From the high middle ages until the French Revolution the Marais was one of the most distinguished residential neighborhoods in Paris. Unlike much of the rest of Paris, history has kindly spared the Marais leaving us with a veritable museum of aristocratic domestic architecture. During this two hour informal promenade we will visit some of the more extraordinary architectural vestiges of this neighborhood. From the heavily fortified hôtel de Sens to the daintily Rococo interiors of the hôtel de Soubise we will discuss how the forms and character of élite domestic life shifted and changed from the late medieval period up until the end of the Ancien Regime.
The visit will begin in the garden of the Hôtel de Sens (now the Bibliothèque Fornay) at the corner of the Rue des Nonnains d'Hyère and the Rue de l'Hôtel de Ville at 10:30 am.
Moderator: Gabriel Wick