2nd arrondissement of Paris

2nd arrondissement of Paris
The 2nd arrondissement of Paris (IIe arrondissement) is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as deuxième (second/the second). It is governed locally together with the 1st, 3rd and 4th arrondissement, with which it forms the 1st sector of Paris.
Also known as Bourse, this arrondissement is located on the right bank of the River Seine. The 2nd arrondissement, together with the adjacent 8th and 9th arrondissements, hosts an important business district, centred on the Paris Opéra, which houses the city's most dense concentration of business activities. The arrondissement contains the former Paris Bourse (stock exchange) and several banking headquarters, as well as a textile district, known as the Sentier, and the Opéra-Comique's theatre, the Salle Favart. The 2nd arrondissement is the home of Grand Rex, the largest movie theater in Paris.
The 2nd arrondissement is also the home of most of Paris's surviving 19th-century glazed commercial arcades. At the beginning of the 19th century, most of the streets of Paris were dark, muddy, and lacked sidewalks. A few entrepreneurs copied the success of the Passage des Panoramas and its well-lit, dry, and paved pedestrian passageways. By the middle of the 19th century, there were about two dozen of these commercial malls, but most of them disappeared as the Paris authorities paved the main streets and added sidewalks, as well as gas street lighting. The commercial survivors are – in addition to the Passage des Panoramas – the Galerie Vivienne, the Passage Choiseul, the Galerie Colbert, the Passage des Princes, the Passage du Grand Cerf, the Passage du Caire, the Passage Lemoine, the Passage Jouffroy, the Passage Basfour, the Passage du Bourg-L'abbé, and the Passage du Ponceau.
Geography
The 2nd arrondissement is Paris's smallest arrondissement, with a land area of just 0.992 km2, or 99.2 hectares (0.383 sq. miles, or 245 acres).
Demographics
The 2nd arrondissement reached its peak of settlement in the years before 1861, although it has only existed in its current shape since the re-organization of Paris in 1860. As of the last census (in 1999), the population was 19,585, while the number of jobs provided there was 61,672 – this despite a land area of only 0.992 km2, making it the arrondissement with the densest concentration of commercial activity in the capital, with an average of 62,695 jobs per km2.
Historical population
¹
Immigration
Economy
The French newspaper has its head office in the arrondissement. Bourbon has its head office in the arrondissement. All Nippon Airways has its Paris Office in the arrondissement. China Airlines also has its France office in the arrondissement.
Aigle Azur's registered office is in the arrondissement.
Education
In terms of state-operated schools, the second arrondissement has three nursery schools (écoles maternelles), five primary schools (écoles élémentaires), and one high school (collège).
The nursery schools are École Maternelle Dussoubs, École Maternelle Saint Denis, and École Maternelle Vivienne. The primary schools are École Élémentaire Beauregard, École Élémentaire Dussoubs, École Élémentaire Etienne Marcel, École Élémentaire Jussienne, and École Élémentaire Louvois. Collège César Franck is the sole state-operated high school in the arrondissement.
École Élémentaire Privée Saint-Sauveur is the sole private primary school institution in the second arrondissement. Private secondary school institutions include École du 2nd Degré Général Privée Rene Reaumur, École Générale et Technologique Privée Lafayette, École du 2nd degré professionnel privée CTRE PRI ENS SOINS ESTHETIQUES, École du 2nd degré professionnel privée EC INTERNATIONALE DE COIFFURE, École du 2nd degré professionnel privée ECOLE DE BIJOUTERIE-JOAILLERIE, and École technologique privée ITECOM INST TECHN COMMUNIC.
Map
Cityscape
Places of interest in the arrondissement
Bibliothèque nationale de France historical building (site Richelieu) (Monument historique)
Galerie Colbert
Opéra-Comique
Paris stock exchange (Palais Brongniart, former headquarters)
Passage des Panoramas
Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens
Théâtre des Variétés
Théâtre-Musée des Capucines, a perfume museum
Tour Jean sans Peur, the last vestige of the Hôtel de Bourgogne
Former buildings in the arrondissement
Salle Feydeau
Salle de la Bourse
Théâtre de l'Hôtel de Bourgogne
Main streets and squares
Rue de la Banque
Place de la Bourse
Boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle
Boulevard des Capucines
Rue des Capucines
Rue de Cléry
Rue Étienne-Marcel
Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre
Boulevard des Italiens
Rue du Louvre
Rue Monsigny
Boulevard Montmartre
Rue Montmartre
Rue Montorgueil
Rue Notre-Dame des Victoires
Avenue de l'Opéra (partial)
Rue de la Paix
Rue des Petits-Champs
Boulevard Poissonnière
Rue du Quatre-Septembre
Rue Réaumur
Rue de Richelieu (partial)
Boulevard Saint-Denis
Rue Saint-Denis
Rue Sainte-Anne
Rue Saint-Sauveur
Boulevard Sébastopol
Rue de Turbigo
Place des Victoires (partial)
References
Le Guide du routard 2006: Paris.
54 Promenades en Famille. A Paris et en Île-de-France.
External links