Place des Vosges

This guide to Place des Vosges in Paris opens on a 1627 afternoon when two aristocrats, the Count of Bouteville and the Marquis of Beuvron, strip off their coats on this exact ground for an illegal duel already carrying a family grudge. It steps back to Henri IV, who designed the square for commerce and pageantry but was assassinated before it opened, and forward to Victor Hugo, who lived and wrote here for sixteen years. The guide also traces how the square got its current name, from a region rewarded for paying the Revolution's taxes. Stand at the center of the square, where the same brick and slate lines run in every direction, unchanged since Bouteville's day.