Galerie Vero-Dodat and Bibliotheque Nationale

From Paris Hotels Reviews

Galerie Vero-Dodat and Bibliotheque Nationale

The most homogeneous and aristocratic of the passages, with painted ceilings and panelled mahogany shop fronts divided by faux marble columns, is Galerie Vero-Dodat (between rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs and rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau; M° Palais-Royal-Musée-du-Louvre), named after the two pork butchers who set it up in 1824. Renovated in 1980, it's been largely colonized by smart design shops and art galleries, though some older businesses, such as R.F. Charie, at no. 17, specializing in the repair and sale of vintage guitars, mandolins and other stringed instruments, remain.

The Banque de France lies a short way northwest of Galerie Véro-Dodat. Rather than negotiating its massive bulk to reach the passages further north, it's more pleasant to walk through the garden of the Palais Royal via place de Valois. Rue de Montpensier, running alongside the gardens to the west, is connected to rue de Richelieu by several tiny passages, of which Hulot brings you out at the statue of Moliére on the junction of rues Richelieu and Moliére. A certain charm also lingers about rue de Beaujolais, bordering the northern end of the gardens, with its corner café looking out on the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, and with glimpse into the venerable, Grand Vefour restaurant, plus more short arcades leading up to rue des Petits-Champs.

On the other side of rue des Petits-Champs, just to the left as you come from rue de Beaujolais, looms the forbidding wall of the Bibliotheque Nationale, part of whose enormous collection has been transferred to the new Francois Mitterrand site in the13°. The library's origins go back to the 1660s, when Louis XIV's finance minister Colbert deposited a collection of royal manuscripts here, and it was first opened to the public in 1692. There's no restriction on entering the library, nor on peering into the atmospheric reading romms; the central room, with its slender iron columns supporting nine domes, is a fine example of the early use of iron frame construction, though it looks strangely bereft now that its books have been transferred to the newer site.Visiting the library's excellent temporary exhibitions (Tues-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun noon-7pm; €7), which in 2007 included a major retrospective of Atget's photography; will give you access to the beautiful Galerie Mazarine, with its panelled ceilings painted by Romanelli (1617-62). It's also worth calling into the Cabinet des Monnaies, Medailles et Antiques (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-5pm; free), a permanent display of coins and ancient treasures built up by successive kings from Philippe-Auguste onwards. Exhibits include Etruscan bronzes, ancient Greek jewellery and some exquisite medieval cameos. One of the highlights is Charlemagne's ivory chess set, its pieces malevolent-looking characters astride elephants.