The Paris of the antique dealers

The walk begins at the Hôtel Drouot, famous auction house, the visit is free. You can stroll through the different rooms to admire the objects before they are put up for sale.

The whole district benefits from the presence of the Hôtel Drouot and you can find many antique dealers by walking in the adjacent streets.

The stroll continues with the discovery of the most beautiful covered passages of Paris, they are the vestiges of the 19th century Paris. The streets were then very dirty and smelly, Paris had then more than 80 000 horses! The passages protected the customers from all the dirt outside. Paradoxically it is the development of the car and the end of the horse traffic that will make the covered passages totally useless. Nowadays, they remain the witnesses of a bygone era.