Bal Bullier

You are standing near the site of what was once one of the most vibrant dance halls in nineteenth-century Paris. In 1843, an ambitious former ballroom employee named François Bullier purchased a struggling local venue and transformed it by planting over one thousand lilac bushes. By 1847, the space opened as the Closerie des Lilas, eventually becoming widely known simply as the Bal Bullier. It quickly evolved into a primary social hub for Parisian students, who gathered here to dance the polka, quadrille, and mazurka. Continue