Belle Époque Grand Boulevards

The Passage des Panoramas features an iron and glass roof that stretches above the street, shielding the shops from the weather. Built in seventeen ninety-nine, it marks the beginning of the covered passages in Paris. Before this, shoppers…

The Musée Grévin stands behind a grand, ornate glass facade on the boulevard Montmartre. Arthur Meyer, a journalist who founded the Le Gaulois newspaper, opened these doors in eighteen eighty-two. He wanted his readers to put faces to the…

The Cafe de la Paix wears a coat of pale stone and gold lettering that stretches along the corner of the Place de l Opera. It opened in eighteen sixty-two to serve the guests of the Grand Hotel across the street. The architect Alfred…

The Palais Garnier wears a mask of gold-leafed statues and grand marble staircases, but its foundation rests on a subterranean swamp. When architect Charles Garnier began digging in eighteen sixty-one, his crew struck a high water table…

The Galeries Lafayette Haussmann anchors the corner of Boulevard Haussmann with a massive, stained-glass neo-Byzantine dome rising over its central atrium. Théophile Bader and his cousin Alphonse Kahn opened this shop in eighteen…

The Printemps Haussmann department store stands out for its towering stained-glass dome, a flower-patterned kaleidoscope that crowns the building in light. Jules Jaluzot founded the store in eighteen sixty-five, betting that women would…

Fifty-two Corinthian columns, each sixty-five feet tall, support the pediment of La Madeleine. It resembles a massive Greek temple dropped into the heart of Paris. Napoleon intended it to be a temple of glory for his Great Army, but after…