13e
From Paris Hotels Reviews
13e
Thanks for the efforts of generations of town planners, the treiziéme arrondissement (13ᵉ), in the southeastern of Paris, suffers from the fragmented identity. North of the mega – roundabout of Place d’ Italie, the genteel neighborhood around the ancient Gobelins tapestry works has more in common with the adjacent Quartier Latin. The southern swathe of the arrondissement, by contrast, was completely cleared in the 1990s, its crowded, tight-knit slums replaced by tower blocks whose architectural gloom is only alleviated by the culinary delights of the Chinese quarter. Where the prewar streets were left untouched, however, in the southwest, around the minor hillock of the Butte-aux-Cailles, a community – spirited neighborhood now flourishes, it’s pretty, gentrified streets alive with restaurants and bars. This relative success hasn’t stopped the planners and architects trying again. For decades, the eastern edge of the 13ᵉ, beside the Seine, was last significant area of undeveloped land in Paris, its old quays, mills and warehouses lapsing into rust decay. Since the mid – 1990s, however, the mammoth development works of Paris Rive Gauche have created a whole new quartier, centered around the flagship Bibliothéque Nationale.
