Jardins des Archives Nationales

You are entering a verdant sanctuary that spans eight thousand square meters in the middle of a dense district. These gardens are actually a collection of four distinct green spaces that were once the private, walled-in backyards of several elite aristocratic mansions. The landscape architect Louis Benech unified these separate areas in two thousand and eight, creating a series of shifting atmospheres that range from formal French lawns to romantic, meadow-like retreats. You can walk through the site to see the backs of grand townhouses that remain largely hidden from the streets outside.