Jean Baptiste Poquelin (1622-1673), better known to us by his stage name Molière, is without a doubt one of the greatest playwrights humanity has ever known. The reason, at least in my opinion, is his ability to look deep into the human soul and portray, in his plays, human traits that haven’t changed to this day: hypochondria, stinginess, hypocrisy, and more. That’s why, even though about 350 years have passed since his death, his plays are still performed constantly all over the world, and to great acclaim.
Unlike most of the great minds of “the Grand Siècle” (the 17th century), who were born outside Paris, Molière was born and died in the City of Light. So it’s no surprise that even though Molière was absent from the French capital for about 15 years, Paris is an inseparable part of Molière, and Molière is an inseparable part of the history of Paris.
If you want to get to know Molière’s Paris on foot, you’ll run into a problem. There are quite a few places connected to Molière and his plays, spread across arrondissements 1-6 and even the 16th. That means there’s no way to build a single walking route that covers all of them without asking you to walk mile after mile or constantly ducking in and out of the metro.
So today, let me offer you a short walking tour following Molière that focuses only on the 1st arrondissement of Paris. Along the way, you’ll discover the places where he was born, baptized, married, performed, and died. I’ll save the rest of the Molière-related sites for another time.
The Story of Molière’s Life
Before we start our walk through Paris following Molière, it’s worth getting to know a bit about his life story, which, as you’ll see, is closely woven into the history of the city.
Jean Baptiste Poquelin was born in Paris on January 15, 1622 (exactly where? more on that below) into a wealthy bourgeois family. His father was the royal upholsterer to Louis XIII (r. 1610-1643) and was able to give his son an excellent education, including studies at the Collège de Clermont (today the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand), where he studied, among other things, philosophy.
It’s also worth noting that this was likely where he began his theatrical career, by taking part in plays put on by the students of the school. The acting bug that young Jean Baptiste caught at that school (or perhaps even earlier) led him to give up a career as royal upholsterer or lawyer, and instead set up a theater together with the Béjart family in 1643.
The first theater Molière founded, the Illustre Théâtre, was located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, and there the young playwright staged tragedies. This theater couldn’t compete with the Hôtel de Bourgogne theater and the Théâtre du Marais, and about a year later Molière’s theater went bankrupt. He himself was thrown in jail over a debt owed to a candle merchant.
So began a long journey of about 15 years, during which Molière’s troupe performed all across France. This is likely the period when Jean Baptiste Poquelin adopted the stage name Molière, so as not to shame his family, since at the time actors were considered outcasts by the Church.
During this journey, Molière began to abandon the tragedy genre in favor of comedy. At first he imitated the style of commedia dell’arte, and later began developing his own unique style. Despite all the time he spent away from Paris, few plays survive from this period (the most famous one that did survive is “The Doctor in Love”).
Here, let me take a short break and highly recommend you watch the 2007 film “Molière.” It’s an entertaining, well-made film that covers this period of wandering and offers an explanation (completely invented and historically inaccurate) of how Molière’s great comedies, including “The Would-Be Gentleman,” “Tartuffe,” and others, came to be. Here’s the trailer to get you into the story right away:
In 1659, Molière returned to Paris and won the support of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, brother of Louis XIV. Royal patronage allowed him to stage the comedy “Les Précieuses Ridicules” at the Petit Bourbon palace, which I mentioned in my article about the Paris Opera. This was the first time Molière presented social satire, and the play’s success led him to embrace the genre and make it his signature.
In January 1661, Molière’s troupe moved into the theater at the Palais-Royal (not to be confused with the Comédie-Française building, which was built many years later). Molière kept writing several plays every year, which were mostly performed there or at the king’s various palaces (especially at the Palace of Versailles, which was being transformed from a hunting lodge into a grand palace during these very years). This is also the year the king became Molière’s chief patron, and a friendship formed between the two that lasted almost until Molière’s death.
Over the next 12 years, Molière created his most famous plays and collaborated with the two greatest musicians of his time, Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) and later Marc Antoine Charpentier. If you’d like to listen to some of the musical works created for Molière’s comic plays, check out my article French baroque music that will make you think its creators had lost their minds.
The constant need to write new plays, direct, act, and of course keep the troupe’s finances healthy took a heavy toll on Molière’s health, which began declining in the early 1670s.
In February 1673, Molière staged his last comedy, “The Imaginary Invalid,” at the Palais-Royal theater. According to the famous legend, Molière died on stage while playing Argan, the hypochondriac. But to be precise, Molière, who had already been suffering from tuberculosis for years, began coughing on stage, lost consciousness, was taken home, and died there on February 17, 1673.
Since the Church establishment wouldn’t allow actors to be buried in “regular” cemeteries (meaning ones consecrated by the Church), Molière’s wife had to beg Louis XIV to use his influence and allow her husband a normal burial. In the end, a compromise was reached, and Molière was buried in the cemetery next to the Saint-Eustache church, though in an unconsecrated section reserved for stillborn infants who hadn’t been baptized.
But if you thought Molière found his final resting place there, you’d be wrong. In the early 19th century, Père Lachaise Cemetery was established in eastern Paris, and since no self-respecting bourgeois wanted to be buried there, the cemetery’s management decided to move the bones of a few “celebrities,” such as Abelard and Heloise, to make the place more attractive. Molière was one of those “celebrities” whose rest was disturbed, and his remains were moved to Père Lachaise, where his grave can still be found today.
A Walking Tour of Paris, Following Molière
Now that you know the story of Molière’s life, it’s time to start our tour. Take metro line 4 and get off at the Étienne Marcel station. Not far from the exit, you’ll find our first stop.
