A fire has ravaged Paris’s oldest surviving covered food market, the Marché des Enfants Rouges, located in the Marais district. This popular street food venue, dating back to the 17th century, drew thousands of locals and tourists daily. The blaze broke out shortly after 3 AM, and Ariel Weil, the central Paris mayor, reported that the market had been “totally destroyed.”
““The worst was avoided: the fire did not spread to the surrounding buildings,” Weil stated. “But there is a lot of emotion. A lot of sadness.”
Historical Significance
The market was established in 1615 during the reign of Louis XIII and was named after a nearby orphanage, the Hospice des Enfants Rouges, founded in 1536 by King Francis I and his sister Marguerite de Navarre. The child residents of the orphanage were habitually dressed in red.
In 1982, the structure was listed as a historic monument but narrowly escaped demolition shortly thereafter. Plans for radical redevelopment, which included replacing the market with an underground car park and community facilities, were approved by the then mayor, Jacques Chirac. However, a determined campaign by local residents and neighborhood associations, supported by intellectuals and artists, gathered tens of thousands of signatures in protest, leading to the abandonment of the plans in the mid-1990s.
