Underground & cool · Artist squat · € · 1er · Louvre & Les Halles
59 Rivoli
A legalised former squat on Rue de Rivoli — six floors of working artist studios you climb through, meeting painters at their easels, with a ground-floor gallery that turns over every couple of weeks.
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Afternoons only, closed Mondays. Free concerts and openings happen often.
Getting there
- Châtelet1471114120 m · 2 min walk
- Pont Neuf7260 m · 5 min walk
- Châtelet les HallesRER ARER BRER D310 m · 6 min walk
Walks that pass nearby
- Bouquinistes of the Seinestop 2 of 6 · 220 m
Quai de la Mégisserie
Between Pont Neuf and Pont au Change. The right bank's most photogenic bouquiniste stretch — the boxes line up against the view of the Conciergerie's medieval turrets across the river. Mix of literature, comics, postcards, and engravings.
Cross to the south side of Quai de la Mégisserie to walk past the bouquinistes with the river at your shoulder. Stop at any stall to look at the rolled posters — most sellers will negotiate by 10–15% on prints in summer.
- Marais & Bastillestop 5 of 6 · 300 m
Tour Saint-Jacques
All that remains of the 16th-century church Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, demolished after the Revolution. Pascal repeated his barometer experiments here in 1648.
Climbable only on summer-weekend tours, sold by the city — book online weeks ahead. Otherwise, the small park around it is the right place to sit on a bench and look up. Look for the statue of Pascal at the base, often missed.
- Paris Verticalstop 3 of 6 · 300 m
Tour Saint-Jacques
~62 m. The flamboyant Gothic tower (sole survivor of the demolished church Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie) is climbable only on summer-weekend tours run by the city. Tickets sell out weeks in advance.
Book at the Mission du Patrimoine site; tours operate Saturdays and Sundays from June to September only, 39 people per tour. A guided climb (1 hour, French) — they do open one English tour per weekend if you ask. Wear closed shoes; the staircase is cramped.
- Phantom Parisstop 5 of 6 · 300 m
Tour Saint-Jacques
1523. A 52 m flamboyant-Gothic tower — the only remnant of the church Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, demolished in 1797. The church around it was sold off as building stone after the Revolution, but the tower was kept as a meteorological station.
The small park around it is sat-on, not walked-through — find a bench and look up. The Pascal statue at the base commemorates his 1648 barometer experiments. Climbable on summer weekends only (book ahead).
Within a few minutes' walk
- La SamaritaineDepartment-store experience€ · 4 minReopened in 2021 after sixteen years dark, restored by LVMH. Frantz Jourdain's Art Nouveau hall keeps its wrought-iron staircase, enamelled-lava signage and the Jourdain peacock fresco — 115 metres of painted birds running below the glass roof.
- Le Duc des LombardsJazz club€€ · 4 minTwo ticketed sets a night, 19:30 and 22:00, on a stage barely nine square metres, which keeps the room honest and the playing close. The booking runs to touring names.
- Le Tout-ParisRooftop bar€€€ · 5 minThe 7th-floor bar at Cheval Blanc, a terrace panorama from Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower over the Seine. The bar takes no reservations; a summer-only rooftop, Le Céleste, sits above it.
- Le Garde RobeNatural wine bar with food€€ · 6 minA narrow natural-wine bar near the Louvre that pours organic bottles and feeds you charcuterie, cheese and a few cooked plates without ceremony. Bottles line the walls; you eat off whatever surface is free.
- BO&MIE Louvre-RivoliBoulangerie-pâtisserie€€ · 7 minA polished bakery-café a short walk from the Louvre, with more than fifty seats. The pain au praliné and the Madagascar-vanilla flan are the reasons people queue; the croissants use Charentes-Poitou butter and behave accordingly.
- Saint-Eustache — Keith Haring chapelChurch with modern artwork€ · 7 minThe vast Gothic-Renaissance church above Les Halles holds Keith Haring's last work — the 1990 bronze triptych 'The Life of Christ'. Its side chapel was restored and reopened to visitors on 25 June 2026, properly lit for the first time.
Where to stay near 59 Rivoli
- Hôtel BritanniqueBoutique hotel€€ · 2 minAn English-run house off the Seine since 1861, where guests cite the breakfast and the soundproofing ahead of the décor; the Louvre and Notre-Dame are each a ten-minute walk.
- Hôtel de la Place du LouvreBoutique hotel€€ · 7 minAn Esprit de France address two minutes from the Louvre's east colonnade, with twenty rooms that look onto the Gothic face of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. Breakfast is laid in a vaulted stone cellar once connected to the palace.
- Citadines Saint-Germain-des-PrésAparthotel€€ · 10 minThe Ascott group's aparthotel chain — dependable if dated — with studios and one-beds that carry kitchenettes; this branch sits on the Seine opposite the Pont-Neuf.
Booking through this link may earn par.is a commission. Same price as anywhere.
Landmarks nearby
The district · 1er
Louvre & Les Halles — The centre of the centreThe geographic and royal heart: the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Palais-Royal arcades, and the glass belly of Les Halles. Grand and central, emptier of residents than it looks, and priced accordingly.
Best for: First-timers who want everything within a walk — and don't mind paying for the address.
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