The tourist, who came a few days in Paris maybe staying in Bed and Breakfast or even enjoying a Gift Coupon 2012, will be surprised by the beauty and grandeur of the Church of St. Roch, designed by Jacques Lemercier, one of the architects of the Louvre. Built between 1653 and 1722, this Catholic masterpiece, one of the largest in the French capital, lies in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. With the addition of the eighteenth century the vast domed chapel of the Virgin by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, and the Chapel of Calvary, the church reached a length of 126 m, almost that of Notre Dame. Since 1914, the building is classified as historical monuments. Even today, this church preserves many works of art, paintings and sculptures, collected in other churches destroyed after the turmoil of the French Revolution. Each of the chapels is a small museum. Saint-Roch remembers some great art events such as the creation of the Solemn Mass of Berlioz July 10, 1825. The Clicquot organ dates from the mid seventeenth century. In addition, at the time, this majestic setting was frequented by many artists and famous people; César de Vendôme, Pierre Corneille, André Le Nôtre, Denis Diderot, Jean Honore Fragonard (to name a few), are also buried there.

Address  

6 rue St Honoré

2975001 Paris

Tel Tel: 01 42 44 13 20 O

Access to Saint-Roch

Subway: 1 (stop Tuileries  BUS 24, 27, 72 & 95 and along the banks borrow from Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre Museum

opening hours Every day 8 a m - 7 p m

For information and for lovers of Gospel (once or twice a month on Saturday, 20 hours and at a price of 33 € uros), concerts of songs from the authentic African-American church interpreted by black Americans and Africans assembled in a choir, echoing in this beautiful church of St. Roch parish artists

Do you know the secrets of an ancient citiy like Paris? Are you sure? Discover a small but valuable guide to Paris’ secret places

Choose your favourite place and book the nearest Bed & Breakfast!

The hospitality formula in B&B, that consists of accommodation in a family home, is the most suitable for a new insight into a city like Paris.

Bed & Breakfast Paris is a network made by almost 100 B&B in Paris.

The Marais abounds in unique places with small courtyards where ivy and vines grow, home to artistis, but also cafés and restaurants. With its narrow streets and Mansions, the Marais is one of the Parisians quartier that has preserved its charm and authenticity. Most notable among its key monuments are the Carnavalet Museum or the Picasso Museum. Place des Voges, inaugurated in 1612, is Victor's Hugo House, where the author wrote "Ruy Blas". Having survived the rebuilding of Paris carried out in the eighteen hundreds by the prefect Haussman under Napoleon 3rd, the old Marais neighbourhood, between the 3rd and 4th arrondisements, is nowadays a multi-ethnic village with fashionable boutiques, showrooms with pieces by some of the most innovative contemporary designers, museums and literary cafés frequented by intellectuals and artists. The neighbourhood’s charm has been maintained over time with its characteristic wooden-floored bistros and narrow streets with pretty eighteenth century buildings and the yellow glow from the lampposts. Select a B&B in Paris in the 4th arrondissement and enjoy your week end in Paris!

The Saint-Martin Canal joins la Villette to the Seine and nowadays is a popular place for those who enjoy walking, running, cycling or roller skating: visitors can go rowing in one-man boats or as a group.  It is open for navigation 363 days a year.

From the time of its original planning up to modern times, the Canal Saint Martin had a troubled history: Napoleon Bonaparte decided to build it in 1802, and the actual work started in 1805 and finished in 1825 due to the difficulties encountered trying to fit a work of such vast proportions, in an already urbanized location.

The building of the canal coincided with one of the most intense periods in France’s history that culminated in the Second Empire and the great project conceived by Napoleon III to rebuild the city on the criteria of making eventual future revolutionary actions more difficult: large areas of Paris were razed to the ground and small medieval streets gave way to large boulevards that lead to the Arc de Triomphe. The intention was to create large, open spaces for cannon action within the city and to avoid the barricades that they had witnessed in the past (during the French revolution, the revolution of 1830 and the risings in 1848).

The rebuilding of the city was entrusted to Barone Haussmann (1809-1891) who was the chief department officer of the Seine (1853-1870). He wanted to create the Boulevard du Prince-Eugène in honour of the emperor’s son (Boulevard Voltaire), and the presence of the canal did not fit in with his plans because it would have been necessary to build a mobile bridge that would limit circulation on the canal itself. It was another engineer who resolved the problem by lowering the canal by a few metres between the Bastille and Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple thereby permitting the construction of a stable bridge that could accommodate the new road but this meant the ports disappeared.

Therefore the chief officer Haussmann decided to complete the operation by covering the canal between the Bastille and Avenue de la République, thereby creating Richard-Lenoir Boulevard. In 1906, the work to cover the Saint Martin Canal restarted. A new arch, the Temple arch, was built as the continuation of the Richard-Lenoir arch. This is how the Jules-Ferry Boulevard came into being. The part remaining uncovered was rebuilt in 1890 and restored in 1999 and in 2002. The whole canal was improved and it original splendour restored. The famous footbridges date back to the second half of the 19th century.

The canal is a symbol of continuous evolution: it is characteristic of the first half of the 19th century in its general conception and it mirrors the ideas of the second half of the century in its subsequent works like the footbridges and the Richard-Lenoir arch.

At the beginning of the 1970’s there was a general movement in the city to stop the canal from being covered over by a motorway. All of a sudden, the Parisians rediscovered the canal, its nine locks, its centenary trees and its Venetian-style footbridges. Commercial activity gave way to tourist activity with everything from passenger transport to one-man boats. The oldest parts of the canal are located under the bridge of Morland Boulevard, the Bastille arches and Rue de la Fayette.

Since December 2006, the canal has become the scene of attention for public and political opinion about homelessness. 100 igloo-type tents sprung up along the canal in April 2007 in the run up to the general election. The protest was removed and in the summer of the same year, the Parisian police went ahead with the evacuation of the last tents. The problem of a lack of housing in Paris however is still far from being resolved.

A vist to the Musée d’Orsay is ideal for anyone who, like me, appreciates French painting from the turn of the twentieth century. The museum is in the 7th arrondissement and houses works by important painters from the impressionist school like Renoir, Cézanne, Degas, Sisley, Monet and many others.This is an occasion not to be missed and you can search a B&B in the Orsay 7th arrondissement not too expensive!

The museum was erected inside what was once the Gare d’Orsay, the railway station that was built for the occasion of the Universal Exposition in 1900 and connected Paris and Orléans until the 1940’s. Its spacious, light vaults, joined at the stone façade have made the Gare d’Orsay a monument to modernity of inimitable style.

At the end of the 1970’s, the ex-station seemed the perfect place to host the works of young artists who had renewed the language of figurative representation, giving faces and landscapes a realistic yet evocative mark. Without getting into the abstract side of things, the objects and situations weren’t represented on the canvas for what they were, but as depictions of a specific emotion or light. The canvas was used exactly as a camera film to be exposed or impressed upon.

The same subject was often painted at different stages during the day, as in the case of the Saint-Romain Cathedral, that Monet painted at midday and in morning light. While in the painting Le moulin de la Galette, Renoir catches the festive atmosphere of a Saturday in a country dance hall. The sketched faces belong to shopkeepers, dressmakers and, maybe, some of his models.

Gosh, writing this has made me want to go back to the Musée d’Orsay!

2binparis, Orsay, Cézanne, Renoir