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covered passages of Paris

{{Short description|19th century shopping arcades in Paris, France}}

File:Passage Choiseul - Paris II (FR75) - 2024-12-08 - 2.jpg, located in the 2nd arrondissement]]

The covered passages of Paris ({{langx|fr|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{{cite book |last1=Joanne |first1=Adolphe Laurent |title=The Diamond Guide for the Stranger in Paris ... |date=1867 |publisher=L. Hachette & Company |page=90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwg_AAAAcAAJ&dq=%22Galerie+Colbert%22&pg=PA90 |language=en}} 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, and lined with small shops on the ground floor. The passages’ upper floors usually had apartments.{{Cite web |title=Découvrez la magie des galeries et passages couverts parisiens |url=https://www.paris.fr/pages/decouvrez-la-magie-des-galeries-et-des-passages-18889 |access-date=2023-08-31 |website=www.paris.fr |language=fr}} Originally, to keep the passages clean, each would have at the entrance an artiste de décrottage (a ‘shoe cleaning artist’).

From a cultural standpoint, the passages have served as centers of social interaction: Alfred de Musset frequented the Galerie Vérot-Dodat when visiting a famous actress. Eugène-Francois Vidocq, the father of criminology and of the French police system, lived in the Galerie Vivienne in 1840. As a child, Louis-Ferdinand Céline lived in the Passage Choiseul. The passages were the subject of Walter Benjamin's incomplete magnum-opus Das Passagen-Werk (Arcades Project) which was posthumously published.

They should be distinguished from other Parisian roads also called passages but whose route runs in the open air.

List of currently accessible passages

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

class="wikitable sortable"
scope="col" | District

! scope="col" | Name

! scope="col" | Date

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Entrance

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Hours

! scope="col" | Heritage listing

! scope="col" | Length

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Image

align="right" | 1

| {{sort|Deux-Pavillons|Passage des Deux-Pavillons}}

| 1820

|

|

| {{Mérimée|PA00085994|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 33m

| 100px

align="right" | 1

| {{sort|Vero-Dodat|Galerie Véro-Dodat}}

| 1826

|

| Monday-Saturday (except public holidays) 0700-2200

| {{Mérimée|PA00085995|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 80m

| File:Galerie Véro-Dodat 2.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Ben-Aiad|Passage Ben-Aïad}}

| 1826

|

| Closed to the public

| {{Mérimée|PA75020007|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 90m

| 100px

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Bourg-l'Abbe|Passage du Bourg-l'Abbé}}

| 1828

|

| Monday-Saturday 0700-1900

| {{Mérimée|PA00086097|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 47m

| File:Passage Bourg l'Abbé 1.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Caire|Passage du Caire}}

| 1798

|

| Monday-Friday 0700-1800

|

| align="right" | 360m

| File:Paris passage du caire.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Choiseul|Passage Choiseul}}

| 1829

|

|

| {{Mérimée|PA00086088|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 190m

| File:Paris - Passage de Choiseul 02.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Colbert|Galerie Colbert}}

| 1826

|

| Accès permanent|

| {{Mérimée|PA00086023|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 83m

| File:Galerie Colbert.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Grand-Cerf|Passage du Grand-Cerf}}

| 1825

|

| Monday-Saturday 0800 - 2000

| {{Mérimée|PA00086089|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 117m

| File:Passage du Grand Cerf.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Panoramas|Passage des Panoramas}}

| 1800

|

| 0600-2400

| {{Mérimée|PA00086090|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 133m

| File:P1020609 Paris II Passage des Panoramas rwk.JPG

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Ponceau|Passage du Ponceau}}

| 1826

|

| Monday-Friday 8-9

|

| align="right" | 92m

| File:Paris passage du ponceau.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Princes|Passage des Princes}}

| 1860

|

| Monday-Saturday 0800 - 2000

| {{Mérimée|PA00086091|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 80m

| File:PassagePrinces1.jpg

align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Sainte-Anne|Passage Sainte-Anne}}

