Who among us hasn’t dreamed of a time machine that could take us back to different periods of history, letting us see with our own eyes the buildings that no longer exist and the historical figures who once walked these streets? And no city “needs” a time machine more than the City of Light, which went through massive changes during the 19th century, when Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann (1809-1891) forever transformed the look of the city, tearing down countless buildings and streets and replacing them with Paris’s famous boulevards.
Sadly, no one has invented a time machine yet, but happily, video game technology gives me a pretty good substitute. In 2014, the video game Assassin’s Creed Unity came out, set entirely during the French Revolution. It lets me take you on a “guided tour of Paris” so you can see what the city used to look like, what has stayed the same, what has changed, and what has disappeared completely. Sound interesting? All you need to do is set aside a bit of time to watch
the videos I put together, and join me on a journey through time among the attractions of old Paris.
A Guided Tour of Revolutionary Paris
The Marais (Le Marais)
Surprisingly, today’s Marais looks a lot like the 18th-century Marais neighborhood, and in my opinion it’s even more beautiful now. The reason the Marais didn’t change much during Paris’s major rebuilding is that Baron Haussmann preferred to focus on other parts of Paris, like Île de la Cité and the Latin Quarter, and never got around to touching this magical neighborhood. So why do I think today’s Marais is even more beautiful than it used to be?
Because during the 18th century, the period when the game takes place, the neighborhood gradually declined. It became a slum by the end of the 19th century and was even slated for demolition in the 20th century. Thanks to André Malraux, the neighborhood was saved and restored, and today its mansions are more beautiful than ever and its streets are full of life. And speaking of the Marais, how could we forget Place des Vosges, the charming square built by Henri IV in the early 17th century? Which brings us to our first stop: take a look at the images below for a glimpse of this charming square, and as you’ll see, not much has changed there…
This is what Place des Vosges used to look like
So far we’ve talked about the magical streets of the Marais, but what did the mansions look like inside? Today you can go inside a few of them (try the Carnavalet or Hôtel de Soubise, for example), but most are closed to the public. One of them is Hôtel de Sully which now houses the office for historic monuments. So if you want to see what this mansion looks like inside, you’ll have to wait for the European Heritage Days, or take a look at the image below:
This is what Hôtel de Sully used to look like
Want to keep exploring the Marais? Feel free to try this walking route.
The Bastille (La Bastille)
This is what the Bastille used to look like
Pont Neuf and Place Dauphine
In the 18th century, you could still call the bridge built by Henri IV the “New Bridge,” mostly because there were still a few older bridges in Paris that had buildings on them. But if we arrived at this bridge by time machine, we’d recognize it without any trouble, since the only things that have changed since the 18th century are the small shops on the bridge, which have closed, and the Samaritaine pump, which has long since disappeared but did manage to give its name to the department store building on the Right Bank of the Pont Neuf.
Place Dauphine, on the other hand, looks a bit different today than the original square. During the 19th century, the square lost its eastern side, along with the triangular shape that once defined it. Many of the buildings built in the 17th century are also gone. On the other hand, as you’ll see in the image below, today’s square is much more romantic and peaceful than it was at the time of the French Revolution…
This is what the Pont Neuf and Place Dauphine looked like in the 18th century
The Conciergerie
The Conciergerie became a prison during the 17th century, and for several centuries it “hosted” some of the most famous criminals in French history, including Ravaillac, the assassin of King Henri IV, the Marquise de Brinvilliers, who poisoned her own family, and the criminal Cartouche. During the French Revolution, the Conciergerie was known as “the antechamber to death,” since everyone imprisoned there left in only one direction: to the guillotine… The Conciergerie’s most famous “resident” is of course Marie Antoinette, who spent the last months of her life here.
Today, of course, there are no more prisoners at the Conciergerie, and it has become a museum. I highly recommend visiting to see the room where Marie Antoinette lived, and to walk the same route the condemned took, from their cells to the courtyard where the cart waited to carry them to the guillotine. So what did all this look like in the 18th century? Take a look at the image below:
This is what the Conciergerie used to look like in the 18th century
Sainte-Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle was badly damaged during the French Revolution, and parts of it were destroyed. The church was rebuilt during the 19th century using the original plans, to keep the restoration as authentic as possible. The image below gives you a sense of what the church looked like just before the French Revolution’s wave of destruction.
This is what Sainte-Chapelle looked like in the 18th century
Notre-Dame de Paris (Notre Dame)
One of the places that has changed the most over the last 200 years is Notre-Dame Cathedral and the streets around it. During the reign of Napoleon III, Île de la Cité underwent a complete transformation. All the narrow streets and alleys were torn down and replaced with the Boulevard du Palais and a huge open square that lets us enjoy the cathedral’s beauty today.
Notre-Dame itself also went through enormous changes during the 19th century, when Eugène Viollet-le-Duc rebuilt it and tried to make it look more medieval than it had been before. Was what he created better than the original? Opinions differ, but one thing is certain: the cathedral we see today is completely different from the one that stood before this massive restoration. Want to see what Notre-Dame used to look like? Take a look at the image below:
This is what Notre-Dame looked like in the 18th century
Île Saint-Louis (Ile Saint Louis)
Ever since the luxury neighborhood was built there in the 17th century, Île Saint-Louis has stayed fairly close to its original look, aside from a few mansions that were torn down to make room for some of the bridges that cross the island. Below, in the second half of the image (in the first half I’m still “touring” Île de la Cité), you can see two of the island’s most beautiful houses, which you normally can’t enter: Hôtel de Lauzun and Hôtel Lambert, which was bought by a Qatari noble family a few years ago and partly destroyed in a fire that broke out on its roof.
