Do you love veering off the usual tourist path to discover hidden gems when you travel to Paris? If your answer is "Yes," then put exploring Paris's covered passages, or "passages couverts" as they are called in French, high on your Paris bucket list. An afternoon spent wandering through these little-known 18th- and 19th-century private shopping lanes will give you a fascinating glimpse of an almost-forgotten era in the city's history.
With their spectacular glass roofs and elaborate Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, and even Art Deco decor and embellishments, the historical covered passages in Paris's central districts offer you a unique place to shop for artisan gifts, enjoy a casual meal, and soak up the rich architectural, social, and cultural details. Located mostly on Paris's wealthier Right Bank, covered passages are essentially private pedestrian-only roads built between existing buildings.
They typically connect two or more main thoroughfares. Iron gates or massive wooden doors at each end get closed and locked every night. Although you may be able to spot the passages' entrances they are easy to miss unless you know where to look from the street, you'll get little sense of what's inside. Spectacular glass roofs let light pour in while protecting walkers from rain and cold. Rows of shops, cafes, and sometimes theaters and concert halls line both sides of the covered walkways.
To maximize their profits, builders typically added upper floors for apartments, often with interior windows overlooking the passages. Today, if you look up, you may still see these dwellings although some now function as offices.
To attract wealthy upper middle-class shoppers, many passages displayed elaborate decor and embellishments in neoclassical, art nouveau, and even art deco styles - which is still part of their allure.
