The Place covers what was once a popular section of Paris. To build it, Haussmann destroyed an entire section of town with several beloved theaters, including the famous Funambules of Marcel Carné’s Les Enfants du Paradis. The biggest fear at the time was the “Descente de Belleville”: that the impoverished inhabitants of the eastern suburbs like Belleville would come down into Paris. The Canal Saint Martin, with its easily defeated swing bridges, was therefore covered over to permit Napoléon III’s troops to better protect the city. The barracks still dominates the northern side of the Place.

In the center of the Place de la République, the statue by Léopold and Charles Morice was erected in 1883. It represents the semi bare-breasted Republic atop a pedestal around which are allegorical representations of Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood, the French national motto (Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité).

Today, République is also a hub of late night activity: bordering on 3 arrondissements, the 3rd, 10th and 11th, the seven main streets radiating out from it are alive well into the night with bistros and restaurants of every ethnic variety. Some never close. On the south side, down the Rue du Temple and the Rue Turbigo there is ample shopping, with supermarkets and department stores. Restaurants trail off down the Avenue de la République, the Boulevard Voltaire and the Boulevard du Temple, and the remaining theaters along the Rue du Faubourg du Temple, north towards the Canal Saint-Martin, are wedged in between kebab shops and fast food places.

There are still remnants of one of the walls that surrounded Paris on the south side of the boulevard Saint Martin, where the sidewalk climbs over two meters above street level. This reminder of Paris’ past makes the République quartier a good place to start a tour of the 11th arrondissement or the Marais.