The History of the Mara – Swamps, Templars, Nobles, Jews and Everything in Between

The Marais district in Paris is without a doubt my favorite district in the City of Lights, and there are quite a few reasons for this. With your permission, I will mention just two.

The first reason is its fascinating history and the fact that Napoleon III did not touch it, while he rebuilt all of Paris during the 19th century. The result is that a very large part of the magnificent palaces and romantic alleys have remained as they were and have not been replaced by wide boulevards. So if you are a history lover like me, any stroll through this district is pure pleasure and if you open your eyes and ears you may even meet some friendly ghosts.

Since not everyone knows the fascinating history of the Marais and not everyone has time to read all the books I've read about the district, I decided to provide you with a summary of the history of this magical district, which will enhance your visit to it, because you will not only see these beautiful buildings but also know the stories, some of which are juicy, behind them.

From Jerusalem to Paris or how the Templars created the Marais district?

The district is named after the marshes (in French Marais), which were created when the Seine River overflowed its banks during the Middle Ages. The marshes were drained by religious orders and if you thought that only our pioneers were involved in this, then you were wrong. When you walk through the Marais, you will discover that several of its main streets contain the name Temple (for example: Rue de Temple, Vieux de Temple and more) and there is a good reason for this because those who made the Marais an important neighborhood of Paris were members of the Templar Order.

The Templars were a poor order of knights, formed after the First Crusade to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land. The order was so poor that its emblem was two knights riding a single horse, meaning they did not have the money to equip each of their knights with a horse.

However, as you will see, the Templars' financial situation improved dramatically after they settled in Jerusalem. The reason for the very rapid enrichment of this order of knights is shrouded in mystery, but it provided a good living for generations of writers, including Dan Brown, who wrote "The Da Vinci Code." So whether the Templars really discovered the Holy Grail while digging in Solomon's tomb (probably Dan Brown and a few others) or whether they simply learned to manage a balanced budget, during the 12th century the order began to become rich. During this period, they built in Paris, on the site where the city hall of the 3rd arrondissement is today, the Temple Fortress, which is named after our Temple, of course.

When the Templars were expelled from the Land of Israel by the Muslims, they transformed from an order of warriors into an order of bankers, who lent money to almost all the royal houses of Europe. However, as their wealth grew, so did the envy and hatred towards this order. In 1305, Philip IV of France, who can be read about in the article The Tower of Nell , was forced to hide in the Temple Fortress in order to escape the residents of Paris who were angry about a new tax he had imposed. While the king waited for the anger of the residents of Paris to subside, he walked around the fortress and saw the immense wealth displayed there. When he left the fortress, he decided that the time had come for the wealth to be his.

On Friday, October 13, 1307, the king's soldiers stormed the fortress and arrested the Templars by surprise (which is, incidentally, why Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Christian belief). Philip IV, who had collaborated with Pope Clement V to plunder the Templars' wealth, had them tried in a show trial for sodomy, devil worship, and other such crimes. In 1314, Jacques de Molay, the last head of the Templar Order, was burned at the stake not far from where the Font-Neuve is today.

The Marais becomes a royal district

Because the Order of the Templars was abolished, its properties in the Marais district were transferred to rival orders of knights and monks, led by the Hospitallers. In 1357, the future King of France, Charles V, decided to move to the Marais. The reason for this was the trauma he experienced when Étienne Marcel, the head of the Paris merchants, broke into his palace on the Île de la Cité and murdered two of his senior aides in front of him. The king, who realized that this palace was not sufficiently fortified and secure, decided to move to the Saint-Paul Palace in the southern part of the Marais, and the nobility moved with him. Unfortunately, nothing remains of this palace, but in its place you can find the Village Saint-Paul, where you can find quite a few small boutiques selling antiques.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Marais district continued to grow and the first city palaces, called in French Hôtel particulier, began to be built there. One of the only palaces that survived from this period is the Hôtel de Sens, which was built in the late 15th century and is today considered the third oldest building in Paris. In the early 17th century, King Henri IV built the Place Royale, which would become the Place des Vosges after the French Revolution . This beautiful square attracted the entire high nobility of the period to the area, and those who could not afford to live in the square itself built themselves a palace not far away.

