City Hall of Paris. Hotel de Ville - Paris Town Hall
The City Hall of Paris, like other city authorities, is located in the Hotel de Ville, an ancient town hall located on the square of the same name in the fourth arrondissement of the city. The building serves several functions: not only is it the seat of municipal authorities, including the Mayor of Paris, but it also serves for ceremonial receptions and other important events of the city.
A history of seven centuries
The history of the Hotel de Ville begins in 1357, when Etienne Marcel, a representative of the Parisian merchant nobility, by order of the city authorities, bought the so-called “House with Pilasters”, located on the right bank of the Seine and served for unloading river ships, and later annexed to Place de Greve, which has long been used for public executions. Since then, the city authorities of Paris have lived only in this place.
In 1533, King Francis the First decided to give Paris a new city hall. Two architects were brought in for its construction: the Italian Dominique de Corton (nicknamed Baccadore) and the Frenchman Pierre Chambiges. Soon the "House of Pilasters" was demolished, and Baccadore, possessed by the spirit of the Renaissance, sketched a plan for a building that was at once tall and graceful, light and spacious. However, construction was completed only during the reign of Louis XIII, in 1628.
Over the next two centuries, no changes were made to the building, although the town hall itself witnessed a number of events of the French Revolution. Finally, in 1835, at the initiative of Claude Ramboutuit, a representative of the Seine department, two wings were added to the main building, which were connected to the façade by galleries, thereby expanding the interior space of the building for the increasing staff of city officials.
During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) the building played an important role in a number of political events. But for the building itself, the war ended sadly: the town hall was burned down by members of the Paris Commune in January 1971. Only the stone facades of the building were not damaged by the fire.
The reconstruction of the City Hall lasted 19 years (from 1873 to 1892). Under the leadership of architects Theodore Ballue and Eduard Deperte, the building's interiors were completely renovated. The internal ceremonial halls were made in a contemporary style of that era - they were covered with paintings by leading French artists. At the same time, the exterior was copied from the building that stood before the fire and adopted the French Renaissance style. On the sides of the central gate there were two allegorical statues, symbolizing Science and Art. Each facade of the building featured sculptures of 108 famous Parisians, as well as 30 statues dedicated to French cities. The clock on the central tower is surrounded by sculptures symbolizing the Seine River, the city of Paris, as well as Work and Education. In total, there are 338 such sculptures. Since then, the Hotel de Ville has not changed its appearance.
What can you see in the Paris City Hall building
If you are lucky enough to get to the Hotel de Ville, then during the tour you will definitely be shown the Chamber of Consuls - the meeting place of representatives of municipal authorities. It was here that the fate of the city was decided more than once during the centuries-old history of Paris.
The City Hall building has many rooms and exhibition halls. In one of the rooms you will see paintings by the French painter Jean-Paul Laurens, the subjects of which are dedicated to the history of Paris. And in the dining room, you can admire images on the walls and ceiling that celebrate French agriculture. The Gallery is dominated by themes glorifying fine arts, crafts, science and literature. In the Ballroom, the walls and ceiling are also painted (mainly with allegorical images of spirits, flowers, music and dance), huge stained glass windows and numerous chandeliers attract attention.
On the second floor of the Hotel de Ville there is an extensive library, as well as the City Hall Archive, which contains important documents, the earliest of which date back to the mid-second half of the 19th century.
How to get there
Address: Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, Paris 75004Telephone: +33 1 42 76 40 40
Website: paris.fr
Metro: Hotel de Ville
Bus: Hotel de Ville
Working hours: 8:00-19:30
Updated: 05/10/2019
The central city hall of Paris is the Hôtel de ville.
Stop of the same name on metro lines No. 1, 11.
Hotel de Ville, city hall, town hall. Call this building what you want, but the main thing is that all the vital issues of managing such a colossus as Paris are resolved in it. A lot has been written about this building, as many important events in the life of the city took place here. I, like many, will of course repeat myself, because not telling about them means hiding details that decided the fate of not only Paris, but all of France.
Bridge of St. Louis
Pont de Saint Louis and Hotel de Ville
Paris City Hall – Hotel de ville
The history of Place de Grève goes back too deep to date and is too tied to the city hall itself to separate them. The word “grève” is translated as our similar root word “gravel”, that is, small stones in which you do not get stuck like in sand and are not large enough to twist your foot with a careless step. The square consisted of two parts. One flat area, actually, where people gathered waiting for odd jobs. Employers came here every morning and recruited a team for the day. Interestingly, the word “strike” sounds in French “grève”, which is where the tradition of general meetings to solve problems between workers and employers came from.
