Indian Chief Travel Guides

Place des Vosges

The Most Beautiful Square in Paris, the “square of squares,” once known as Place Royale, was the largest and only square in Paris used for festivities such as tournaments and was bordered by 36 noblemens’ residences. Henri IV commissioned the laying out of the square in 1604 but did not live to see it completed. The harmonious Renaissance square is today named Place des Vosges, as Vosges was the first Département to pay taxes to the revolutionary government. Below the arcades there are exquisite fashion shops, art galleries and restaurants and usually there is the sound of live music in the air. The author Victor Hugo lived at the southeast corner of the square from 1832 to 1848. His house, the Maison de Victor Hugo, is now a museum with plenty of memorabilia about the author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.