Paris Romantique

The Carnavalet hotel is located in the Marais district. It is a jewel of the “Grand Siècle” architecture. It was built between 1548 and 1560, and is attributed to Pierre Lescot, the architect of the Cour Carrée du Louvre.

Today it is an exceptional and particularly charming museum, dedicated to the history of Paris. The Marquise de Sevigne lived there from 1664 to 1694.

The Marquise de Sevigne was a woman of letters who distinguished herself by the quality and volume of the correspondence she maintained with her daughter for 25 years, which began to be published in 1725.

It’s a little hidden paradise, a timeless bubble in the middle of Paris, that few tourists visit. This museum is located in a district of Pigalle that was called the “New Athens”.

It is in this property that the author George Sand that many artists belonging to the current of Romanticism rubbed shoulders: Chopin, Gounod, Dickens, Stravinsky, Ernest Renand, Delacroix, Rossini, Tourgueniev…Utrillo.

The museum is modest but the place is truly charming. One can cultivate oneself there, rest in the garden, and taste the pleasure of romantic Paris.

The Place du Châtelet is surrounded by two theaters: The Theater of Châtelet and the Theater of the City. It is the latter that has a history with Madame Sarah Bernhardt. Actress that the whole of Paris at the end of the 19th century nicknamed “the Divine”, daring and unconcerned with conventions, Sarah Bernhardt put herself on stage on and off the stages. 

At the Comédie Française, the Odéon, and the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Sarah Bernhardt took over every stage. The actress obtained from the City of Paris the lease of the Théâtre des Nations, which became the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt and then the Théâtre de la Ville. The theater, currently under construction, will be renamed Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt when it opens.

It would take more than a book to tell the story of this place deeply imbued with history but also with French charm.

It was at the Palais Royal, where Colette had her apartment, that the government organized her funeral in 1954. Colette frequented the Parisian literary and musical salons from 1894. First noticed under the pseudonym of Willy, in reality her husband, the author then frees herself and bears the name of Colette.

Colette quickly became known in the world of letters. Promoted officer of the Legion of Honor, elected to the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium, promoted commander of the Legion of Honor, elected to the Academy Goncourt and raised to the dignity of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, Colette is the woman of all crowns.

The Place Vendôme is located 7 minutes walk from the Relais Madeleine. One of the most beautiful squares in France and Europe, today the epicenter of French high jewelry, Place Vendôme was conceived and designed by the architect Mansart, the first architect of Louis XIV.

The famous fashion designer, Coco Chanel, stayed there for many years. Her models illustrate her desire to modernize the feminine expression, sometimes androgynous, through straight dresses and pants until then reserved for men. In 1921, Coco Chanel became the first designer to launch her perfume, the famous N°5. Coco Chanel is close to the Parisian artists. She designed the costumes for Jean Cocteau’s plays and was friends with Marcel Proust, Toulouse-Lautrec and Auguste Renoir. The Place Vendôme was one of Coco Chanel’s sources of inspiration.

Its space, its shape especially, can be found in the octagonal cap of the bottle of her first perfume, N°5.