Between Two Revolutions: A Guide to Marquis de La Fayette’s Paris

The Marquis de La Fayette was the hero of two worlds as he fought for American independence and then tried to bring changes to the absolutist monarchy of France. On this walking tour through Paris, you’ll see the city through his eyes and take in the places he knew during those volatile times.

Starting in front of the Bourse de Commerce museum, you’ll hear how the former Halle aux Blés (Grain Hall) became a scene of celebration following the Treaty of Paris signing. From there, you’ll see the Palais Royal, where political debates raged and each faction kept to their own cafés; the Hotel de Coislin, where the first treaty recognizing the independent American states was signed; and the Hotel Tubeuf, where the Louisiana Purchase (or Sale, on the French end) was signed in 1803.

Along the way, you’ll hear about La Fayette’s friendships with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and author Thomas Paine, and how Thomas Jefferson advised him on his Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen. You’ll see Hotel Saint James and Albany, the mansion he lived in as a young married man, and, at the end of the tour, the apartment where he died.

On this 45-minute tour, you’ll see:

• Bourse de Commerce, whose rotunda which provided both protection from the elements and let in sunlight inspired the US Capitol building
• The Eglise St Roch (Church of Saint Roch), and its plaque to Admiral de Grasse
• Place de la Concorde, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, among a thousand others, lost their lives on the guillotine
• Le Village Royal, once the headquarters of the king's musketeers and now an upmarket shopping street
• The Olympe de Gouges marker, where you’ll learn how she was ahead of her time and penned a Declaration of Rights of Woman and Citizen
• Terrasse des Feuillants, the gardens that flanked a 16th-century convent of Cistercian reformists who called themselves Feuillants

By the end of this tour, you’ll have gained an appreciation for the exchange of energy and enthusiasm between the two sister republics, France and the United States, during their founding days.

The Marquis de La Fayette was in the thick of the action in America and in France. As the Revolution turned to Terror, some 17,000 people were put to death. La Fayette survived, and on his final visit to the United States in 1824, enthusiastic crowds celebrated him as the last surviving general of their War of Independence. 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of his visit, with many events commemorating his contributions.

So join us on this tour to see a bit of his life in Paris.