Why Paris Destroyed Its Own Market Halls in 1971

In 1969, Paris moved Les Halles, its central food market, out of the city. Two years later, it began tearing down the historic Baltard market halls. But the onion soup never left. For centuries, Les Halles fed Paris. Émile Zola called it the Belly of Paris – a night market where porters, traders and night owls ate onion soup at two in the morning. In the 19th century, Victor Baltard built its famous pavilions of iron and glass. This is the story of two decisions. In 1959, the state decided to move the wholesale market out of Paris. In 1969, it moved to Rungis, near Orly Airport. On June 28, 1971, the Paris city council voted for the redevelopment of the district. Despite protests, the demolition of the halls began that August. What followed: a giant hole in the heart of Paris, a Western parody filmed in the pit, one pavilion saved – and a restaurant that still serves onion soup in the middle of the night. What vanished neighborhood do you wish you could visit? Let us know in the comments. Subscribe for weekly food history breakdowns. 0:00 Les Halles Paris at 2 a.m. 0:51 The Belly of Paris 3:02 Why Paris Moved Its Food Market 3:44 One Weekend in 1969 - Move to Rungis 5:02 The Demolition of Les Halles 1971 6:20 Paris Didn't Lose Its Market 6:42 The Hole in the Heart of Paris 7:50 French Onion Soup - Still Served Today Sources: Semmaris – 50 ans de Rungis INA – 1971, la démolition des Halles Encyclopaedia Britannica – The Halles Ville de Paris – Gautrand memory of Baltard pavilions Fondation Napoléon – Baltard Pavilion Slate.fr – vraie recette soupe à l'oignon Au Pied de Cochon Cinémathèque française Wikipedia – Les Halles Unless otherwise stated, historical images listed above were edited for documentary use and may have been cropped, resized, zoomed, animated, reframed, or combined with graphic overlays. No changes were made to the underlying historical content. #FoodHistory #Paris #FrenchOnionSoup IMAGE SOURCES AND CREDITS: You can find full source, author and license information for all historical images used in this video here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17... Some scenes in this documentary are AI-generated visual reconstructions intended to illustrate historical settings. They are not original archival footage.