| Described by Zola as "le ventre (stomach) de Paris", Les Halles was Paris's main food market for over eight hundred years until it was moved out to the suburbs in 1969 and replaced by a large shopping and leisure complex, much of it underground. There was widespread opposition to the destruction of Victor Baltard's nineteenth-century pavilions, and considerable disquiet at the changes renovation of the area might bring but the authorities' excuse to proceed was the RER and métro interchange they had to have below. Much of the area above ground was landscaped with gardens – a haunt largely of drunks and the homeless these days – and hardly any trace remains of the working-class quarter, with its night bars and bistros for the market traders. Nowadays, rents rival the 16e, and the all-night places serve and profit from a markedly different clientèle, such that Les Halles is constantly promoted as the hotspot of Paris, where the cool and famous congregate. In fact, anyone with any sense and money hangs out in the traditional bourgeois quartiers to the west, or the fashionable eastern arrondissements – many of the people milling about here are up from the suburbs. The area has also become a target of pickpockets, and the law, plus canine arm, are often in evidence. From Châtelet-Les Halles RER, you surface only after ascending from levels -4 to 0 of the Forum des Halles centre, which stretches underground from the Bourse du Commerce rotunda to rue Pierre-Lescot. The overground section comprises aquarium-like arcades of shops, arranged around a sunken patio. The shops are mostly devoted to high-street fashion, though there's also a large FNAC bookshop and the Forum des Créateurs, an outlet for young fashion designers. It's not all commerce, however: there's scope for various diversions including swimming, billiards and movie-going. You could also check out the Pavillon des Arts (daily except Mon 11.30am–6.30pm; €5.50), a temporary art exhibition space. For an antidote to steel and glass troglodytism head for the soaring vaults of the church of St-Eustache, on the north side of the gardens. This beautiful church, built between 1532 and 1637, is Gothic in structure, with lofty naves and graceful flying buttresses, and Renaissance in decoration – all Corinthian columns and rounded arcades. From the church's pulpit, during the Commune, a woman "preached" the abolition of marriage; Molière was baptized here, Rameau and Marivaux were buried here. The side chapels contain some significant works of art, including, in the tenth chapel in the ambulatory, an early Rubens (The Pilgrims at Emmaus), and in the sixth chapel on the north side, Coysevox's marble sculpture over the tomb of Colbert, Louis XIV's finance minister. In the Chapelle St-Joseph, a naïve relief by British artist Raymond Mason, entitled The Departure of Fruit and Vegetables from the Heart of Paris, 28 February 1969, portrays the area's more recent history. Nearby is a bronze triptych, La Vie de Christ, one of Keith Haring's last works. The church has a long musical tradition, and is a popular venue for concerts and organ recitals. On the other side of Les Halles, you can join the throng around the Fontaine des Innocents to admire the water cascading down its perfect Renaissance proportions. The fountain takes its name from the cemetery that used to occupy this site, the Cimetière des Innocents. Full to overflowing, the cemetery was closed down in 1786 and its contents transferred to the catacombs in Denfert-Rochereau.
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