There is no doubt that the 17th century was the golden age of the Marais. Beyond all the beautiful palaces that were built there, which I will write about later, the Marais also became a first-rate intellectual center in France. The most important literary salons of the period were located here, such as the salon of Madame de Scuderie, where the seeds of feminism were formed (you can read about this phenomenon in the article The Woman Without a Head ). It is also impossible to talk about the Marais without mentioning some of the most famous noblemen and noblewomen who lived there, headed by Madame de Savigny, thanks to whose letters we know exactly what happened at the court of Louis XIV.

The golden age of the Marais began to end in the late 17s, when the royal court moved from Paris to the Palace of Versailles . As a result of this move, a large part of the nobles who lived in the Marais, located on the eastern border of Paris, moved to the western neighborhoods in order to be closer to the king. The decline was not rapid but relatively slow, as the nobles gradually left the neighborhood and their palaces were abandoned or rented out. However, in the 18s, the guillotine descended on the Marais and eliminated the nobles who still lived there and did not have time to escape.

As a result, the palaces began to crumble and were turned into tiny workshops or were divided into small apartments and rented out to people who could not afford to live elsewhere. The Mara became a slum.

The Jewish Quarter of Paris

During the 19th century, when persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe and Russia intensified, a wave of Jewish refugees arrived in France. Since these refugees were very poor, they settled in the Marais, which, as mentioned, had long since become a neglected slum. The Jewish quarter of Paris is mainly located on the streets of Rue des Rosiers, Roi de Siciles, Vielle du Temple and Rue des Ecuffes, and the Jews lived there in great crowding and poverty. However, the community there slowly began to grow and establish itself and even built several synagogues for itself, the largest and most magnificent of which is the synagogue on Rue Tournelle, whose second facade faces directly onto Place de la Voise.

However, the Jewish renaissance did not last long. In 1940, France was occupied by the Nazis and some time later, German racial laws began to be applied to the Jews. In 1942, the Germans, in full cooperation with the Paris police, began to arrest the Jews living in the Marais and other parts of the City of Lights. They were first sent to the Vel d'Hiv (cycling stadium) and held there in appalling conditions. Some of the Jews committed suicide there or died of disease, and the others were sent to the collection station in Drancy and from there to Auschwitz.

By the end of the war, about 78,000 Jews had been murdered, which was about a quarter of the total Jewish population in France. Today, while walking through the Marais, you can see black signs indicating how many Jewish students attended a particular school and how many were sent to camps. Don't think that this was an initiative of the Paris municipality. Not at all. Jacques Chirac admitted in 1995 (about 50 years after the end of World War II), but in general the French try to disavow their responsibility for the murders and prefer to blame the Germans. Therefore, it was not the Paris municipality that initiated the signs, but one of the Jewish organizations, and they remind us every day of the horrors of the past, while we stroll for our pleasure through the Marais of the present.

The Second Golden Age of the Mara

At the end of World War II, the Marais was considered an area unfit for human habitation. During the 1950s, architect Le Corbusier even proposed demolishing the neighborhood and building housing in its place. If you don't believe me, you are welcome to listen to this podcast:

Fortunately, André Malraux, who was France's Minister of Culture in the 1960s, decided that the Marais was part of Paris' heritage and therefore should not be demolished. Instead, he decided to invest billions of francs in renovating the Marais, ordering homeowners to demolish ugly additions and renovate the facades of buildings.

As a result, the Marais has regained its shine and beauty, and it has once again become one of the most vibrant districts in Paris, thanks to its palaces, boutiques, galleries, and restaurants. Also, since the second half of the 20th century, the Marais has been the most important center of the gay community in Paris. That's why you'll find quite a few gay clubs, cafes, and even a special boulangerie there, which you can read about in the article Is the Baguette Really French?

Tourist information in the Marais

Now that you’ve “done your homework,” you’re ready to explore the Marais (and maybe even live there). Just for you, I created the Marais District page for travelers on the site, where you’ll find all the “practical” information you need to plan your trip (recommended hotels and apartments, restaurants, itineraries, articles on attractions, and more).

Want to hear me tell you the secrets of the Marais district?

I have created a series of three lectures in which I talk about the history of the Mara and its most beautiful places. You can get information about each of these lectures and purchase the recording of each of these lectures on the Mara Secrets page.

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