Incredible Story of Carreau du Temple
Introduction
You can easily reach Carreau du Temple and Le Marais by staying at Grands Boulevards (Paris 2-10) where Chess Flat by Paris Prime Locations stands! Despite its small surface, it allows travelers to go everywhere within not even 20 minutes by foot.
If you stay in Paris for a weekend with a nice weather, you may have planned to stroll at Le Marais emblematic neighborhood. Not very far from there, Carreau du Temple is a must-see building!
Before having its current appearance of a modern covered market hall with eye-catching grey-green iron structure and large windows attracting light inside, the “Carreau” was close to be lost to the benefit of lucrative real estate projects. Thanks to a strong citizen involvement, it was saved and went a 60 million euros transformation project becfore it was given back to the public in 2014.
Today's use of Carreau du Temple: sport and cultural activities
Most of Parisian Gymnasiums (generally in schools)… really look like Carreau du Temple (for instance, Lycée Turgot Gymanisium – Rue de Turbigo, also in Paris 3). It is as if their high transparent ceilings allowed mind and body to free up. So it really makes sense that Carreau du Temple nowadays hosts many events related to Sports, such as the “Jogging Exhibition”.
It also has facilities which allow to practice a massive choice of sports such as judo, basket, zumba, yoga… for, honestly, a very modest price (around 200€ / year).
Amateurs of arts will not be disappointed either: some dance performances, cinema projections or contemporary art exhibitions (Urban Art Fair, Drawing Now Art Fair, AKAA…) are regularly organized. The venue also provides artist residencies.
Planning to attend an event at Carreau du Temple or in its area? Staying at Chess Flat could be a good option for you. Check availabilities now!
Restaurants and noticeable places to see around Carreau du Temple
If you stroll around Carreau du Temple during your stay in Paris, do not miss:
- "Enfants Rouges" market is tourists' as much as locals' favorite place, with an eclectic choice of authentic restaurant, groceries fish merchants and butchers
- Arbored Temple Square with its small bandstand and pond, situated just in front of Paris 3rd arrondissement townhall (in Paris, each arrondissement has its own townhall building which is in general very nice)
- Museum of Arts & Craft (Musée des Arts & Métiers) built to store and exhibit French craziest inventions... Some who changed human's life... and some which were either useless... or never used
Check Chess Flat availabilities to stay at a place which very close to these areas, for your trip in Paris!
Is Carreau du Temple neighborhood a nice place to stay for a trip in Paris?
In Carreau du Temple area as much as in Le Marais, you can definitely feel the atmosphere of the Paris of former times. Until end of the 2000s, “Upper Marais” (closer to the Seine, around BHV and Paris 1st arrondissement townhall), was much fancier than “Lower Marais” (around Carreau du Temple), but real estate prices in Lower Marais soon aligned. The exceptional buildings rising dreams and appetite of real estate owners are quite different from crowded, sometimes insanitary buildings and intense, messy merchant activity that occured until the 1930s…
Still, at Paris Prime Locations, we recommend to rather stay near the Carreau du Temple area in Lower Marais to be close to Le Marais neighborhood if you want to visit it by foot. Carreau du Temple and Lower Marais are slightly more protected from touristic flows and a bit more authentic (gourmet food and local handcraft) compared to luxury boutiques, concept stores and exorbitant prices of virtually anything in Upper Marais.
Check Chess Flat availabilities to organize your stay 20 minutes by foot from Marais area!
What is the origin and history of Carreau du Temple?
Would you believe that this place, now at the heart of Paris (in of of the 4 core “arrondissements”), was in the coutryside in the Middle Age?
Given by the king to a monastical Order called “Templiers” in the XIIth century, it developed as a religious center. Monks of the “Templiers” Order were killed following a tragic conspiracy by Philippe Le Bel, and another religious Order (Malta Order) took over the area. Many boutiques soon settled there for a simple reason: tax free!
During the years following the French revolution until Hausmann Baron’s reshuffling of Paris urban organization, the Carreau du Temple remained a vibrant place for merchants of carpets, silk, ribbons, gloves, feathers and fashionable items. Even if it was still a key place for second hand clothes trading until the end of World War II, the Carreau du Temple market progressively declined, and was threatened by many construction projects that aimed at banning all the merchants that grew their business and family there.
What is incredible about Carreau du Temple? Fun facts
In 2011, archeological excavations were carried out 5 meters in depth, right in the middle of the transformation works (2009-2014) to better understand the organization of the church that was once erected there. Remnants of the rotonde which hosted small boutiques of the XVIII century and of the house of the Prieur (religious superior) of the XVIth century were found.
Besides, you may (not!) have noticed that several streets around are named after a French region (Bretagne Street, Picardie Street, Normandie Street): this is a kind of tribute to Henri IV (French King in the XVIIth century) project to have 8 street, each bearing the name of a province of the Kingdom, converging to a single place.
Did you know that in the middle of Carrea du Temple place, there was once a Tower in which the King of France and his family were imprisonned at the French Revolution, to be beheaded! The Tower was destroyed by Napoleon I to avoid any celebration of the King’s memory by royalists.
There were some debates on the conservation of the plastered brick walls which had defined the outline of Carreau du Temple for 150 years. It is very rare in France that it is decided to remove a very old, fundamental part of a building like this. The historical heritage experts’ vision is very important during construction works, but this time the architect managed to impose its vision of reflecting the original spirit of the venue (metallical pilars of ‘Halles de Paris” covered markets inherited from XIXth century) rather than sticking to its physical markers. At the golden age of market halls in Paris, we counted more than 40 halls! Carreau du Temple is one of the 5 last remaining in Paris.
When carefully looking at the inside, you may notice its beautiful, impressive wood parquet is the same on the ground as on the walls! This was quite a technical challenge and gives the installation quite a unique appearance.
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