Instead of a map: under the heading of each stop you’ll find its address, and each address is a link. Click it, and the place will open right away in Google Maps.
Hôtel de Bourgogne
On today’s Rue Étienne-Marcel once stood the palace of the Dukes of Burgundy, of which only the tower of John the Fearless remains, which you can read about in my article The secrets of Paris. Later, during the 16th century, Paris’s first theater troupe began performing religious plays there, and later comic plays as well.
Over the years, due to financial difficulties, the theater’s management began renting out the building to commedia dell’arte troupes arriving from Italy, starting around the time of Catherine de’ Medici (1519-1589)‘s reign.
Young Molière, who lived not far from here (as you’ll soon see), visited the theater many times with his family, and it’s quite possible this is where he first caught the “acting bug” (even before his studies at the Collège de Clermont).
Over the years, the Hôtel de Bourgogne troupe became one of Molière’s biggest rivals, especially after his return to Paris, but after his death in 1673, some of Molière’s actors left and joined the Hôtel de Bourgogne. In 1680, Louis XIV decided to merge Molière’s troupe with that of the Hôtel de Bourgogne and the Théâtre du Marais, and together they became the Royal Comedy troupe, which would later become the famous Comédie-Française.
Saint-Eustache Church
From Rue Étienne-Marcel, walk south toward Rue Montorgueil, until you reach Saint-Eustache Church. Even though this church was built right in the heart of Paris’s wholesale market (Les Halles), it quickly became very popular among Paris’s high society.
Since Molière was born not far from here, he was baptized in this church, and since the house where he died is also nearby, it’s not surprising that his funeral service was held here too, and that he was buried in the church’s cemetery in 1673.
I highly recommend not just looking at the church from outside but going inside to enjoy its grandeur. If you’re lucky during your visit, someone might be practicing on the organ, and you’ll get to enjoy some heavenly music (if you’re less inclined to trust luck, check out my article Classical music in Paris and see what concerts are happening while you’re in the City of Light).
The House Where Molière Was Born
31 rue du Pont-Neuf, and 96 rue Saint-Honoré
After finishing your visit to Saint-Eustache Church, head south to 31 rue Pont Neuf. There you’ll find a sign claiming Molière was born here, and above it a nice bust of him too. But don’t be fooled. This isn’t true at all! Molière was not born here.
How do I know? Look at the birth year noted on the sign (1620). That’s the wrong year, since Molière was actually born two years later!
To find out where the house where Molière was actually born once stood, head west to 96 rue Saint-Honoré. There you’ll find a more modest sign marking the spot where the wooden house where Molière was born used to stand.
Note that this isn’t the building where Molière was born, but a later building constructed in 1802. Molière’s house, like nearly all of Paris’s wooden houses, was torn down long ago, but a replica of it was built for the 1889 World’s Fair (the same one that gave us, among other things, the Eiffel Tower). Sadly, I don’t know what became of that replica, whether it was destroyed like many of the structures built for the fair, or whether it was sold off to someone.
Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church
Continue along Rue Saint-Honoré and turn south onto Rue du Louvre, which later becomes Rue de l’Amiral-de-Coligny. There you’ll find Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church.
This is a very old church, which served as the royal chapel back when the royal family lived at the Louvre Palace. Later it entered history because it was here, on August 24, 1572, that the signal was given to begin the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, during which thousands of Protestants in Paris were slaughtered.
I brought you to this church not just so you could admire its beauty, but because this is where Molière married Armande Béjart in 1662. Who was Armande Béjart? This is one of the great unanswered questions of French history. Some “well-meaning souls” claimed she was the daughter of Madeleine Béjart, the comic actress in Molière’s troupe and his mistress, and therefore also Molière’s own daughter.
This is most likely a lie meant to smear Molière’s name, as he had no shortage of enemies (from rival troupes to churchmen angered by his play “Tartuffe”). It’s more plausible she was Madeleine’s younger sister, and therefore not Molière’s daughter at all. Either way, Armande became a successful actress in her own right, appearing in a good number of plays until her death in 1700.
After visiting the church, look west and you’ll see the Louvre’s colonnade. The Hôtel du Petit-Bourbon once stood there, where Molière staged his first play since returning to Paris in 1659.
The Palais-Royal
Retrace your steps to Rue Rivoli and walk west until you see the Palais-Royal palace on your right. Here, in the eastern section, stood the Palais-Royal theater, where Molière staged his plays from 1661 until his death in 1673.
After Molière’s death, the place passed into the control of Jean Baptiste Lully, Molière’s former partner, who had fallen out with him a few years before his death and seized the opportunity to expel his troupe in favor of the opera house Lully had founded himself. That opera house burned down in 1781, and the Duke of Orléans decided to use the opportunity to change the palace’s layout and build a theater in its western wing.
Today this is the home theater of the Comédie-Française, the name given to Molière’s troupe in 1680, so in the end, after more than a hundred and fifty years of wandering, you could say it finally came home.
The House Where Molière Died
After finishing your walk through the Palais-Royal and peeking inside the Comédie-Française (there are occasionally guided tours of the building), head to Rue de Richelieu and walk to number 40. There you’ll find the house where Molière lived from 1672 until his death.
The house is still standing today, a mansion fitting for such a successful actor and playwright. Molière rented two floors there: his servants lived on one floor, while he, his wife, and their household lived on the other. Here he worked on his last plays, and here stood his library, which held no shortage of his own plays as well as those of other famous playwrights of his time. Here he died on February 17, sometime between 9 and 10 in the evening.
To mark the place where Molière spent his final years, the street next to Rue de Richelieu was named after the playwright, and at number 40 of that street you’ll find a magnificent fountain, built in 1844, topped with a statue of the great playwright.
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