Square with royal allure
The most striking quality of the houses on this square is that they are all based on the same design. The façades consist of red brick and white stone, and all buildings have elegant arcades. Many famous French people have lived on the square, including Cardinal Richelieu and the writer Victor Hugo. The author of novels such as Les Misérables lived on the second floor at number 6 from 1832 to 1848. The Maison de Victor Hugo is now a free museum.
District with a modern edge
There is a modern gem on the outskirts of the Marais: the Centre Pompidou. President Pompidou decided to build a major cultural centre on the Plateau Beaubourg in 1969. The international design competition was won by Briton Richard Rogers and Italian Renzo Piano, who have since become world-renowned architects. The centre opened in 1977. All lifts, stairs, ventilation tubes, water pipes and metal structures are located on the outside of the building so as to allow the interior space to be fully utilised. The outside pipes are colour-coded by the architects: blue for the air supply, yellow for electricity, green for water. The red tubes are for the transport of people, i.e., lifts and escalators.