A major fire consumed Marché des Enfants Rouges, a historic covered market in Paris’s Marais district, early in the morning. The blaze broke out shortly after 3am and engulfed the structure before firefighting efforts began at 4:15am. According to fire service officials, more than 150 firefighters and 50 fire trucks responded to the incident. Much of the market’s metal framework collapsed, and the majority of vendor stalls were destroyed by flames. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
Ariel Weil, the mayor of central Paris, characterized the market as “totally destroyed” while noting that fortunately the fire did not spread to adjacent buildings. He acknowledged the significant emotional impact of the loss on the community, describing widespread sadness about the incident.
The market, which first opened in 1615 during the reign of Louis XIII, took its name from a nearby orphanage founded decades earlier. The structure received historic monument designation in 1982. In the years following that designation, the site faced demolition threats when city planners proposed replacing it with an underground parking facility, daycare, and community center. Residents, neighborhood associations, and prominent cultural figures mounted a successful campaign against the redevelopment plan, gathering tens of thousands of signatures in opposition. By the mid-1990s, the demolition plans were abandoned.
Instead of destruction, the city invested in a comprehensive restoration project spanning six years and costing approximately 13 million francs. The market reopened as a food court in 2000, combining traditional vendors such as greengrocers, butchers, cheesemongers, and fishmongers with more than a dozen contemporary street food stands offering international cuisines. Travel and food publications had praised the venue, with Time Out calling it “the coolest market in Paris” and Food&Wine ranking it among the world’s top street food destinations earlier this year.
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