The old archieves of Paris!!

Now I thought had this one in my blog but after searching could not find anything, pity. It deserves to be in my blog for the memories of family walking in the Marais of Paris. The story is fascinating from the resident of a Duke , to the archieves of Paris to a Jewish museum, this is my eternal Paris. I like to tell you a bit on the old and new archieves of Paris!!

The new archives of Paris are a service of the city of Paris. They are located at 18 boulevard Sérurier, at the end of allée Marius-Barroux, in the 19éme arrondissement of Paris and have an annex ,not open to the public in Villemoisson-sur-Orge. (Essonne 91) This site is served by the metro station Porte des Lilas line 11.

The new archieves building was built in 1989, with two archive silos placed at the rear, marking the verticality, are a landmark in the landscape. Their facade is compact, in washed gravel, punctuated with small holes. To the front are several rooms accessible to the public (including a reading room) with complex geometry. This building holds the territorial archives of the city and the department of Paris (75), the archives of decentralized state services in Paris and Ile-de-France region, as well as private archives. Reading room opening hours: Monday 13h30 to 17h30, Tuesday to Friday 9h30 to 17h30, Saturday 9h30 to 17h

The official archives of Paris how to reach ithttp://archives.paris.fr/a/71/venir-aux-archives-de-paris/

The interesting part here is where they were before, right in the Marais of Paris and the building I am familiar with as walked by several times, No need yet to see the archives !! On this old building at 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois 3éme arrondissement, the history tells us that part of the Paris archives disappeared during the fires during the Paris Commune in May 1871, in particular most of the parish and civil status registers ranging from the 16C to 1860. After the renovation of the Hôtel de Saint -Aignan in 1978, the archives of Paris are installed there. They left it at the end of the 1990s for Boulevard Sérurier.See above.

Paris grand archieves de France 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois 3eme

The Hôtel de Saint-Aignan was built in 1644-1650 for Claude de Mesmes, count of Avaux, superintendent of finances of Mazarin, outside the enclosure wall of Philippe-Auguste. In 1688, the hotel was bought by Paul de Beauvilliers, Duke of Saint-Aignan,(therefore the name) who undertook a campaign of renovation and modernization. He converted the first floor into apartments and called on André Le Nôtre to redesign a French garden.

In 1792, during the French revolution, the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan was seized and placed under sequestration. It became the seat of the seventh municipality in 1795, then of the seventh arrondissement until 1823, before being divided into commercial premises of all kinds. By 1842, the hotel was devoted to commerce and small industry, where Jewish artisans who had immigrated from Poland, Romania and Ukraine then lived.  The Hôtel de Saint-Aignan was bought by the City of Paris in 1962 , and assigned to the archives of Paris (see above). A second hotel restoration campaign started in 1991. In 1998, following an initiative by Jacques Chirac when he was the mayor of Paris, the Saint-Aignan hotel was assigned to the installation of a museum dedicated to Jewish civilization: the Museum of Art and History of Judaism. For info, the official Jewish art and history museum of Paris :https://www.mahj.org/en

The Hôtel de Saint-Aignan had he usual plan of large aristocratic mansions, main building set back from the street, at the end of a large, slightly rectangular courtyard and a single wing back to the right with a large gallery upstairs. On the ground floor of the right wing were the kitchens, refurbished today to accommodate workshops, as well as the dining room, now attached to the MAHJ bookstore (the Jewish museum) , which has an exceptional fresco decor. On the left, a trompe-l’oeil facade, known as a “fox”, which in fact hides a wall resting on the outline of the enclosure wall of Philippe Auguste. On the same principle of continuity, the four facades which frame the courtyard are identical, not particularly distinguishing the main building, contrary to custom. A passage leads to the small farmyard, where sheds and stables had a direct exit onto the street.

There you go folks, a dandy story of my eternal Paris me think. One of the glorious benefits of walking the streets of the most beautiful city in the world!!! The building is nice, architecture and history galore, and the museum educational. Hope you enjoy this small tour of the off the beaten paths of my Paris.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

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