Covered passages of Paris
The covered passages of Paris (French: 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 the 1867 there were approximately 183[1] covered passages in Paris but this decreased greatly as a result of Haussmann's renovation of Paris. Only a couple of dozen passages remain in the 21st century, all on the Right Bank.[2] The common characteristics of the covered passages are that they are: pedestrianised; glass-ceilings; artificially illuminated at night (initially with gas lamps); privately owned; highly ornamented and decorated; lined with small shops on the ground floor; connecting two streets. Originally, to keep the passages clean, each would have an artiste de décrottage (a shit-removal artist) at the entrance to clean the shoes of visitors.
The passages were the subject of Walter Benjamin's incomplete magnum-opus Passagenwerk (Arcades Project) which was posthumously published.
List of currently accessible passages
The following table lists the covered passages that still exist and remain accessible to the public.
Further reading
- New Paris Guide, Or Stranger's Companion Through the French Metropolis: To which is Added a Description of the Environs. A. and W. Galignani. 1827.
- Lefeuve, Charles (1875). Les anciennes maisons de Paris, Volume 4 (in French). C. Reinwald et cie.
street by street, house by house
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ Joanne, Adolphe Laurent (1867). The Diamond Guide for the Stranger in Paris ... L. Hachette & Company. p. 90.
- ^ "The covered passages in Paris". Paris.fr. Marie de Paris. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
External links
- "Paris's top 10 hidden shopping passages". The Guardian.
- "Le charme parisien des passages couverts". ParisInfo (in French).