largest.

The oldest square in Paris and—dare we say it—the most beautiful, Place des Vosges represents an early stab at urban planning. The precise proportions offer a placid symmetry, but things weren't always so calm here. Four centuries ago, this was the site of the Palais des Tournelles, home to King Henry II and Queen Catherine de Medici. The couple staged regular jousting tournaments, and Henry was fatally lanced in the eye during one of them in 1559. Catherine fled to the Louvre, abandoning her palace and ordering it destroyed. In 1612, the square became Place Royale on the occasion of Louis XIII's engagement to Anne of Austria. Napoléon renamed it Place des Vosges to honor the northeast region of Vosges, the first in the country to pony up taxes to the Revolutionary government. At the base of the 36 redbrick-and-stone houses—nine on each side of the square—is an arcaded, covered walkway lined with art galleries, shops, and cafés. There's also an elementary school, a synagogue (whose barrel roof was designed by Gustav Eiffel), and several chic hotels. The formal, gated garden's perimeter is lined with chestnut trees; inside are a children's play area and a fountain. Aside from hanging out in the park, people come here to visit the house, now a museum, of the man who once lived at No. 6—Victor Hugo, the author of Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (aka The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).  One of the best things about this park is that you're actually allowed to sit—or snooze or snack—on the grass during spring and summer. There is no better spot in the Marais for a picnic: you can pick up fixings at the nearby street market on Thursday and Sunday morning. (It's on Boulevard Richard Lenoir between Rues Amelot and St-Sabin.) The most likely approach to Place des Vosges is from Rue de Francs-Bourgeois, the main shopping street. However, for a grander entrance, walk along Rue St-Antoine until you get to Rue de Birague, which leads directly into the square.

Since legendary couturier Azzedine Alaïa's death in 2017, his atelier—tucked away on a quiet leafy street—has become a pilgrimage spot for those who revered his exquisite, masterfully tailored couture and ready-to-wear masterpieces. Housed in a soaring glass-roofed building, the foundation mounts brilliant exhibitions dedicated to Alaïa, whose luxurious, form-fitting creations enhanced the silhouettes of generations of fashion icons from Greta Garbo to Naomi Campbell. You’ll also want to peruse the foundation's superb bookstore and the cozy café serving lunch, coffee, and drinks inside or in the leafy courtyard in warm weather.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, the legendary artist-photojournalist and co-creator of the Magnum photo agency, launched this foundation with his wife Martine Franck, a British-Belgian portrait and documentary photographer, and their daughter Melanie. The soaring, light-filled gallery showcases a collection of 50,000 original prints along with an exceptional series of solo exhibitions from notable photographers. The foundation's bookstore itself is a draw for photography buffs.

Much of the credit for the city's ascendancy as a hub of international photography goes to Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP). Set in a landmark 17th-century mansion with a contemporary addition, MEP hosts up to four simultaneous exhibitions, which change about every three months, along with theme visits, workshops, and programs for kids. Shows feature an international crop of photographers and video artists. Works by superstar Annie Leibovitz or the late designer-photographer Karl Lagerfeld may overlap with a collection of self-portraits by an up-and-coming artist, and there are also regular retrospectives of photos by Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, and other classics from MEP's vast private collection. The center has an excellent library, bookstore, and a café that spills out into the courtyard in warm months. Programs are available in English, and English-language tours are sometimes offered.

The first installation in this compelling memorial and museum is the deeply moving Wall of Names, tall plinths honoring the 76,000 French Jews deported from France to Nazi concentration camps, of whom only 2,500 survived. Opened in 2005, the center has an archive on the victims, a library, and a gallery hosting temporary exhibitions. The permanent collection includes riveting artifacts and photographs from the camps, along with video testimony from survivors. The children's memorial is particularly poignant and not for the faint of heart—scores of backlit photographs show the faces of many of the 11,000 murdered French children. The crypt, a giant black marble Star of David, contains ashes recovered from the camps and the Warsaw ghetto. You can see the orderly drawers containing small files on Jews kept by the French police. (France officially acknowledged the Vichy government's role only in 1995.) The history of anti-Semitic persecution in the world is revisited, as well as the rebounding state of Jewry today. There is a free guided tour in English the second Sunday of every month at 3.

