Description of the attraction
Forum-le-Halles, or Forum of the Central Market, is a huge underground shopping center and at the same time the largest underground transport hub in Paris. It is located in the Beaubourg district, where the central Parisian market boiled for eight centuries.
In the 12th century, King Philip Krivoy ordered the former fields and gardens around the cemetery of the Innocents to be occupied by the city market of Les Halles. A new suburb of Paris, Beau Bourg, was formed here. From about 1200 to 1500, the market traded anything, but then it focused exclusively on the wholesale of edibles.
Like any major shopping center, Le Halle had problems with sanitation. In the 19th century, Napoleon III decided to transform Paris into an exemplary city and was highly critical of the state of the market. At one time, the monarch liked the glazed landing stage of the Eastern Station, designed by the architect Baltar. It was the emperor who commissioned the design.
Baltar built square pavilions connected by covered galleries under skylights. Without a doubt, this colossal repository of goods and people, boiling from early morning until late at night and meeting the needs of the metropolis, played a significant role in the development of French capitalism. Emile Zola called it "the belly of Paris", the market has become a recognized symbol of the city. He worked even during the occupation.
However, in the 60s of the XX century, it became clear that the market was outdated. After heated discussions, he was moved out of town. For several years, a wasteland lay in its former place. In 1979, the aboveground-underground complex Carré-le-Halle, which later received its modern name, was erected here. The complex goes underground on four floors, on which there are shops, the Holography Museum and a branch of the Grevin Museum, a video library, a swimming pool, a tropical garden.
Further below are the platforms of five metro stations and the interchange of three lines of the high-speed metro RER.
On the surface, the park adjoins the complex Les Halles, in the design of which metal trusses are used. They remind of Baltar's pavilions that were once located here, the true "belly of Paris".
