Since 1612, when 10.000 spectators watched the celebrations to inaugurate the “place Royale“, a stream of famous characters has inhabited its mansions and apartments. Princesses, duchesses, official mistresses, Richelieu, Sully, Victor Hugo, Daudet and more recently architect Richard Rodgers (of Centre Pompidou) have gazed at its perfect symmetry.
Thirty-six houses faced with red brick and stone, with arcaded ground floors and steep pitched roofs, create the harmonious form of this square, which encloses a garden fountains, plane trees, and gravel paths. Before the square was built it was the site of a royal palace, the Palais des Tournelles, abandoned and demolished by Catherine de Medicis when her husband Henri II was killed in a tournament here.
Although restaurants, chic clothes shops, antiques dealers, and art galleries now line the place des Vosges, there remains one remnant of the square’s literary past in the Maison de Victor Hugo at No 6.
This factory-like museum and freewheeling cultural center stands out as a landmark of high-tech style in the middle of historic Paris, as well as being a symbol of democratized culture.
For many visitors, the priority is the national collection of modern art on the fourth floor. Inside the glass walls, major movements and/or artists are displayed chronologically in partioned spaces. The collection continues on the third floor, where works covering the last 30 years are exhibited.
Above the museum, on the fifth floor, are the Grandes Galeries, where major temporary exhibitions of 20th century art are held. Next door is a cinema showing films relevant to these blockbuster exhibitions and a large, but somewhat uninspring cafeteria that has seen better days, as has its notion of cuisine. The panoramic view from the terrace is nevertheless the destination.
