Boulevards of Paris
The Grands Boulevards (French, German boulevards ) are the oldest boulevards of Paris. Follow the course of the former city wall of Louis XIII. and form today on the north of the Seine Rive Droite located a semi-circular traffic artery between the Place de la Madeleine in the west and the Place de la Bastille in the east.
History
Louis XIV from 1668 ablate the northern Paris city wall, which created under Charles V and under Louis XIII. had been extended to the west. Under the direction of the architect Pierre Bullet to 1705 was called the Nouveau Cours created, a tree-lined avenue between the old city gates Porte Saint- Honoré (now Place de la Madeleine ) and the Porte Saint -Antoine at the Bastille. The resulting promenade soon got their name from the north of the Bastille located Bastion Grand boulevart. The French word boulevard designated since the Middle Ages a city wall ( from Dutch: bollwerc, " rampart ").
The Grands Boulevards developed in the 18th century entertainment miles with ballrooms, brothels and boulevard theaters.
During the Second Empire, the Paris prefect Georges- Eugène Haussmann took the Grands Boulevards as a model for the transformation of the then structured medieval city. From 1853 onwards left home on an idea by Emperor Napoleon III. and modeled after London and Berlin to create a number of other avenues as boulevards across the city. Countless houses in the city center were demolished it.
Characteristics
The Grands Boulevards are wide roads with avenue of trees, mostly pedestrian walkways ( trottoires ) and multi-lane roadways. The total width of the roads is at least thirty feet. Taken together, they form a three-mile- long, semi-circular arch.
In the West, the Grands Boulevards start north of Place de la Concorde with the 282 -meter-long Rue Royale, the Boulevard de la Madeleine (220 m) to continue. It follows the Boulevard des Capucines (440 m), in the Boulevard des Italiens (390 m) passes south of the Opéra Garnier. At the northernmost point of the Boulevard Montmartre (215 m) begins followed by the Boulevard Poissonnière (351 m) and from the Boulevard de Bonne -Nouvelle ( 347 m) to the old city gate Porte Saint- Denis. Here the short Boulevard Saint -Denis starts ( 210 m), which merges at the Porte Saint- Martin in the Boulevard Saint -Martin ( 1,420 m). South of the Place de la République to Boulevard du Temple, the Boulevard des Filles -du- Calvaire and the Boulevard Beaumarchais, which ends at the Place de la Bastille.
The boulevards are very busy and congested, among the residents are numerous financial, cultural and government institutions as well as many retailers, restaurants and cafes. Famous sights include the Café de la Paix ( opened on 5 May 1862), the Art Deco Cinema Le Grand Rex (8 December 1932) and the Olympic Theatre (12 April 1893). Parts of the Grands Boulevards are a significant route for official parades. The entire course of the Grands Boulevards is under leads from different metro lines. There is a total of eleven stations. The station Grands Boulevards on the Boulevard Poissonnière is served by lines 8 and 9.