- Touristy
- Shopping
- Museums & Galleries
- Historic sights
- Open air markets
- Cafes & Restaurants
- Cinemas & Theaters
- Designer boutiques
- Nightlife
About the area
Along the right bank of the Seine, the 4th Arrondissement is a lively, multicultural neighborhood that includes the part of Ile de la Cite where the famous Notre Dame can be found. The cathedral dates back to 1163, and featured prominently in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
The 4th Arrondissement home to the Victor Hugo Museum and the Hotel de Ville (Paris's beautiful city hall) as well. It's known for its nightlife (it's the center of gay nightlife in Paris) as well as shopping. Many top-notch boutiques are open on Sundays (most in other areas aren't) and the Rue des Frances-Bourgeois is lined by upscale shops. For dining, visitors can choose from over 4,000 restaurants. Ile Saint-Louis, however, is the hub of the quaint cafes. But this area is a bit quieter at night; venture off the island once you're ready to party.
Tourists are always bustling through the 4th Arrondissement, making it one of the city's most crowded (and most exspensive) areas -- right up there with the neighboring 1st Arrondissement. But despite the crowds, the 4th Arrondisement is extremely pedestrian-friendly, and it's easy to cover the entire neighborhood on foot (though it involves crossing a couple of bridges).
On the Map
Picasso Museum
The Musée Picasso is an art gallery located in the Hôtel Salé in rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris dedicated to the work of the artist Pablo Picasso (1881–1973).
The hôtel particulier that houses the collection was built between 1656 and 1659 for Pierre Aubert, seigneur de Fontenay, a tax farmer who became rich collecting the gabelle or salt tax (the name of the building means "salted"). The architect was Jean Boullier from Bourges, also known as Boullier de Bourges; sculpture was carried out by the brothers Gaspard and Balthazard Marsy and by Martin Desjardins. It is considered to be one of the finest historic houses in the Marais.
Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre-Dame is a historic Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of Paris. The cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, and it is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture.
As the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paris, Notre-Dame is the parish that contains the cathedra, or official chair, of the archbishop of Paris, currently Cardinal André Vingt-Trois. The cathedral treasury is notable for its reliquary which houses some of Catholicism's most important first-class relics including the purported Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the True Cross, and one of the Holy Nails.
