Le Marais is the Paris we so often see idealized in films and postcards. For a number of years this area had been decaying and unfashionable but now it is making a real comeback as an area for the young, trendy and quite well off set in Paris. Today, the Marais is the largest historic district in all France; but it is also up-to-the-minute fascinating

HISTORY
Drained by monks in the 13th century, the Marais ("swamp") was land-filled to provide building space for the Right Bank. With Henri IV's construction of the Place des Vosges at the beginning of the 17th century, the area became the city's center of fashionable living. Leading architects and sculptors of the period designed elegant hôtels particuliers with large courtyards. The Marais filled with more and more high society and grand hôtels - Mme de Sévigné, Cardinal Richelieu, as well as the royal family all had homes here, and Molière, Racine, and Voltaire held forth in the great salons.

Under Louis XV, the center of Parisian life moved to the faubourgs (then considered suburbs) St-Honoré and St-Germain, and construction in the Marais ceased. Finally the court moved to Versailles, and the Revolution made aristocratic living in the Marais a dangerous pastime.

The Marais declined, becoming the Jewish and immigrant quarter. During the Revolution, the former haunts of the sovereign gave way to slumlords and their tenements. Many hôtels fell into ruin or disrepair.

In the 1960s, the French government undertook a major restoration project in the Marais, an area that now stretches between the Beaubourg and the Bastille. The program obviously succeeded: This is now one of the hottest neighborhoods in Paris for shopping, dining, and trendy living. The medieval streets make for fascinating strolling, and there's plenty of window shopping as well

TRENDY NEIGHBORHOOD
This inspiring neighbourhood draws a creative crowd and an eclectic bunch of young professionals who dally on the cafe terraces and live in the small, crooked apartments above.

The Marais is still the center of Paris's Jewish community, where you find synagogues, delicatessens, and kosher butcher shops. The rue des Rosiers, the main artery of this busy neighborhood, has its own sad history. It was the street from which Germans and French collaborators rounded up Jewish residents for the trip to the concentration camps.

It has regained its pre-Revolutionary glory, thanks to 30 years of extensive renovations. Once-palatial mansions have become exquisite museums, and the tiny twisting streets have been adopted by fashionable boutiques and galleries.

The area is also unquestionably the center of gay Paris, with its hub around the intersection of rue Ste-Croix de la Brettonnerie and rue Vieille-du-Temple. The 4eme is an especially fun neighborhood. It's accessible. It's red wine. It's just-barely-affordable, sort-of-designer shops. It's antiques and sparkly club wear. Let the festivities begin.

PLACE DES VOSGES
The highlight of the Marais is still the place des Vosges. The magnificent Place de la Vosges, one of the most beautiful squares in Paris, is a firm favorite with Parisians and regular visitors as a place to relax in beautiful surroundings and just take the city in. Remarkably well-preserved, this exquisite square will take your breath away as you enter under its arched arcades. There is no way not to feel transported back in time standing in the midst of its 17th-century splendor- that is, until you notice the very 20th-century designer boutiques, antique shops, and fine restaurants. The gardenlike atmosphere of the square makes a perfect retreat in which to leave behind the sirens and the shriek of traffic, and to sit and take in one of the gentler scenes of the city. The so rosy tone of the time-worn stones gives the square the look of the most delicate of impressionist paintings.

A number of old Marais homes are now museums, including Victor Hugo's house (No. 6, Place des Vosges), the Musée Picasso, and the Musée Carnavalet. Many other 17th century mansions that once housed the noblest families in Paris are still to be seen in this quiet and ungentrified neighborhood.

MUSEUMS
The Picasso Museum at the Hotel Sale is the worlds greatest Picasso collection. The French state amassed the numerous works in exchange for writing off over his estates ?25 million in inheritance taxes after Picasso's death in 1973. In addition to being home to over 4000 original Picasso drawings, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and notebooks the museum also hosts works from Picasso's extensive private collection including Cézanne and Rousseau.

SHOPPING
The Marais is Paris's only neighborhood with shops open Sundays. For shopaholics, this is a much-needed bonus; no one could browse all the treasures arrayed here in just six days a week! The Village St-Paul, a jumble of antiquaires in a country-like courtyard is brimming with "junque" that is hard to pass up. Fashion boutiques, featuring the latest and trendiest or last year's mark-downs. Toy stores, museum shops, gay men's fashions to die for, uncategorizable shops such as Marais are chock-a-block on each narrow street. There is Jean-Pierre de Castro, featuring silver forks and spoons sold by weight, alongwith Carnavalette, and A l'Image du Grenier sur l'Eau, the former selling old cartoons and catalogues, the latter, posters and prints. The Marais is Paris's challenge to serious shoppers

TEA SALONS
Mariage Frères, 30-32 rue du Bourg-Tibourg
Tea salon: daily noon-7pm.
Boutique & Musee du The: daily 10.30am-7.30pm. (May vary in August).

WINEBAR
Aparemment café 18, rue des Coutures-St-Gervais

BISTROS AND RESTAURANTS
Les Petits Marseillais 72 rue Vieille du Temple 01 42 78 91 59
Le Bar à Huitres 33 bd Beaumarchais - 01 48 87 98 92
La Fontaine Gourmande 11 rue Charlot - 01 42 787 240
Camille 24 rue des Francs Bourgeois - 01 42 72 20 50
Le Valet de Carreau 2 rue Dupetit Thouars - 01 42 727 260
Les fous d'en face 3 rue du bourg tibourg - 0148 87 03 75
Rouge Gorge rue Saint Paul - 01 48 04 75 89
Ma Bourgogne Place des Vosges
L'Osteria Rue de Sévigné
Le Pamphlet 38 rue Debelleyme - booking required
Le Connétable 55 r Archives - 01 42 77 41 40
Auberge Nicolas Flamel 51 r Montmorency - 01 42 71 77 78
Chez Jenny 39 bd Temple - 01 44 54 39 00
Chez Janou 2 r Roger Verlomme - 01 42 72 28 41
L'Ambroisie Place des Vosges

HOMEWARE/GIFT/FASHION BOUTIQUES (Tuesday- Saturday 1-7pm)
Martin Grant, 32 rue des Rosiers
Les 2 Mille Feuilles, 59 rue Francs Bourgeois
A l'Image du Grenier sur l'Eau, 45 rue des Francs Bourgeois
Villa Marais, 40 rue Francs Bourgeois
2 Mille & 1 Nuits, 13 rue des Francs-Bourgeois
Village St-Paul between rue St-Paul and rue Charlemagne
Marais Plus 20, rue des Francs-Bourgeois
Jean-Pierre de Castro 17, rue des Francs-Bourgeois
Carnavalette 2, rue des Francs-Bourgeois