Paris visitor guide
Place des Vosges is Paris’s oldest planned square and a major Marais landmark: a symmetrical brick-and-stone ensemble with arcades, a landscaped central garden, and a classic place to start a Marais stroll. It is also the setting for the Maison de Victor Hugo at no. 6, which adds cultural interest beyond the square itself.
Photo by Antoine
The story behind the place
Place des Vosges began as Place Royale under Henri IV, built from 1605 to 1612 as a highly ordered royal square with uniform façades, arcades, and a central open space. Its design helped define the Marais as an elite district and became a prototype for later European residential squares. After the Revolution, the square was renamed Place des Vosges in 1799, a political name change that has stuck. Today, the square’s appeal is partly architectural and partly cultural: it is both a quiet public space and the address of the Maison de Victor Hugo, making it a place where Parisian urban history, literature, and everyday local life overlap.
[5][2][3]Know before you go
Place des Vosges is Paris’s oldest planned square and a major Marais landmark: a symmetrical brick-and-stone ensemble with arcades, a landscaped central garden, and a classic place to start a Marais stroll. It is also the setting for the Maison de Victor Hugo at no. 6, which adds cultural interest beyond the square itself.
[1][4][3][5]Built under Henri IV between 1605 and 1612, the square was first called Place Royale. It was renamed Place des Vosges in 1799, reportedly after the Vosges department became the first to pay the revolutionary tax.
[5][2]The museum is housed in the Hôtel Salé in the Marais and holds the largest Picasso collection in the world, making it the core Paris stop for visitors focused on Picasso’s work.
The historic Beaubourg building is closed for renovation, but Centre Pompidou is still active through Constellation: exhibitions, talks, performances, film, youth programming, and guided tours at partner venues in Paris and beyond.
Notre-Dame is a major Catholic cathedral and a restored Paris landmark that is open for prayer and free visits, with interior chapels, signage, and visitor mediation tools. The official site frames it as both a place of worship and a historic cultural monument.
Last updated September 16, 2026
