Walking along a pedestrian street, place, square...

This open passage, with some arcades, is today pedestrian. It changes names three times. Coming from the south you enter Rue Edouard VII, reach Place Edouard VII, from 1910-11, and after passing a portal you reach Square de l’Opéra-Louis-Jouvet with some slightly older buildings.

Edouard VII, of course rather Edward VII, was the son of Queen Victoria and King of the United Kingdom from 1901 until his death in 1910. His statue stands on the Place named after him since 1913.

Edward was perhaps more famous as Crown Prince, Prince of Wales, somehow personifying the fashionable, leisure elite of the end of the 19^th century, the Edwardian era. (He was also known for numerous adventures.) As Prince and King he established good international relations and was referred to as a peacemaker.

The sculptor of his statue was Paul Landowski (1875-1961). This is one of his earlier works. There are a lot of other statues by Landowski to be found around Paris, a few of which you can find in some of my previous posts, e.g. here, here, here and here. He’s of course especially known for Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. 

On Place Opéra-Louis-Jouvet you can find another statue, called “Le poète chevauchant Pégase” (The poet riding Pegasus) by Alexandre Falguière (1831-1900), who also has a number of statues around Paris, see e.g. my previous posts here and here.

Along the passage(s) we can find a number of shops, bars, restaurants…

… and two theatres. “Edouard VII” opened in 1914, first as a “Kineamcolor” cinema, but it was soon converted to a live theatre, which it still is - with a cinema interruption 1931-41. Many of the leading French comedians have played here, but surprisingly also Noël Coward (in French!) and Orson Wells (2 months in 1950)! The other theatre, “Athenée-Louis-Jouvet” is a bit older. It opened in 1894. The name of Louis Jouvet, one of France’s most famous actors, was added when he took over the management 1934-51.