Panoramic photos of Parisian sheltered passages.

The Parisian sheltered passages are the ancestors of our current commercial galleries and are often known by the names of their rich owners. Built in the beginning of the 19th century to allow Parisians to be able to stroll peacefully without fear of bad weather, they were mainly clustered near the north of the Jardin du Palais Royal. This area was once the largest center of Parisian pleasure (with about 500 prostitutes spread along columns of stone or wood at the time) and its closure by Louis Philippe promoted the expansion of sheltered passages...

Many have unfortunately disappeared with the building of the new streets by the famous architect Hausmann and there are now only a dozen when there were 150 then. Some have been renovated and are now prestigious galleries, others deserve to be restored, but all are worth exploring or rediscovering through a nostalgic stroll.