Covered passages of Paris

Summary

The covered passages of Paris (French: Passages couverts de Paris) are an early form of shopping arcade built in Paris, France, primarily during the first half of the 19th century. By 1867, there were approximately 183[1] covered passages in Paris but many were demolished during Haussmann's renovation of Paris. Only 25 survived into the 21st century, all but one are in the arrondissements (municipal districts) on the Right Bank of the Seine.

The common characteristics of the covered passages is that they link at least two streets, have glass ceilings and are: pedestrianised; artificially illuminated at night (initially with gas lamps); privately owned; highly ornamented and decorated; lined with small shops on the ground floor. The passages’ upper floors usually had apartments.[2] Originally, to keep the passages clean, each would have at the entrance an artiste de décrottage (a ‘shoe cleaning artist’).

Alfred de Musset frequented the Galerie Vérot-Dodat when visiting a famous actress.[2]

Eugène-Francois Vidocq, the father of criminology and of the French police system, lived in the Galerie Vivienne in 1840.[2]

As a child, Louis-Ferdinand Céline lived in the Passage Choiseul.[2]

The passages were the subject of Walter Benjamin's incomplete magnum-opus Das Passagen-Werk (Arcades Project) which was posthumously published.

List of currently accessible passages edit

The following table lists the covered passages that still exist and remain accessible to the public.

District
Name
Date
Entrance
Hours
Heritage listing
Length
Image
1 Passage des Deux-Pavillons 1820 Mérimée 33m  
1 Galerie Véro-Dodat 1826
  • 19 rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau
  • 2 rue du Bouloi
Monday-Saturday (except public holidays) 0700-2200 Mérimée 80m  
2 Passage Ben-Aïad 1826
  • 9-11 rue Léopold-Bellan
  • 8 rue Bachaumont
Closed to the public Mérimée 90m  
2 Passage du Bourg-l'Abbé 1828 Monday-Saturday 0700-1900 Mérimée 47m  
2 Passage du Caire 1798
  • 33 rue d'Alexandrie
  • 2 place du Caire
  • 237-239 rue Saint-Denis
  • 14, 34 et 44 rue du Caire
Monday-Friday 0700-1800 360m  
2 Passage Choiseul 1829 Mérimée 190m  
2 Galerie Colbert 1826 Mérimée 83m  
2 Passage du Grand-Cerf 1825 Monday-Saturday 0800 - 2000 Mérimée 117m  
2 Passage des Panoramas 1800 0600-2400 Mérimée 133m  
2 Passage du Ponceau 1826 Monday-Friday 8-9 92m  
2 Passage des Princes 1860 Monday-Saturday 0800 - 2000 Mérimée 80m  
2 Passage Sainte-Anne 1829 Mérimée 47m  
2 Galerie Vivienne 1823 0800 - 2000 Mérimée 176m  
3 Passage Molière 1791
  • 82 rue Quincampoix
  • 157, 159, 161 rue Saint-Martin
Mérimée 46m  
3 Passage Vendôme 1827
  • Monday-Friday 0700 - 2000
  • Saturday 0800 - 2000
Mérimée 57m  
6 Cour du Commerce-Saint-André 1776 Mérimée 120m  
8 Cité Berryer 1745
  • 24 rue Boissy-d'Anglas
  • 24 rue Royale
Mérimée 95m  
8 Arcades du Lido 1926 120m  
8 Galerie de la Madeleine 1845 Monday-Saturday (except public holidays) 0800-1900 Mérimée 53m  
8 Passage Puteaux 1839
  • 33 rue de l'Arcade
  • 28 rue Pasquier
Monday-Friday 0700 - 2400 29m  
9 Passage du Havre 1845 115m  
9 Passage Jouffroy 1845 0700 - 2100 Mérimée 140m  
9 Passage Verdeau 1847
  • 6 rue de la Grange-Batelière
  • 31 bis rue du Faubourg-Montmartre
  • Monday-Friday 0700 - 2100
  • Saturday-Sunday 0700 - 2000
Mérimée 75m  
10 Passage Brady 1828 Mérimée 216m  
10 Passage du Prado 1830 0900 - 1900 120m  

Further reading edit

  • New Paris Guide, Or Stranger's Companion Through the French Metropolis: To which is Added a Description of the Environs. A. and W. Galignani. 1827. 
  • Lefeuve, Charles (1875). Les anciennes maisons de Paris, Volume 4 (in French). C. Reinwald et cie. street by street, house by house 

References edit

  1. ^ Joanne, Adolphe Laurent (1867). The Diamond Guide for the Stranger in Paris ... L. Hachette & Company. p. 90.
  2. ^ a b c d "Découvrez la magie des galeries et passages couverts parisiens". www.paris.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-08-31.

External links edit

  • "Paris's top 10 hidden shopping passages". The Guardian.
  • "Le charme parisien des passages couverts". ParisInfo (in French).