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Boulevard des Capucines
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| Arrondissement | 2nd, 9th |
| Quarter | Madeleine . Chaussée-d'Antin |
| Begins | rue Louis-le-Grand, rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin |
| Ends | rue des Capucines, rue de Caumartin |
| Length | 440 m m |
| Width | 35.40 m m |
| Creation | since 1685 |
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Boulevard des Capucines at the start of the 20th century
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| Located near the metro stations: Opéra or Madeleine. |
The Boulevard des Capucines is one of the four 'grands boulevards' in Paris, a chain of boulevards running east-west that also includes Boulevard de la Madeleine, Boulevard des Italiens, and Boulevard Montmartre.
The name comes from a beautiful convent of Capuchine nuns whose garden was on the south side of the boulevard prior to the French Revolution.
The former name, Rue Basse-du-Rempart ("bottom-of-the-wall street" in French), suggests that, in the beginning, the street paralleled the city wall of Paris. Then, when the wall was destroyed, the street was widened and became a boulevard.
At No. 1, the Neapolitan Café, famous for writers, journalists, and actors who attended the cafe such as Catulle Mendès, Jean Moréas, Armand Silvestre, and Laurent Tailhade.
At No. 2, at the junction with the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, site of the former Hotel de Montmorency, then Théâtre du Vaudeville 1869, and Paramount Opéra movies 1927. The main hall was the 'grand salon' of the Hotel in the 18th century. The rotunda on the facade has been kept.
At No. 5, location of the photographic studio of Pierre-Louis Pierson, later associated brothers Mayer, who was the photographic collaborator of Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione.
At No. 7, the Georama in 1825: it was possible to see "the whole earth" inside a sphere of 14 meters diameter.
At No. 8, Jacques Offenbach lived here from 1876 and died in 1880.
At No. 12, the Grand Hotel, built on a former swamp-garden.
At No. 14, the Hotel Scribe and the location of the former Grand Café where the first public showing of movies by Auguste and Louis Lumière took place in the Salon Indien on December 28, 1895. There were also here X-ray light experiments, discovered by Dr. Wilhelm Röntgen.
From No. 16 to No. 22, buildings of the former newspapers "L'Évènement", founded by Victor Hugo.
At No. 24, Mistinguett lived here from 1905 to 1956.
At No. 25, former location of the Musée Cognacq-Jay installed in 1931.
At No. 27, the former shop Luxury Samaritan, built by Frantz Jourdain, a specialist of the Art Nouveau .
At No. 28, location of roller coaster called montagnes russes (Russian mountains) in 1889. It was replaced in 1893 by the Olympia theater, a famous music Hall founded in 1888 by Joseph Oller and redeemed in 1952 by Bruno Coquatrix.
At No. 35, a house where Nadar lived. In April 1874, a group of young painters, including Renoir, Edouard Manet, Pissarro, and Claude Monet made the first exhibition of their paintings. The painting of Claude Monet, Impressions gave the exhibitors the name of Impressionists. Claude Monet's painting entitled Boulevard des Capucines is now visible in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow or Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.
From No. 37 to No. 43, former location of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1820 to 1853. On February 23, 1848, a battalion of the 14th regiment blocked the boulevard to protect François Guizot. In the evening, demonstrators tried to break the dam. The soldiers fired killing 35 people and wounding 50. People put corpses in a dumper and call Paris calls. It was the beginning of the revolution which ended the reign of Louis-Philippe the next day.