Fancy a stroll to discover the still secret spots of the capital? This time we suggest you to go to the Marais, towards the Carnavalet Museum. Not far from the oldest museum in Paris, dedicated to thehistory of the capital, there is a discreet square, known by the locals and the enthusiasts. This is the Square Georges Cain.
Named in honor of the first curator of the museum, this little-known garden of the capital has a particularity: it is also a kind of open-air museum. And for good reason, it is considered as a lapidary deposit of the Carnavalet museum. When you enter this square, you first discover in its center a statue of a naked woman: it isÎle-de-France, a work signed by Aristide Maillol.
Your attention is now drawn to the right side of this garden. There, you will notice a succession of stone pieces, of various shapes and sizes, which are found here without any particular indication. But you will be wrong not to be interested in them because they are historical remains. In the center of this wall, you will discover for example a pediment and columns that belonged to the Tuileries Palace, now disappeared.
There are also remains of the salt storehouse of Paris, a Renaissance rose window that was once part of theold Hôtel de Ville, a window of theHôtel de Thou or even remains of Merovingian sarcophagi . For botany lovers, you can even come and admire a hundred-year-old fig tree and an iron tree, which are both indicated by information panels.
