Galerie Vivienne

Look down for a moment. That mosaic floor beneath your feet is resting on ground that was once a Gallo-Roman cemetery. In 1751, workers found a funeral urn here with a heartbreaking inscription for a girl named Ampudia Amanda, who died at just 17. She never could have imagined what would eventually rise above her.

The gallery opened in 1826, designed by François Jean Delannoy on the site of a grand mansion. On that very first day, the bookshop Jousseaume opened its doors. It is still here. Writers like Colette and Aragon used to browse these shelves, and honestly, nothing much has changed.

The most colorful resident, however, was Eugène François Vidocq. A master escape artist and former criminal who opened the world's first private detective agency, staffed entirely by ex-convicts. He lived at number 13, up that monumental staircase you can still see today. Charming and completely unhinged.

By the mid-twentieth century the gallery had quietly faded. Then in 1986, Jean-Paul Gaultier moved in and set up his first boutique right here. Other designers followed, and just like that, Galerie Vivienne woke up again.