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Commodities Exchange Building
Since 2021 the 18th-century former Bourse de Commerce building has been the Paris home of the art collection of the French business magnate François Pinault, showing a rotating selection of contemporary artworks either newly commissioned or taken from his collection.
The Bourse de commerce is a building in Paris, originally used as a place to negotiate the trade of grain and other commodities, and later to provide services to businesses by the Paris Chamber of Commerce during the latter part of the 20th century. It has its origins in a circular wheat exchange built in 1763–67, with an open-air interior court that was later capped by a wooden dome replaced in 1811 with a copper one. In a major reconstruction in 1888–89 much of the structure was replaced, although the layout remained the same and the dome was retained albeit adding glass and a mounted canvas.
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The massive parish church of the Les Halles area is a notable example of late Gothic interspersed with Renaissance details (including the entire front façade), as it was only completed in the 17th century. Its unique form results from a combination of relatively short length and impressive height of over 30 metres inside. The latter allows room not only for an array of stained glass windows and paintings, but also France's largest church organ of 8,000 pipes. The sculpture Écoute, depicting an oversized human head, was placed in front of the church's southern facade and has become a favourite photo spot.
Discover French wines with a native French sommelier. Informative, relaxing, and fun. In English in a beautiful Parisian loft.
The little brother of the original Musée en Herbe in the Bois de Boulogne, this museum is also geared to children. They have games and hands-on exhibits, so you won't have to supervise quite as closely as in other museums. Arts workshops are available as well, but you'll need to reserve a space in advance.
This Gothic church functioned until the 19th century as the parish church of the kings of France. In this role, the church has sometimes played a gruesome part in history. Its bell called 'Marie' sounded on the night of 23 August 1572, to launch the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed by Catholic mobs. Nowadays, the church is peaceful and an active parish church for commoners (the monarchy having long since given way to the Republic), and well worth visiting.
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
The Fondation Cartier's new Paris premises, which are in a Haussmannian building dating from 1855 at number 2 Place du Palais-Royal, have been completely remodelled by architect Jean Nouvel. Check website for details of exhibitions.
La Samaritaine is one of Paris's greatest department stores located in a spectacular art nouveau building dating back to 1870. It reopened on June 23, 2021 after a 16-year closure for renovations.