Hôtel de Sully: A 17th-Century Mansion and Its Quiet Garden

Exit Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis through the main doors and you'll find yourself on Rue Saint-Antoine. At no. 62 stands the Hôtel de Sully, regarded as one of the finest 17th-century aristocratic mansions in Le Marais. Many grand noble residences were built here in the 16th and 17th centuries. As mentioned earlier, a splendid aristocratic townhouse is called an hôtel particulier, meaning a "special mansion." The ones that survive in Le Marais today have been repurposed as museums, exhibition venues, libraries, and more.

The Hôtel de Sully was the home of the Duke of Sully, finance minister to Henri IV. Today it houses the headquarters of the Centre des monuments nationaux, a government agency. Walk through the entrance into the mansion's rear garden. The Hôtel de Sully is known for its ornate Baroque exterior and beautiful interior decoration, but it is the quiet, peaceful back garden that is especially famous. Enclosed by large buildings, it offers plenty of privacy in the middle of the city. It isn't grand in scale, but it's modest, tidy, and beautifully kept.

From the garden, a passage leads straight to Place des Vosges. Look for the small door in the far right corner, where people are coming and going. Go through it and you'll arrive directly in the arcades of Place des Vosges. Let's head out through the garden door.