Passage des Panoramas

This guide to the Passage des Panoramas in Paris follows Robert Fulton, the American inventor who arrived around 1799 hoping to sell Napoleon a submarine, and the giant painted rotundas he built instead to fund his ideas. It traces how the arcade took its name from those panoramas and became, by 1817, the first public space in Paris lit by gas. You'll also pass Stern's engraving workshop, set up in 1834 and unchanged since. Look for the Cordovan leather walls as you walk through.