Hotel de Ville and Place de Greve
The second half of the square was an ideal gentle slope to the river, which from time immemorial was used as a place for unloading ships. Let's not forget that the ship "nef" appears on the coat of arms of Paris. By the way, the word nave in church construction means the hull of a boat turned upside down (single-nave church, central nave, and so on). There is also the term "vaisseau" which also means the hull of a ship and is used in construction.
Coat of arms of Paris with royal lilies on a blue background and a ship on the waves of the Seine
Place de Greve served as a place for public executions and punishments, as well as celebrations and fireworks to celebrate victories, weddings and births in the royal family. Moreover, it was the only large open space in a network of narrow streets in the medieval city.
If you look at old plans for Paris, it becomes clear that “big” is very relative. The area occupied about a third or a quarter of the current one.
In 1246, Saint Louis created the first city government body, headed by the “head” prevôt. Since in Paris the merchant guilds were in charge of all affairs and had real power, accordingly the prevôt was primarily the merchant head. Paris has always been two-headed; on the one hand, there has always been royal power and “popular” power, practically independent of the king. Perhaps this is where the eternal boil comes from, sometimes bubbling somewhere quietly in the basements, sometimes like boiling milk, splashing out anger and destroying the object of hatred. Royal power was exercised through a police and military structure based in Chatelet.
On July 17, 1357, the merchant head Etienne Marcel, a legendary figure to whom a separate page will be dedicated, bought for his own money (for 2880 Parisian livres) the House on Columns, in which an assembly of citizens and merchants began to meet to resolve topical issues of city management and trade affairs and decide the court. The word "municipes".
The building itself consisted of two similar ones (one of them already belonged to Marcel’s cousin), with their facades facing the square with a triangular-shaped upper part (gable). The houses themselves were raised on carved columns to protect the interior from river floods. This is where the name House on Columns came from. Inside there were two courtyards, two large ceremonial halls, where the rulers of the city met, a chapel and a small city arsenal in the attic.
King Francis I built a new, more spacious building around it and in 1589 the House on the Pillars itself was demolished. By that time it was already falling apart and outwardly did not correspond to the function assigned to it.
The modern building is precisely the construction of Francis I, of course much expanded over the centuries. This king was fascinated by the Italian Renaissance and it was he who established this style in France. Before him, Charles VIII brought elements of the Renaissance to the Loire from the Italian military campaigns, but it was Francis who spread it everywhere.
Construction began in 1533 and ended in 1628. The plans for the building were created by the Italian architect Dominic of Cortona, whom the French nicknamed Boccador. Initially, it was a central two-story building, stretched along the square and two square wings on the sides. The courtyard was organized according to the tastes of the era. The mayor's office existed in this form until the reign of Louis Philippe. In 1837, with the help of architects Godde and Lesieux, he expanded the complex to its current volume, while maintaining the general style of the French Renaissance. Currently, City Hall occupies an entire block. You can enter it like any administrative building. On the back side of the block on Lobo Street there is a huge ceremony hall. I was lucky enough to be invited to the graduation ceremony. Not far from the entrance to this part of the city hall, in the center of the hall between the main staircases, there is an equestrian statue of Charles Martel, the founder of the Carolingian dynasty, the man who stopped the Arab invasion from the Pyrenees.
The nickname Martel came from the verb marteler (to hammer), as Charles had a heavy hand when it came to the Saracens.
Karl (Charles) Martel in the lobby
Stained glass windows on the windows facing the courtyard, in small halls there are coffered ceilings (a load-bearing structure in the form of a chessboard) Sculptures in the spaces between the windows, in the central hall a mirror wall reflects the windows. The ceiling is covered with stucco and paintings. What bothered me was our presence. Despite the fact that everyone dressed up for the occasion, against the backdrop of such splendor both the buffet and the audience looked too simple, only the interior was spoiled.
Coats of arms of corporations of gem polishers and jewelers on a stained glass window.
Let's return to our sheep.
The tragedy happened during the Paris Commune. And again due to the fault of people like us, commoners, who are not able to appreciate and preserve what was once done by ordinary workers. Hatred, as we know, is blind and destroys everything indiscriminately. After all, it was not the king himself who carved sculptures with his sleek hands, painted ceilings or painted reliefs, but the same poor, always hungry and uneducated hard workers, like the communards themselves. Although the work of specialized masons and sculptors was better paid than many other types of work, they still remained poor and hungry. In 1871, many magnificent palaces and monuments were smashed and burned. The city hall remains in black ruins. A library of 100 thousand volumes, accumulated since the 16th century, burned down. It contained unique maps and plans, handwritten archives, the first printed books and much more. Magnificent furniture and sculptures were also missing. In Parc Monceau there is a colonnade left over from the fire. After the Paris Commune, the monarchy was never restored, so we live under a republic. Very quickly, the city government regretted the loss (we are also familiar with these regrets, aren’t we) and a competition for restoration was organized. The project of the architects Ballyu and Depert was approved. The exterior decoration was completely restored according to Boccador, and the interiors were redesigned, but also in style. Everyone knows that restoring something is much more difficult than razing it to the ground and rebuilding it. Engravings, drawings and descriptions were found, which formed the basis for the jewelry work of restorers. And on June 30, 1882, the new old city hall opened.