| 1829

|

|

| {{Mérimée|PA00086088|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 47m

| File:P1170046 Paris II passage Sainte-Anne rwk.jpg

1829

| align="right" | 2

| {{sort|Vivienne|Galerie Vivienne}}

| 1823

|

| 0800 - 2000

| {{Mérimée|PA00086024|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 176m

| File:GalerieVivienne1.jpg

align="right" | 3

| {{sort|Moliere|Passage Molière}}

| 1791

|

|

| {{Mérimée|PA00086230|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 46m

| File:Paris passage moliere.jpg

align="right" | 3

| {{sort|Vendome|Passage Vendôme}}

| 1827

|

|

  • Monday-Friday 0700 - 2000
  • Saturday 0800 - 2000

| {{Mérimée|PA00086231|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 57m

| File:Paris passage vendome entree.jpg

align="right" | 6

| {{sort|Commerce-Saint-Andre|Cour du Commerce-Saint-André}}

| 1776

|

|

| {{Mérimée|PA00088654|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 120m

| File:P1020083 Paris VI Cour du Commerce-Saint-André reductwk.JPG

align="right" | 8

| {{sort|Berryer|Cité Berryer}}

| 1745

|

|

| {{Mérimée|PA00088811|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 95m

| File:P1040314 Paris VIII rue Royale n°25 entrée cité Berryer MH rwk.JPG

align="right" | 8

| {{sort|Lido|Arcades du Lido}}

| 1926

|

| Accès permanent|

|

| align="right" | 120m

| File:Arcades des Champs-Élysées (Paris) (1).jpg

align="right" | 8

| {{sort|Madeleine|Galerie de la Madeleine}}

| 1845

|

| Monday-Saturday (except public holidays) 0800-1900

| {{Mérimée|PA00088815|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 53m

| File:Galerie de la Madeleine, Paris 8.jpg

align="right" | 8

| {{sort|Puteaux|Passage Puteaux}}

| 1839

|

| Monday-Friday 0700 - 2400

|

| align="right" | 29m

| File:P1030396 Paris VIII passage Puteaux rue Pasquier rwk.JPG

align="right" | 9

| {{sort|Havre|Passage du Havre}}

| 1845

|

|

|

| align="right" | 115m

| File:PassageduHavre.JPG

align="right" | 9

| {{sort|Jouffroy|Passage Jouffroy}}

| 1845

|

| 0700 - 2100

| {{Mérimée|PA00088996|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 140m

| File:PassageJouffroy1.jpg

align="right" | 9

| {{sort|Verdeau|Passage Verdeau}}

| 1847

|

|

  • Monday-Friday 0700 - 2100
  • Saturday-Sunday 0700 - 2000

| {{Mérimée|PA00088997|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 75m

| File:Passage Verdeau.JPG

align="right" | 10

| {{sort|Brady|Passage Brady}}

| 1828

|

| Accès permanent|

| {{Mérimée|PA75100007|Mérimée}}

| align="right" | 216m

| File:Passage Brady 1.jpg

align="right" | 10

| {{sort|Prado|Passage du Prado}}

| 1830

|

| 0900 - 1900

|

| align="right" | 120m

| File:Paris passage du prado.jpg

Further reading

  • {{cite book |title=New Paris Guide, Or Stranger's Companion Through the French Metropolis: To which is Added a Description of the Environs |date=1827 |publisher=A. and W. Galignani |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PlXK0Ev8pHsC&dq=%22Galerie+Colbert%22+%22Paris%22&pg=RA3-PA263 |language=en}}{{free access}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Lefeuve |first1=Charles |title=Les anciennes maisons de Paris, Volume 4 |date=1875 |publisher=C. Reinwald et cie. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kzURAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Galerie+Colbert%22&pg=PA69 |language=fr |quote=street by street, house by house}}{{free access}}

References

{{commons}}

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{cite web|title=Paris's top 10 hidden shopping passages|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/mar/02/paris-hidden-passages-shopping-shops|website=The Guardian}}
  • {{cite web|title=Le charme parisien des passages couverts|url=http://www.parisinfo.com/decouvrir-paris/guides-thematiques/paris-patrimoine-en-or/paris-insolite/le-charme-parisien-des-passages-couverts|website=ParisInfo|language=fr}}

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