1. Economy & Trade: Feeding Paris
From The Early Halles To Rungis MIN
2. From the very beginning feeding Paris has been tricky
5th century:
First Paris market called the “Palu” market, was located on Ile
de la Cité and later transferred to Place de Grève (now
Hôtel de Ville), which was safer when the Seine flooded.
1135: King Louis the VI bought some lands outside the city
at the junction of the roads leading to the rich provinces of
the North and the coast (now Rue Saint Denis and Rue
Montmartre).
3. 1543: François 1er
had the existing buildings pulled down and
rebuilt new ones using an ordered plan.
1720: The wheat market was built on its final location and
became the commodity exchange.
In July 1789, with bread prices at record levels, hungry
mobs attacked the gates of Paris where customs
collected taxes on incoming grain convoys.
The French Revolution was starting
Settling, planning, building: Les Halles
1811: Napoleon I decided to reorganize this space to make
it a central Paris location, extending from the wheat
market up to the Innocents market.
In 1853 thanks to Baron Haussmann’s iron fist and
Victor Baltard’s vision of metal framework new works
began. Between 1853 and 1870, ten pavilions were
built, divided by an aisle under a glass roof.
4. From “Les Halles” to Rungis
1929: Specialists suggested that Les Halles should move
outside Paris.
1959: In January the decision to move Les Halles outside
Paris was made. In December Rungis location was
selected.
1969: Transfer of all activities to Rungis, official opening of
Rungis Market on 3 March.
Feeding Paris is a challenge: supermarkets work with their
own centralised purchasing companies, most of the food that
enters Paris comes through Rungis MIN, the world’s largest
food market.
Some 1,200 wholesalers are operating at the market, and
through countless specialty pavilions spread over 232
hectares, funnel about 1.5 million tons of food to Paris every
year.