One of the stairs
Festive hall with windows overlooking Lubo Street
Just the decor of one of the arches
One of the most famous landmarks in Paris is the City Hall, located on. What are these places famous for?
A little history
Place de la Hôtel de Ville, formerly called Place de Greve, is known not only for the fact that you could always make money here when loading ships - it was the place of public executions for five hundred years and it was there that the guillotine was first tried. And since the execution of even the most petty criminal in the life of the townspeople was a most interesting spectacle, a significant sum was paid for a place at the window of any house overlooking the square.Paris in those days was ruled by the elder of the merchant guild, called the provost. He gathered his assistants in a house near the Place de Grève, but in 1357 Etienne Marcel bought the “House of Pilasters,” located in the heart of the famous square, where meetings subsequently took place. It was on the site of this house that the city hall was built in 1533. In the 19th century, it was burned by members of the Parisian commune - only the stone facades of the building were untouched by the fire.
Paris City Hall today
In 1892, the city hall was completely restored and opened to the public. It is worth noting that the reconstructors (architects Ballu and Deperte) did their best, making the building a real decoration of Place de Greve. The building, restored in the Renaissance style, amazes with its splendor and originality - the internal ceremonial halls are decorated with paintings by famous French artists. On either side of the central gate there are two statues called Science and Art.On each facade there are statues of famous Frenchmen (artists, poets, writers) - there are 108 in total, as well as 30 statues that are the embodiment of French cities. All the statues are female, because the word "city" in French is feminine.
The clock, located on the central tower, is comfortably surrounded by sculptures called the Seine, the Marne (Parisian rivers), Paris, and Education and Work. The ridge of the Boccador Pavilion is decorated with six bronze statues of military men from the 15th century. There are about 338 such sculptures.
The embankment and the southern facade are divided by a square in which a statue of Etienne Marcel is installed.
City Hall Tour
It should be noted that the Paris City Hall is shown to tourists for free. If you are lucky enough to get here, you will certainly see the Chamber of Consuls, in which the fate of not only Paris, but the whole of France was decided many times.City Hall is known for its huge number of rooms and exhibition halls. Thus, the Ballroom is painted mainly with flowers, symbolic images of music and dance, and the dining room is decorated with scenes that show the agricultural life of the population. The gallery talks about fine arts, science, literature and crafts.
The second floor is famous for its huge library, as well as the Archive, which contains all the important documents, the first of which date back to the beginning of the 19th century.
Some useful information for tourists
The Paris City Hall is located on the right bank of the Seine, in the 4th arrondissement, at no. 29. The nearest metro station is called Hotel de ville.Visitors are accepted from 10 am to 6 pm on all days of the week, except Sundays, as well as public holidays.
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Nearest hotels: | 300 meters | Hotel Villa Mazarin | from | 176 € * | |
| 380 meters | Hotel France Louvre | from | 99 € * | |||
| 360 meters | Hotel De Nice | from | 120 € * | |||
| * minimum room rate for two in low season | ||||||
| Nearest metro: | 120 meters | Hôtel de Ville | lines | |||
Old Place de Greve and the entire Marais district were only included in our IV walk - this is how the attraction of the Louvre, which was once a nearby suburb, and now has taken over the title of center, worked. When the Louvre did not yet exist, Marais was already being built up with all its might, but such is life. In fact, it was here, near the walls of the current Paris City Hall, that post-Roman continental Paris began. Life in the city, as we already know, originated on the island of Cité, the Romans built their policy on the left bank, and the right bank was later settled by monks and merchants. All the names in this part of the city send us back to the depths of history, to such a dark Middle Ages that it gives us goosebumps.
For example, the old name of Town Hall Square is Grevskaya (place de Grève). Grève means “sandy shore”. It was on this coast that in 1141 merchants founded their small port - a competitor to the port of Saint-Landry on the Ile de la Cité, and it was the coat of arms of this merchant guild that became the coat of arms of Paris. And the town hall itself appeared here for a reason, because where there are merchants, there is self-government, in particular city government. Grevskaya Square was renamed Town Hall Square about 200 years ago, but it entered history and literature under the old name, since, unlike the current one, ...