This excellent museum traces the tempestuous backstory of French and European Jews through art and history. Housed in the refined 17th-century Hôtel St-Aignan, exhibits have good explanatory texts in English, but the free English audio guide adds another layer of insight; guided tours in English are also available on request (€4 extra). Highlights include 13th-century tombstones excavated in Paris; a wooden model of a destroyed Eastern European synagogue; a roomful of early paintings by Marc Chagall; and Christian Boltanski's stark two-part tribute to Shoah (Holocaust) victims in the form of plaques on an outer wall naming the (mainly Jewish) inhabitants of the Hôtel St-Aignan in 1939, and canvas hangings with the personal data of the 13 residents who were deported and died in concentration camps. The museum also mounts excellent temporary exhibitions, like the recent "Chagall, Modigliani, Soutine: Paris as a School, 1940." The rear-facing windows offer a view of the Jardin Anne Frank. To visit the garden, use the entrance on Impasse Berthaud, off Rue Beaubourg, just north of Rue Rambuteau.

Mark this down as one of Paris's most distinctive—and fascinating—collections around the theme of "humans and nature." The museum, housed in the gorgeous 17th-century Hôtel de Guénégaud, features lavishly appointed rooms stocked with animal- and hunt-theme art and sculpture by the likes of Rubens and Gentileschi, as well as antique weaponry and taxidermy interspersed with contemporary works by artists such as Jeff Koons, Sophie Calle, and Walton Ford. In a tribute to Art Nouveau, the decor incorporates chandeliers and railings curled like antlers. Older kids will appreciate the jaw-dropping Trophy Room's impressive menagerie of beasts, not to mention the huge polar bear stationed outside. There is a lovely multimedia exhibit on the myth of the unicorn, as well as charming interactive displays on antique weaponry and bird calls. Temporary exhibits take place on the first floor, with works scattered throughout the permanent collection. There's also a spacious café.

Art Nouveau genius Hector Guimard built this unique synagogue (also called Synagogue de la Rue Pavée) in 1913 for a Polish-Russian Orthodox association. The facade resembles an open book: Guimard used the motif of the Ten Commandments to inspire the building's shape and its interior, which can only rarely be visited. Knock on the door, and see if the caretaker will let you upstairs to the balcony, where you can admire Guimard's well-preserved decor. Like other Parisian synagogues, its front door was dynamited by Nazis on Yom Kippur, 1941. The Star of David over the door was added after the building was restored.

Thousands of important historical documents are preserved inside the Hôtel de Soubise and Hôtel de Rohan—a pair of spectacular buildings constructed in 1705 as private homes. Fans of the decorative arts will appreciate a visit to the former, where the well-preserved private apartments of the Prince and Princess de Soubise are among the first examples of the rococo style, which preceded the more somber Baroque opulence of Louis XIV. The Hôtel de Soubise also has a museum that displays documents dating from 625 to the 20th century. Highlights include the Edict of Nantes (1598), the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), the wills of Louis XIV and Napoléon, and the Declaration of Human Rights (1789). Louis XVI's diary is also here, containing his sadly clueless entry for July 14, 1789—the day the Bastille was stormed and the French Revolution was launched. The Hôtel de Rohan, open to the public only during Patrimony Weekend in September, was built for Soubise's son, Cardinal Rohan. Before you leave, notice the medieval turrets in the courtyard: this is the Porte de Clisson, all that remains of a stately 14th-century mansion.

This impressive Gothic church in the shadow of the Centre Pompidou was completed in 1550. Notable features include the turret (it contains the oldest bell in Paris, cast in 1331) and an 18th-century pulpit supported on carved palm trees. There are free concerts here Sunday at 4 pm.

This early Baroque gem, built in 1624, is one of the city's loveliest hôtels particuliers (grand town houses). Like much of the area, it fell into ruin until the 1950s, when it was rescued by the institute for French historic monuments (the Centre des Monuments Nationaux), which is based here. The renovated headquarters aren’t open to the public, but you're welcome to enjoy the equally lovely garden. Stroll through it, past the Orangerie, to find a small passage into nearby Place des Vosges. Sully's best buddy, King Henry IV, would have lived there had he not been assassinated in 1610. An on-site bookstore (with a 17th-century ceiling of exposed wooden beams) sells specialized English-language guides to Paris.

Overlooking the Seine, City Hall contains the residence and offices of the mayor. The original Renaissance structure was built by François I in 1535–51 and added to by both Henry IV and Louis XIII in the early 17th century. In 1871 it was sacked and burned during the final days of the Paris Commune. Rebuilt in an almost exact replica of the original in 1874, it is one of Paris's most stunning buildings, made all the more dramatic by elaborate nighttime lighting. The adjoining public library stages frequent free exhibits celebrating famous photographers like Doisneau or Atget and their notable subjects, often the city itself. (The entrance is on the side across from the department store BHV.) Alas, the impressive interior of the main administrative building, with its lavish reception halls and staircases, is open only for independent visits during Patrimony Weekend in September. If your French is good, however, free guided tours are given biweekly in summer, weekly in other seasons (call two months ahead for information and reservations). The grand public square out front is always lively, playing host to events and temporary exhibitions. There's a carousel and a beach volleyball court (or similar) in summer, and an ice-skating rink (with skate rental available) in winter.

