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Hôtel de Ville, Paris, France | |
| Paris's City Hall is a grand palace of a place to be admired from the outside, except when special exhibits allow you inside. | ||
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The Hôtel de Ville (City Hall, Mairie) of Paris, on the Right Bank just beside the Seine (map), is ornate, impressive, and well worth a look if you're passing nearby. Each arrondissement (city division) has its own mairie (city hall) to oversee local matters, but this is the city hall for metropolitan Paris, with the office of the Mayor (Mairie). In fact, the city government headquarters of Paris has been located here, on the Right Bank of the Seine, since 1357. The first grand city hall was ordered built by King François I in 1533, but the building wasn't completed until 1638 under King Louis XIII. Expanded over the years, the Hôtel de Ville was where the French Third Republic was declared in 1870; but as headwuarters for the Paris Commune (1871), it was the scene of fighting, and was mostly destroyed by fire. Only the outer shell remained. From 1873 to 1892 the Hôtel de Ville was rebuilt, preserving the outer shell and the façade, but building all else anew. The interior was designed to host large receptions and ceremonies, which it still does. On August 25, 1944, General Charles de Gaulle addressed the citizens of liberated Paris from a window overlooking the place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville. Exhibits of art and history are frequently staged in the grand chambers of the Hôtel de Ville, and if you have the occasion to visit one, you're in for a double pleasure: the exhibit itself, and the impressive, historic edifice that shelters it. Don't miss the chance. After visiting the Hôtel de Ville, why not wander into Le Marais, just to the east of the Hôtel de Ville. More... Mairie de Paris
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Above, Hôtel de Ville, Paris,
France.
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