PARIS — A fierce fire ripped through the Marché des Enfants Rouges early Monday morning, completely gutting the oldest surviving covered food market in Paris, authorities said.
The blaze broke out shortly after 3 a.m. in the historic Marais district, located in the capital’s 3rd arrondissement. More than 150 firefighters and 50 emergency trucks responded after being notified at 4:15 a.m., according to Lt. Col. Pierre de Bouvier of the Paris fire service. Crews used nine hoses, including two high-powered lines, to contain the inferno across the 1,000-square-meter facility.
Ariel Weil, the mayor of central Paris, confirmed that the historic site was “totally destroyed” but noted that emergency crews successfully kept the flames from igniting adjacent residential properties. “The worst was avoided: the fire did not spread to the surrounding buildings,” Weil said, according to The Guardian. “But there is a lot of emotion. A lot of sadness.”
Centuries of French Culinary Heritage
Founded in 1615 during the reign of King Louis XIII, the market took its name from a nearby orphanage, the Hospice des Enfants Rouges, established in 1536 by King Francis I and his sister Marguerite de Navarre. The children living in the facility traditionally wore red clothing. While the hospital closed in 1772, the market retained the moniker for more than four centuries.
Designated an official historic monument in 1982, the market narrowly avoided destruction in the late 20th century. Redevelopment proposals under then-Mayor Jacques Chirac sought to replace the covered hall with an underground parking garage, community center and municipal daycare. Following years of sustained protests led by neighborhood groups, writers and artists, the city scrapped the redevelopment in the mid-1990s. Paris officials instead completed a six-year, 13 million-franc renovation, restoring the structure’s original iron frame, woodwork and glass canopy before reopening it in 2000.
A Celebrated Global Destination
In recent years, the market evolved into one of the city’s most beloved culinary hubs. Alongside traditional stalls offering cheese, fish, meat and produce, vendors operated counters serving Japanese, Moroccan, Lebanese and French street food. The venue drew thousands of residents and tourists daily, earning a ranking as the world’s fifth-best street food venue in an international survey by the U.S. publication Food & Wine.
Following Monday’s blaze, de Bouvier told reporters that the interior metal framework had partially collapsed and almost all the stands were destroyed, Euronews reported. The official urged the public to avoid the surrounding area near Rue de Bretagne as recovery efforts continued.
City Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire lamented that a landmark chapter of Parisian history had vanished, ABC News reported. Grégoire pledged that municipal officials would secure temporary trading spaces so affected vendors can resume business operations. The Paris fire brigade said the cause of the disaster remains unknown, and authorities have launched an official investigation into how the blaze started.
