Built on reclaimed marshland, as its name suggests, the Marais contains some of Europe's most elegant Renaissance mansions (hetels), many of which now serve as museums and libraries.
Many elegant Renaissance mansions are built in the Marais region.
Rising up ahead is the imposing facade of the Library of Celsus, built in a.d. 110 by a Roman consul as a memorial to his father, and restored during the 1970s.