Haut Marais

From Paris Hotels Reviews

The northern part of the Marais, often referred to as the "haut Marais" (the “upper Marais”), encompasses the Quartier du Temple, named after the Knights Templat’s stronghold that once stood at its heart, and the city’s original Chinatown, concentrated on the upper end of rue du Temple and the streets west. Here the aristocratic stone facades of the lower Marais give way to the more humble, though no less attractive, stucco, paint and thick-slatted shutters of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century streets. Some bear the names of old rural French provinces: Beauce, Perche, Saintonge, Picardie. Formerly a quiet backwater, traditionally working-class and multicultural, the area has recently been attracing an arty, hip crowd, as numerous contemporary art galleries, design shops and chichi fashion boutiques have sprng up, especially along rue Charlot and rue de Poitou, edging out the older businesses, such as rag-trade leather workshops and printers.

Typical of the trendy shops that are opening up in this area are Galerie Dansk, at 31 rue Charlot, devoted to Scandinavian design from the 1950s to 1970s, and cutting-edge fashion designer Gaspard Yurkievich, at no.43. at no.9 you could check out what’s happening at the art gallery, Passage de Retz, which stages changing exhibitions of fine art and design artists and is attractively set in an old mansion; there’s also a bookshop and café.

Opposite, in the dead-end ruelle de Sourdis, one section of the street has remained unchanged since its construction in 1626. Further along, on the corner of rue du Perche, a little classical façade on a leafy courtyard hides the Armenian church of Ste-Croix, testimony to the many Armenians who sought refuge here from the Turkish pogroms of World War I. Further still, on the left and just short of the vibrant rue de Bretagne, is the easily missed entrance to the Marche des Enfants-Rouges, one of the smallest and oldest food markets in Paris, dating back to 1616, and purveying mostly traditional produce, though there’s also a stall selling Moroccan specialities including delicious mint tea, which you can drink at tables set out alongside. Rue de Bretagne itself has an agreeable provincial air and is full of old-fashioned food shops such as cheesemongers, bakeries and coffee merchants. Off to the right, rue de Picardie leads up to the Carreau du Temple.