I thought I might have exhausted this line of pursuit until I decided to search for the Passage des Panoramas, one of the first of the Parisian arcades which so entranced Walter Benjamin. This particular arcade dates from 1799 and was named after the painted panoramas which used to be one of the attractions on an upper floor. The appropriately panoramic view comes from a page of 360º panoramas of some of the more attractive passages couverts of Paris and, as with previous examples here, these are best viewed using the full screen option. On my last trip to Paris I intended to visit some of the arcades but apart from one small place on the Champs-Élysées the ones I tracked down were all closed. Consequently, these photos are the next best thing to being there.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The panoramas archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Passages 2
• Passages
Strange. I thought they would be open as there are shops and restaurants in all the passages. Unless they are doing restauratie work on the structure…
I was confused by that as well but it seems that some of the smaller arcades are only open certain days of the week. I can’t imagine this is the case with the Passage des Panoramas since it’s a lot bigger and does indeed contain restaurants.
It is true that lot of them are actually closed on Sunday. And at night to avoid invasion by vagrants.
And on the subject of panoramas, I suppose you have seen this:
http://www.byteswithbite.co.uk/kilgore/org/auto/gen.htm
Thanks, I hadn’t seen that before. I have visited Bath, however, and on that occasion it wasn’t closed!