Exploring Some Quartiers de Paris

By Marie-Claire Lander

In our previous lesson, we learned that Paris is divided into districts called arrondissements, numbered one to twenty. While arrondissements have definite boundaries, quartiers (neighborhoods/districts) all have names instead of numbers and can span over several arrondissements. Each quartier has its own distinctive character. Let's explore some of the most significant ones, starting from the first arrondissement onwards to discover le Louvre-Rivoli, Montmartre, le Marais, le Quartier Latin, and farther afield, Montmartre.

We will start with le quartier du Louvre-Rivoli, which stretches over the first three arrondissements of Paris and includes—you guessed it—the Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum), where Yabla guide Mathilde is standing:

Alors nous sommes donc au cœur du premier

So we are in the heart of the first

arrondissement de Paris,

arrondissement of Paris,

à deux pas du Louvre.

two steps away from the Louvre.

Captions 1-2, Mathilde - La Comédie-Française
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Still in the first arrondissement, Mathilde takes us to La Comédie-Française (French National Theater). Founded in 1680, it is the oldest state theater company in Paris that is still active today:

Et euh... plus précisément, là, je me tiens Place Colette,

And uh... more precisely, I am standing here in the Place Colette,

donc du nom de la très célèbre écrivain française

so named for the very famous French writer

du vingtième siècle,

from the twentieth century,

devant la Comédie-Française.

in front of the Comédie-Française.

Captions 5-7, Mathilde - La Comédie-Française
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In the second arrondissement and still in Louvre-Rivoli, we meet a local resident, Aldo, who shares some of the darkest secrets about his quartier (or his street, to be more precise). An infamous empoisonneuse (poisoner) lived just a few doors from his home. Thankfully, that was in the 17th century! Find out the fate of this infamous empoisonneuse in Aldo’s video:

Et au vingt-trois habitait, euh...

And at number twenty-three lived, uh...

une des empoisonneuses les plus fameuses de Paris.

one of the most famous poisoners of Paris.

Captions 9-10, Aldo - L'empoisonneuse du 2e
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Walking from the second arrondissement toward the third and fourth, you will find one of the oldest quartiers in Paris, Le Marais (literally, "The Swamp"), so named because it was originally a swamp that was later drained and developed. Over time, the once prosperous Le Marais became a poor and unsanitary district, which Swiss architect Le Corbusier set out to raze as part of his ambitious and controversial Plan Voisin (Neighbor Plan) in the 1960s. André Malraux, President de Gaulle's Minister of Culture, put a stop to this and saved the Marais from destruction in order to preserve its historic flavor:

Le quartier historique du Marais serait quant à lui, entièrement rasé

As for the historic district of the Marais, it would be entirely leveled

Caption 29, Le Plan Voisin - Le projet fou auquel Paris a échappé
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Today the Marais district is famous, among other things, for its Place des Vosges, a perfect square of 140 by 140 meters. Our trusty guide Daniel Benchimol tells us about its history:

La place des Vosges,

The Place des Vosges,

qui était autrefois l'ancienne place royale d'Henri Quatre...

which was once the former royal square of Henry the Fourth...

Caption 5, Voyage dans Paris - Le Marais - Place des Vosges
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Moving on to the fifth and sixth arrondissements on the Rive Gauche (Left Bank) you will come across le Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter), called “Latin” because the students living there once used Latin as a study language. Dating from the Middle Ages, the Quartier Latin boasts one of the oldest universities in Paris, the Sorbonne, which is still active today. Sorbonne students like to wander in the nearby public garden, Jardin du Luxembourg:

Les étudiants de la Sorbonne et des autres universités avoisinantes

Students from the Sorbonne and the other neighboring universities

aiment se donner rendez-vous ici

like to get together here

Captions 11-12, Voyage dans Paris - Jardin du Luxembourg
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The Quartier Latin has another surprise in store: a Roman amphitheater right in the middle of Paris! Daniel Benchimol will take you to the city's one and only amphitheater, les Arènes de Lutèce (the Lutece Amphitheater):

Ce sont les seules arènes qui n'aient jamais existé

This is the only amphitheater that ever existed

dans l'histoire de la ville de Paris.

in the history of the city of Paris.

Caption 11, Voyage dans Paris - Quartier Latin
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Moving farther afield to the north of Paris, toward the 18th arrondissement, we arrive at Le Quartier de la Butte Montmartre (or "Montmartre" for short), on which sits the 19th-century Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart Basilica), which is quite recent by European standards. Find out what Amal and Caroline have to say about it in their video:

Montmartre est un haut lieu de culte.

Montmartre has been a hotspot of worship.

Le Sacré-Cœur fut érigé

The Sacré-Cœur [Sacred Heart] was erected

vers la fin du dix-neuvième siècle.

toward the end of the nineteenth century.

Captions 8-10, Amal et Caroline - Montmartre
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Walking a mile or so toward the 19th arrondissement, you will climb toward the Butte Bergeyre (une butte is a mound/knoll), one of the dozen or so hills of Paris. From there you will be able to see the Butte Montmartre as well as enjoy a magnificent view of the city, as shown in Daniel's video:

Cette butte Bergeyre est un endroit

This Butte Bergeyre is a location

qui permet d'avoir un panorama exceptionnel sur la capitale.

which allows you to enjoy an exceptional panorama of the capital.

Vous pouvez bien sûr découvrir

You will of course be able to discover

le Sacré-Cœur et la butte Montmartre

the Sacré-Coeur [Sacred Heart] and the Butte Montmartre

Captions 6-8, Voyage dans Paris - Butte Bergeyre
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Thank you for taking part in our discovery of a few of Paris's many quartiers. Feel free to explore more of them through our Paris-themed Yabla videos. Happy traveling!

Topics Travel Vocabulary

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