Place du Louvre

The arrondissement of Paris is an arrondissement of France in the Île-de-France region. It covers exactly the commune and department of Paris. Its population is 2,190,327 (2016), and its area is 105.4 km2 (40.7 sq mi).It has one subdivision : the commune of Paris, which itself has 20 subdivisions: the 20 municipal arrondissements of Paris.

The Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois is a Roman Catholic church in the First Arrondissement of Paris, situated at 2 Place du Louvre, directly across from the Louvre Palace. It was named for Germanus of Auxerre, the Bishop of Auxerre (378-448), who became a papal envoy and who met Saint Genevieve, the patron Saint of Paris, on his journeys. Genevieve is reputed to have converted the queen Clotilde and her husband, French King Clovis I to Christianity at the tomb of Saint Germain in Auxerre.The current church was built in the 13th century, with major modifications in the 15th and 16th centuries. From 1608 until 1806, it was the parish church for inhabitants of the Palace, and many notable artists and architects, who worked on the Palace, have their tombs in the church. Since the 2019 fire which badly damaged Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral, the cathedral regular services have been held at Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois.

The 1st arrondissement of Paris (Ier arrondissement) is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as le premier (the first). It is governed locally together with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissement, with which it forms the 1st sector of Paris (Paris-Centre). Also known as Louvre, the arrondissement is situated principally on the right bank of the River Seine. It also includes the west end of the Île de la Cité. The locality is one of the oldest areas in Paris, the Île de la Cité having been the heart of the city of Lutetia, conquered by the Romans in 52 BC, while some parts on the right bank (including Les Halles) date back to the early Middle Ages. It is the least populated of the city's arrondissements and one of the smallest by area, with a land area of only 1.83 km2 (0.705 sq. miles, or 451 acres). A significant part of the area is occupied by the Louvre Museum and the Tuileries Gardens. The Forum des Halles is the largest shopping mall in Paris. Much of the remainder of the arrondissement is dedicated to business and administration.

The Louvre Colonnade is the easternmost façade of the Palais du Louvre in Paris. It has been celebrated as the foremost masterpiece of French Architectural Classicism since its construction, mostly between 1667 and 1674. The design, dominated by two loggias with trabeated colonnades of coupled giant columns, was created by a committee of three, the Petit Conseil, consisting of Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, and Claude Perrault. Louis Le Vau's brother, François Le Vau also contributed. Cast in a restrained classicizing baroque manner, it interprets rules laid down by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, whose works Perrault translated into French (1673). Its flat-roofline design, previously associated with Italy and unprecedented in France, was immensely influential.

The Hôtel du Petit-Bourbon, a former Parisian town house of the royal family of Bourbon, was located on the right bank of the Seine on the rue d'Autriche, between the Louvre to the west and the Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois to the east. It was constructed in the 14th century, not long after the Capetian Kings of France enlarged the fortress of the Louvre in order to use it as a royal residence. On two 1550 maps it is shown simply as the Hôtel de Bourbon, but by 1652, as the Petit-Bourbon on the map of Gomboust (see below). The Bourbons took control of France in 1589, at which time they also acquired the Louvre. The Great Hall, the Grande Salle du Petit-Bourbon, was larger than any room in the Louvre, and served as the first theatre of the troupe of Molière upon their arrival in Paris in 1658; but by 1660 Molière and his actors were evicted, and the Petit-Bourbon was pulled down to make space for the construction of the Louvre Colonnade.

Louvre–Rivoli (French pronunciation: ​[luvʁ ʁivɔli]) is a station on the Line 1 of the Paris Metro. Located in the 1st arrondissement, it is near the Louvre and Rue de Rivoli.

Pont Neuf (French pronunciation: ​[pɔ̃ nœf]) is a station on Line 7 of the Paris Métro. Located in the heart of old Paris, it is connected to the Île de la Cité by the nearby Pont Neuf after which it is named. It opened in 1926 with the line's extension from Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre to Pont Marie.

The Temple protestant de l'Oratoire du Louvre, also Église réformée de l'Oratoire du Louvre, is a historic Protestant church located at 145 rue Saint-Honoré – 160 rue de Rivoli in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, across the street from the Louvre. It was founded in 1611 by Pierre de Bérulle as the French branch of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. It was made the royal chapel of the Louvre Palace by Louis XIII on December 23, 1623, and was host to the funerals of both Louis and Cardinal Richelieu. Work on the church was suspended in 1625 and not resumed until 1740, with the church completed in 1745. It was suppressed in 1792 during the French Revolution, looted, stripped of its decor, and used to store theater sets. In 1811, it was given by Napoleon to the Protestant congregation of Saint-Louis-du-Louvre when that building was demolished to make way for the expansion of the Louvre. A statue and monument of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the great Huguenot leader of the 16th century, was built on the rue de Rivoli end of the church in 1889. It continues as one of the most prominent Reformed congregations in Paris, noted for its liberal theology. The closest métro station is Louvre – Rivoli.

The Cour Carrée (Square Court) is one of the main courtyards of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The wings surrounding it were built gradually, as the walls of the medieval Louvre were progressively demolished in favour of a Renaissance palace.

La Samaritaine (French pronunciation: [la samaʁitɛn]) is a large department store in Paris, France, located in the first arrondissement. The nearest métro station is Pont-Neuf, directly in front at the quai du Louvre and the rue de la Monnaie. The company was owned by Ernest Cognacq and Marie-Louise Jaÿ who hired architect Frantz Jourdain to expand their original store. It started as a small apparel shop and expanded to what became a series of department store buildings with a total of 90 different departments. It has been a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 1985 to 1992.It is currently owned by LVMH, a luxury-goods maker. The store, which had been operating at a loss since the 1970s, was closed in 2005 purportedly because the building did not meet safety codes. Plans for redeveloping the building involved lengthy complications, as the representatives of the store's founders argued with new owners LVMH over the building's future as a department store or a mixed-use development. After seven years of renovation, it has reopened to public on 23 June 2021, having been previewed by the French President Emmanuel Macron journalists the days before. Its retail offerings targeted at affluent consumers, restaurants, and a boutique hotel that includes a penthouse suite with its own private swimming pool. The building has been listed since 1990 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

The Café de la Régence in Paris was an important European centre of chess in the 18th and 19th centuries. All important chess masters of the time played there. The Café's masters included, but are not limited to: Paul Morphy François-André Danican Philidor (who often met with Benjamin Franklin) Legall de Kermeur (Philidor's teacher) Jules Arnous de Rivière Adolf Anderssen Samuel Rosenthal Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant Lionel Kieseritzky Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais

Île à la Gourdaine (or Îlot de la Gourdaine) is a former eyot (islet) in the river Seine in central Paris. It was built over in 1607 to create the current Place Dauphine.: 171