Les Halles

Since the controversial demolition of the old Halles (Market Halls) and the transfer of the markets to Rungis in the late 1960s, the Halles quarter in Paris has been completely remodelled. It is now an extensive pedestrian area, crowded throughout the day, mainly by young people.

From medieval times onwards the markets were the focal point of the Rive Droite. The first covered market halls were built in 1183, in the reign of Philippe Auguste, and seven centuries later, under Napoleon III, Victor Baltard (1805-75) constructed the huge functional iron halls which soon became one of the city's landmarks and a popular haunt of revellers after a night on the town. After the demolition of the Halles - the "belly of Paris", as described in Zola's novel "Le Ventre de Paris" - the site lay empty for years, with a huge hole in the ground which became known as the Trou des Halles. Finally the hole was filled with an equally huge architectural ensemble, designed by Claude Vasoni and Georges Pencreach, and developed into one of the largest underground traffic hubs in Paris: two ; RER lines intersect a Métro line here, and there is a connection to the Châtelet station, the junction of four Métro lines. Above the ; RER and Métro tunnels and underground parking lots but still below ground level is the huge funnel-shaped complex of the Forum des Halles, opened in 1979.