"Architecture is the incorruptible witness of history" - Mexican poet Octavio Paz. Architecture creates cities, forges an identity, presents landmarks, rouses emotions, passes on a legacy, testifies to the past, with memories transcending each era. It gives residents a sense of belonging, affecting their way of seeing the present. In Paris, the world's most beautiful city, archi- tectural treasures assume a noble character. The chic Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 6th arrondissement is a perfect example. Literary cafés, an intellectual aura, historic monuments, good addresses... It brims with hidden gems, their splendour intact.

On Rue Saint-André-des-Arts, an 18th-C. mansion embodies Parisian refinement. Built in 1750 in the reign of Louis XV by architect François Debias Aubry, this residence first belonged to the family of Le Tillet de la Bussière and was then bequeathed to Charlotte de Roumilly de la Chesnaye, wife of the Marquis de Sainte-Mesme. Later owners included Chérin, a scho- lar-historian, then mathematician Joseph Bertrand. In ruins in the early 20th century, it was restored by the Ganay family. Over a century later, some traces of the past are still engraved in the stone, like the street name on the facade. In 1928, the facades overlooking the street and courtyard, the stair rail and scrollwork joined the register of Historic Monuments. Today, it hosts a split-level apartment of 925 sq.ft on the top two floors, with an entrance hall, equipped open kitchen, bedroom, shower room, WC. On the top floor, a bedroom, study, shower room/WC, balcony.

About 100 m from the Hôtel de Savoie (former Hôtel d’Hercule, demolished in 1675), a 1,582 sq.ft apartment proposes an entrance hall, a large living-room with ex- posed beams and a fireplace, an equipped kitchen, two bedrooms, study, bathroom, laundry room, WC, and a cellar. It is on the same floor as the former stu- dio of photographer Theodora Markovitch, aka Dora Maar. In 1937, it was here that Picasso painted his maserpiece Guernica – whose stages of creation were captured by his muse's lens. Other famous names - Cocteau, Claudel, Bataille, Sartre and Prévert - had walked these floors several years earlier. On the facade of this listed Historic Monument, a plaque commemorates this artistic gem.