... it was a square of incessant fun, here there were folk festivities, then colorful, colorful executions - the essence of the same festivities. Merchant aesthetics: bread and circuses for the people. Here they were hanged, and burned, and torn apart by horses, and quartered, and heads chopped off... ehh, it was fun... now everything is not the same: they paved it with stone slabs, washed it, the death penalty was abolished - there is nowhere for a working person to relax.
By the way, the French word strike - Greve - is also from here, old port affairs: crowds of unskilled workers hung around here, waiting for menial work, and often, without waiting for it, spent whole days doing nothing.
The quarter bears another telling name Marais - in French “swamp”, which was drained by the Templar monks or Templars - this was a little later, somewhere in the 13th century. They drained it, cultivated it, saved up the money, and then Philip the Fair robbed and burned it. The quarter near the place where their castle stood is still called the Temple.
The central place on the square is occupied by the huge building of the Paris Town Hall. The city government settled on this site back in 1357. At first, the mayors were merchants; after the revolution of 1789, the position became elective and was named Mayor of Paris. This post has survived intermittently to this day. The last time the position rose from its centuries-old abolition was in 1977, and it was occupied for 18 years by a charming right-winger: Jacques Chirac (everyone is still trying to imprison him for embezzlement during that glorious period of his career).
The construction of a luxurious building for the city authorities, similar to the current one, began in 1533 and was completed in 1628. Then it was only the core of the current building: a clock tower and 2 pavilions on the sides. During the 19th century, the city hall building expanded, adding wings.
Outside it was decorated with dozens of sculptures, but inside the luxury became excessive and was not inferior to the halls of Versailles. In general, the city halls of all French cities are luxurious - this expressed the values of the merchants and bourgeoisie and their challenge and competition with the power of the aristocrats.
That building survived many riots, pogroms, revolutions, but the Paris Commune still turned out to be stronger, and the city hall with the library and city archives was burned and destroyed.
The current building was built during the Third Republic from 1874 to 1882 as a replica of the old city hall, although it became even larger (only the facade stretches 110 meters). Architects Theodore Ballou (author of pseudo-Gothic remodels at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois and restorer of the Saint-Jacques Tower) and Edouard Depert (built mainly in the provinces) did not deviate one step from the Renaissance style of the old city hall and maximally saturated the walls of even the new buildings and courtyards with “architectural excesses.” Inside there is gold and frescoes, outside, among other things, 80 statues of great citizens and figures of the Republic: scientists, politicians, artists and industrialists. For Russians, probably only 10-20 faces are recognizable - too many local specifics.
The city authorities are making pitiful attempts to return the “pasteurized” Hôtel de Ville square, the mass character and cheerfulness of the old Grevskaya: they are setting up volleyball courts, flooding the skating rink in winter... sometimes they even manage to approach the intensity of passions to the times of politically incorrect antiquity, so in 1998 here on large screens showed a broadcast of the World Cup final (it took place at the Stade de France in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis) and after France’s victory, to celebrate, the crowds went to smash the windows of the Champs-Elysees...
The modern City Hall of Paris traces its origins to a house on the banks of the Seine, bought in 1357 by the merchant provost Etienne Marcel to hold city meetings here. The Prevost felt an urgent need for this: he was the head of a reform movement trying to bring the monarchy under the control of parliament (the States General).
Thus, the house on the banks of the Seine already in the 14th century became a point of concentration of ideas and practices of city government. He retained this mission until our time.
In 1533, the Italian architect Boccador rebuilt the building, turning it into a real palace with a luxurious facade, as was customary during the Renaissance. The interiors of the building were not inferior to those of Versailles - wealthy merchants set the tone in the city municipality; they willingly invested money in the symbol of their power.
The square in front of the Town Hall was called Grevskaya for a long time. Public celebrations took place here, and public executions took place here. The square saw many riots and revolutions, but the Town Hall survived them safely until the Paris Commune broke out. She burned the building along with the city archives and library.
The current Town Hall was built specifically for the city authorities on a historical site in 1882. The building has become larger, but in its main features it is a replica of the old city hall. Of the additions that have appeared, it is worth noting 80 statues of prominent Parisians and figures of France, located in niches on the walls of the palace. Its interiors are still luxurious.
Today the city hall of Paris is located here. Officially, the Town Hall is called the Hotel de Ville (city palace). The city's first mayor was elected only in 1977; before that, such a position had not existed since the Paris Commune. The council meets in the building eleven times a year, solving problems of both Paris and the department of the same name (region of France). Council meetings are open and public.
The mayor of the capital personally receives the honored guests of Paris at the Hotel de Ville. The Town Hall plays not only an official role in the life of Paris: exhibitions and cultural events are constantly held here.