Discover the Odéon district

Just a stone's throw from the hotel, the Odéon offers the ideal backdrop for discovering the soul of Paris. Close to the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the district is striking for its youth and liveliness, boasting both intellectual life and relaxation. Bars, restaurants, concert cafés, cinemas, theatres... the Odéon crossroads, where so many activities converge, is dominated by the statue of Danton.

The Cour du Commerce-Saint-André opens onto the crossroads. This unevenly paved passageway is home to remnants of Philippe-Auguste's city walls and, between shops and restaurants bristling with old-fashioned signs, the Procope. Opened in 1686, it is said to be the oldest café in Paris, where such intellectuals as La Fontaine, Voltaire, the Encyclopaedists Rousseau and Beaumarchais, as well as Marat, Danton, Robespierre and Bonaparte during the Revolution, and later Musset, George Sand and Verlaine, among others, met.

On the other side of the hotel, Place de l'Odéon was created in 1779 on the grounds of the Hôtel de Condé. Its houses, with their sober, refined facades, adorn the semi-circular square. At no. 1 was the Café Voltaire (from 1779 to 1956), where many writers met. Delacroix, Musset, Vallès, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Rodin, Gide, Valéry and many others were regulars.

The star of the square is, of course, its theatre. Built by order of the King in 1782 for the Comédiens-Français, this new stage, built in the antique style of the time, was called the Théâtre-Français. Marie-Antoinette inaugurated it on 9 April 1782. It hosted the premiere of Beaumarchais's The Marriage of Figaro (1784) and the first English-language performances of Shakespeare on the continent (1827).

Over the years, it has become Europe's oldest monumental theatre still operating in its original premises. A place of tradition, the Odéon has never lost touch with contemporary creation. In the 1960s, Barrault created or produced works by Beckett and Genet. In 1983, under the impetus of Giorgio Strehler, the Odéon became the Théâtre de l'Europe. Today it is directed by Stéphane Braunschweig, who has reaffirmed his ambition to be a flagship production centre and an art theatre, as practised throughout the continent, for all audiences.