La Madeleine to get new access

Paris’ Madeleine church, one of most visited in the city, will no longer be off-limits for those with reduced mobility. The imposing structure in the parish of the Elysée, whose façade fronts the Rue Royale, has a famous 28-step staircase...

Kiki the tortoise dies

Paris’ historic 28-hectare Jardin des Plantes, founded in 1626, has lost one of its most famous residents. Kiki, a giant 250-kilo Seychelles tortoise believed to be one of the largest in Europe, has died aged 146 years. A resident...

Pigalle gets facelift

Paris’ infamous Pigalle red-light district is to get a facelift. In a move similar to that recently undertaken in Amsterdam the council has begun buying up property and leasing it out to create a greater diversity of businesses in the...

Paris hospitals face crisis

The head of Paris’ hospitals has threatened to resign over proposed job cuts. Professor Pierre Coriat, president of the Commission Médicale d’établissement de l’Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) claims that the 1,000 job cuts proposed throughout Paris hospitals in 2010...

Multi-purpose pontoon docks in the Seine

A giant multi-use 62-metre pontoon, which is to house a hospital, restaurant and leisure space, has been docked between the Pont d’Austerlitz and Pont Charles de Gaulle on the river Seine. The floating dock, which has 1,200 square metres of...

Tensions increase in Paris cemeteries

Paris’ cemeteries are seeing a rise in inter-religious tensions, says the head of the city’s cemeteries department Pascal-Hervé Daniel. Since 1881, the areas within each Paris cemetery that were originally set aside for different faiths have, strictly speaking, not existed...

HSBC moving from Mata Hari building

The Emir of Qatar has announced his interest in buying the Paris building where infamous stripper turned world war one spy Mata Hari was arrested in 1917. Currently the French headquarters of HSBC, 103 Champs Elysée was, from 1900 to...

New Palais de Justice goes higher

Paris’ new Palais de Justice, which will house the Court de Grande Instance and head of the judicial police, will now tower 200 meters over the city – higher than the second level of the Eiffel Tower. The proposed new...

Fining pedestrians

Plans are afoot in Paris to fine pedestrians who break the highway code. Crossing the road while not on a pedestrian crossing or stepping onto a crossing when the light is on red could land you with an on-the-spot fine...

Vegetable allotments in Paris parks

If a proposed move by city authorities goes ahead, Parisians will shortly be able to grow fruit and vegetables in the historic royal hunting grounds of the Bois du Vincennes and the Bois du Boulogne. In the face of a...