Professor Steve Shelburne's section of the "Daily Bread: Sustainability in Paris" course spent the afternoon walking in the Marais district of Paris, including a stroll through the Village St. Paul, a very old neighborhood saved from destruction and restored in the 1970s and 1980s. Some parts of the old city wall are still visible behind the St. Paul-St. Louis church that anchors the neighborhood.
The tour began at the beautiful Place des Vosges, built by Henry IV in the early 17th century - the oldest planned square in Paris. Other stops included the mid-17th century Hotel de Sully (an aristocratic townhome) just off the square, the St. Paul-St. Louis Church, and an unexpected encounter with the 15th century Hotel de Sens, originally a private residence owned by the archbishops of Sens. Today it houses the Forney Art Library and is under restoration, set to reopen in February 2017.
At each stop, students were paying close attention to architectural details and looking for interplay between the old and the new in the constantly changing city landscape of Paris.
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