Halle Saint Pierre

Tucked away below the gardens, at the foot of Montmartre, the Halle Saint-Pierre is home to a museum, gallery, book shop, auditorium and cafe. Here, it’s all about breaking the mould! The huge temporary exhibitions and the various artistic and cultural activities on offer all focus on the most unconventional forms of art and design. Be it art brut, naïve art, outsider art or unique art forms, everything here mingles into a joyously quirky mishmash.

The building alone is well worth the visit. The hall, with its metal framework and skylights, is a typically Baltard-esque design. It was once a covered market, and was actually created in 1868 by a student of Victor Baltard, with Baltard himself particularly well-known for having designed Les Halles during the Second French Empire. Also known as the “Belly of Paris” thanks to Emile Zola’s famous novel, Les Halles are now home to the Canopée des Halles and the Westfield Forum des Halles shopping centre.

It’s a place that’s anything but ordinary in one of the liveliest and most picturesque parts of Paris!

More museums and cultural sites in Paris Region.