Central Paris treasure awaits discovery

Tucked away in a corner of the church of Saint-Eustache in Paris is a colorful if not particularly attractive bas-relief dating from 1969. The work of British sculptor Raymond Mason, it depicts a crowd of boisterous market porters bearing fruit and vegetables and pushing laden handcarts. Occasionally, you will catch an older visitor pausing quietly in front of the piece and heaving a little sigh. That is because it captures the moment when the great food market of Les Halles was exiled to the suburbs -- forever.

A sea of comestibles, Les Halles once lapped at the sides of the church and filled the stomachs of Paris citizens, as it had done since 1181. Its rambunctious atmosphere was captured by Emile Zola in his 1873 novel Le Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris). Many Parisians are nostalgic for the old market, but in the 1960s it was considered cramped, unsanitary and dangerous. And so, in 1969, the decision was taken to shuffle it off to the southern Paris commune of Rungis and replace it with a shopping mall. Tragically, this meant dismantling the airy glass and cast-iron pavilions built by Victor Baltard to cover the market in the 19th century.

People tend to grumble about the modern version of Les Halles. They feel that the 1970s shopping center is ugly and unworthy of Paris; that the open spaces around it attract drug dealers and loitering youths. They are keen to see what will happen when the city authority embarks next year on its long-awaited redevelopment, which will involve partly destroying the shopping center and building something smarter.