The only Swedish cultural center outside Sweden, this is a favorite Marais hangout for those in the know, not only for its picturesque location, tucked away in a beautiful 18th-century mansion, but also its program of Swedish contemporary art, open-air cinema, and concerts. Its best-kept secret is the Café FICA, where you can feast on healthy, affordably priced Swedish sandwiches, salads, and snacks indoors or in the charming cobbled French garden.

At the behest of the Fondation Entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Rem Koolhaas and his OMA studio transformed this 19th-century industrial space into a streamlined, six-floor "laboratory of innovation" that supports and exhibits the work of up-and-coming contemporary artists and designers. Each year, the foundation chooses three or four artists and presents their work over a span of three months, enhanced by live performances and discussions. The foundation also hosts a program of live music as well as the Closer music festival for "adventurous" music every March. Pluto, a sleek café and bistronomic restaurant on the ground floor, is a great choice for lunch, dinner, an afternoon coffee break, or teatime in a chic industrial space loaded with contemporary art. 

France's most famous scribe lived in this house on the southeast corner of Place des Vosges between 1832 and 1848. It's now a museum dedicated to the multitalented author. In Hugo's apartment on the second floor, you can see the tall desk, next to the short bed, where he began writing his masterwork Les Misérables (as always, standing up). There are manuscripts and early editions of the novel on display, as well as others such as Notre-Dame de Paris, known to English readers as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. You can see illustrations of Hugo's writings, including Bayard's rendering of the impish Cosette holding her giant broom (which has graced countless Les Miz T-shirts). The collection includes many of Hugo's own, sometimes macabre, ink drawings (he was a fine artist), and furniture from several of his homes. Particularly impressive is the room of carved and painted Chinese-style wooden panels that Hugo designed for the house of his mistress, Juliette Drouet, on the island of Guernsey, when he was exiled there for agitating against Napoléon III. Try to spot the intertwined Vs and Js (hint: look for the angel's trumpet in the left corner). A recent restoration not only spiffed up the house but made the museum fully accessible to people with physical or mental disabilities and impaired sight or hearing, with improved touch screens and audioguides. It also added a lovely garden terrace and a café by Paris's famous pastry shop Maison Mulot.

One of the loveliest museums in Paris, this 16th-century, rococo-style mansion contains an outstanding collection of mostly 18th-century artwork in its rooms of boiserie (intricately carved wood paneling). A tour through them allows a rare glimpse into the lifestyle of wealthy 19th-century Parisians. Ernest Cognacq, founder of the department store La Samaritaine, and his wife, Louise Jay, amassed furniture, porcelain, and paintings—notably by Fragonard, Watteau, François Boucher, and Tiepolo—to create one of the world's finest private collections of this period. Some of the best displays are also the smallest, like the tiny enamel medallion portraits showcased on the second floor, and on the third floor, the glass cases filled with exquisite inlaid snuff boxes, sewing cases, pocket watches, perfume bottles, and cigar cutters. Exhibits are labeled in French only, but free pamphlets and €5 audioguides are available in English.

Built in 1407 and reputed to be the oldest stone house in Paris (though other buildings also claim that title), this abode has a mystical history. Harry Potter fans should take note: this was the real-life residence of Nicolas Flamel, the alchemist whose sorcerer's stone is the source of immortality in the popular book series. It's not all fanciful: a wealthy scribe, merchant, and dabbler in the mystical arts, Flamel willed his home to the city as a dormitory for the poor—on the condition that boarders pray daily for his soul. Today, the only way to gain entry to the building is to dine in the Michelin-starred restaurant residing on its beamed first floor.

The leading Baroque church in the Marais, its dome rising 180 feet above the crossing, was begun in 1627 by the Jesuits, who modeled it after their Gesù church in Rome. Recently cleaned on the outside but dark and brooding inside, it contains Delacroix's Christ on the Mount of Olives in the transept and a shell-shape holy-water font at the entrance. The font was donated by Victor Hugo, who lived in nearby Place des Vosges. Hugo's beloved daughter, Léopoldine, was married here in 1843, though she met a tragic end less than seven months later, when she fell into the Seine and drowned, along with her husband Charles, who tried to save her.