This is what Île Saint-Louis looked like in the 18th century
The Sorbonne (La Sorbonne)
The Sorbonne was founded in the Latin Quarter back in the Middle Ages (the neighborhood got its name from the Latin language used by the students and lecturers, who mostly studied theology). The Sorbonne’s main building was torn down and rebuilt by Cardinal Richelieu, who, alongside being the chief minister of the King of France, also served as the Sorbonne’s dean. Below, we get a peek inside that building, which you can’t normally just walk into.
This is what the Sorbonne looked like in the 18th century
The Luxembourg Gardens and Palace
While the Luxembourg Palace has remained fairly similar to how it looked when it was built in the 17th century, the Luxembourg Gardens went through a major transformation during the 19th century. As you can see below, up until the 19th century the Luxembourg Gardens were very “French” in style (meaning highly structured, with clear geometric shapes), while the Luxembourg Gardens we know today look much more like English gardens, which became very popular during the reign of Napoleon III (as you can also see at Parc Monceau, Buttes-Chaumont, and others).
By the way, if you’re interested in the history of the Luxembourg Gardens, feel free to read this post. Below, you can see the original gardens, and get a small glimpse inside the palace, which today houses the French Senate and can’t be visited outside of Heritage Days.
This is what the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens looked like in the 18th century
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Who doesn’t know the Boulevard Saint-Germain-des-Prés, with its famous cafés where Sartre and de Beauvoir and others used to sit? Would it surprise you to know that this whole boulevard, which looks like it’s always been there, is actually the creation of Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann? Below, we’ll see what Paris looked like before this boulevard existed, what the Abbey of Saint-Germain, of which only the church survives today, used to look like, and where the charming Place de Furstemberg once stood.
This is what Saint-Germain-des-Prés looked like in the 18th century
Les Invalides (Hotel des Invalides)
As you can see below, if you went back to the 18th century you’d definitely recognize Les Invalides, which Louis XIV built in 1670 to house soldiers wounded in his wars. What you probably wouldn’t recognize is the surrounding area, since at the time the building was surrounded by fields, farms, and small villages. And of course, there was nothing yet to say about the Pont Alexandre III either…
This is what Les Invalides looked like in the 18th century
Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde has gone through quite a few names over the course of its existence. It started out as Place Louis XV, and during the French Revolution, the period in which the game is set, it became “Place de la Révolution.” This square is where the famous guillotine stood, the one that took the heads of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Madame du Barry, and many others. It’s safe to say that historically, when the French get angry, it’s best to stay out of the way. Take a look at the image below to see the square today.
This is what Place de la Concorde looked like in the 18th century
The Louvre Museum (Louvre) and the Tuileries Garden (Tuilleries)
No guided tour of Paris is complete without a visit to the Louvre Museum, right? If we visited the Louvre during the 18th century, we’d find, on one hand, a palace we’ve never known, and on the other, we’d be missing parts of the Louvre we know today. The unfamiliar palace I’m talking about is the Tuileries Palace, which was burned down by the Communards in 1871. On the other hand, if we looked north, we wouldn’t see the Louvre’s north wing, since it was built by Napoleon III, and in its place we’d find a row of houses that no longer exist today. Oh, and of course, there was nothing yet to say about the pyramid in the Louvre’s courtyard either…
This is what the Louvre and the Tuileries looked like in the 18th century
Place Vendôme (Place Vendome)
Can you picture Place Vendôme without its famous column? If not, take a look at the image below to see what the square looked like a few years before Napoleon Bonaparte erected his famous column there after the Battle of Austerlitz. And if that’s not enough, you can also get a peek at the building that would later house the famous Hôtel Ritz.
This is what Place Vendôme looked like in the 18th century
The Palais-Royal (Palais Royal)
The Palais-Royal played an important role during the French Revolution. This was where the Duke of Orléans lived, who supported the Revolution and even voted in favor of executing Louis XVI (none of which helped him, since he lost his own head just a few months later). So if we went back in time to the 18th century, we’d find an especially lively place, a kind of city within a city, where you could find everything from gambling and prostitutes to dentures. Below, you get a taste of what the Palais-Royal had to offer in the 18th century, and you also get a chance to visit the palace itself, which usually isn’t possible.
This is what the Palais-Royal looked like in the 18th century
Les Halles
And we’ve reached the last stop on our guided tour of 18th-century Paris. Les Halles, Paris’s wholesale market, no longer exists, since it was moved during the 20th century to Rungis. Along with it disappeared the vegetable stalls, the colorful vendors who sold every kind of vegetable, fruit, meat, and French cheese imaginable. What’s left is Rue Montorgueil, with its many culinary attractions, and one ugly mall under construction that replaced another ugly mall torn down a few years ago.
Planning a trip to Paris today?
I really hope you enjoyed this journey through time. If you’ve decided to visit present-day Paris, let me recommend the Paris travel guide page. There you’ll find a guide with everything you need to plan a trip to Paris (flights, hotels, information on attractions and monuments, walking routes, and more). In short, everything you need to plan the perfect trip to the City of Light :).
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