The Marais and its Legacy at Carnavalet Museum

Bonjour from le Marais,

Far from being frozen in time, the Marais protected district has changed considerably since the passage of the Malraux Law.
A great multidisciplinary exhibition at Carnavalet museum reports on 50 years of protection through innovative displays and pieces rarely shown to the public, emphasising a sensitive and poetic relationship with the area. Open until 28Th fbruary 2016.

An exhibition prefiguring the Carnavalet Museum's renovation

On the eve of a major renovation to be completed in 2019, the Carnavalet Museum is rethinking the way it presents its collections and performs mediation in order to become the essential benchmark in understanding Paris, its urban spaces, its residents, its memories, and its history. The exhibition "The Marais Heritage: 50 years of protection since the Malraux Law" is the occasion to try out these new keys to understanding an area. This new approach offers a first look at one of the museum's introductory rooms after its renovation.

A sensory approach to the Marais

The name "Marais", as applied specifically to this district, seems to have emerged in the 1560's. In the 17th century it became the most elegant and fashionable area in the capital. Magnificent fragments collected primarily from spaces closed to the public bring this elegance to life and make up a "library of materials" from the Marais with panelling, doors, joists, stairway banisters, sculptures, ceramics, buckles, coins, signs, documents, photographs, films, maps, models, etc.
To prolong this sensitive and poetic approach to the Marais, architect-colourist Guillaume de Monfreid has performed a study specifically designed for the exhibition with the Paris Council on Architecture, Urbanism, and the Environment (CAUE). He has made a number of swatches of the Marais' colours

The Malraux Law at the birth of protected sectors

The protection of the Marais was the first in an international movement in the 1960s to protect and promote historic districts. A protected sector is an urban area subject to specific regulations due to its "historical, aesthetic, or other character that warrants conserving, restoring, and promoting all or part of a group of real estate, developed or not" (Law of 4th August 1962, known as the "Malraux Law") There are 105 protected sectors in France today. André Malraux, then Minister for Cultural Affairs, planned to create 400. With its extraordinarily rich heritage, the Marais was the first sector in Paris to be declared a "protected sector" in December 1964. Its 126 hectares, about 1.2% of Paris's area, partially cover the 3rd and 4th arrondissements.

Stakeholders in preserving the Marais

Since its creation on 16th April 1965, the Marais protected sector has been the object of an active development policy that has brought together politicians, architects, urban planners, historians, archaeologists as well as donors and supporters of the Marais. The exhibition gives a voice to all of these passionate stakeholders.

If you are - like us - passionnate about Le Marais, do not miss this very creative exhibition, taking place in our favorite museum in Paris.

Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris
16 rue des Francs Bourgeois 75003 Paris
carnavalet.paris.fr

The PARISMARAIS ® Team

PS. : You can now also watch on YOU TUBE the amazing film by Laurent Lefèbvre produced for France 5 Television in summer 2015. We, at parismarais.com contributed to a large part of this documentary.

Here's below some pictures of the exhibition :