Boulevard du Temple

The Boulevard du Temple is defined by a row of chestnut trees that shade a wide promenade once known as the Boulevard du Crime. In the early nineteenth century, this stretch hosted a dense cluster of theaters, each shouting for attention with elaborate facades and noisy outdoor barkers. During a performance in eighteen thirty-five, an assassin named Giuseppe Fieschi fired a hidden machine gun from a third-story window at the passing carriage of King Louis Philippe. The king survived, but eighteen people died in the street.