{"id":3966,"date":"2025-12-16T14:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/audioguide-paris.com\/?page_id=3966"},"modified":"2026-04-03T10:31:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:31:01","slug":"the-marais-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/audioguide-paris.com\/index.php\/en\/the-marais-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Marais"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Walk: \u201cThe Secret Marais: From the Stake to Place des Vosges\u201d<\/h4>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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What if behind the perfect fa\u00e7ades of the Marais hid stakes, severed heads, stolen royal hearts, murdered lovers, and legends never told on a typical tour? From the Saint-Jacques Tower to Place des Vosges, passing by H\u00f4tel de Ville,\r\n medieval alleyways, Village Saint-Paul, and private mansions, this walking tour takes you through fifteen centuries of history, crimes, and ghosts in the heart of Paris.<\/p>\r\n

Why was H\u00f4tel de Ville Square once called \u201cPlace de Gr\u00e8ve,\u201d and what was the guillotine really used for when it was installed there in 1792? What happened at Saint-Gervais Church during the St. Bartholomew\u2019s Day massacre? Where does\r\n the expression \u201cfaire gr\u00e8ve\u201d originally come from, when it had nothing to do with protests? The audio guide immerses you in a Paris of sand, hangings, and great fears, hidden beneath today\u2019s pristine stones.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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Further along, in Rue Fran\u00e7ois-Miron and Rue des Barres, the half-timbered houses and quiet courtyards become the settings for much darker stories: a queen\u2019s lover found in a sack at the bottom of the Seine, ancient bones under the\r\n paving stones, a medieval village reconstructed almost stone by stone. In the H\u00f4tel d\u2019Ourscamp, Cistercian monks stored their harvests\u2026 and legend has it that a bear requisitioned by Saint \u00c9loi had to finish the work of an ox killed\r\n by its own plow.<\/p>\r\n

Village Saint-Paul looks like a peaceful idyll; yet beneath your feet, the old Saint-\u00c9loi cemetery still allegedly holds the graves of Fran\u00e7ois Rabelais and the mysterious Man in the Iron Mask. At Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis Church, you\u2019ll\r\n uncover the utterly bizarre story of the hearts of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, stolen during the Revolution and then reduced\u2026 into purple pigment by an overly inventive dyer. A few streets away, a cannonball embedded in the H\u00f4tel de\r\n Sens fa\u00e7ade reminds visitors that even the walls have kept the memory of revolutions.<\/p>\r\n

The tour ends at Place des Vosges: under the perfect arcades, you\u2019ll learn about the absurd accident that killed Henry II, Catherine de M\u00e9dicis\u2019 revenge which razed the old palace, its history as a horse market, and the creation of\r\n Paris\u2019 first royal square\u2026 where no king ever truly lived. Behind the chic fa\u00e7ades, Victor Hugo, duels, literary salons, lovers on the lawns, and bloody episodes paint a much more complex picture than the postcard suggests.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n

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During this visit, you will:<\/h3>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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