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The Bibliothèque historique presents a new exhibition featuring its photographic collection “This Was Paris in 1970.” Immerse yourself in 1970s Paris through photographs taken by amateur photographers of the time.
Heatwave: special opening hours during yellow and red alerts—please check our website here! From June 1 to October 7, 2026, the Bibliothèque historique is devoting an exhibition to the photographic collection “This Was Paris in 1970,” created through the competition of the same name. In the spring of 1970, the Ville de Paris and Fnac launched a major competition with the stated aim of building the most accurate and comprehensive photographic archive of the capital possible. For the occasion, Paris was divided into 1,755 virtual squares measuring 250 by 250 meters; each square could be randomly assigned to an amateur photographer to document. The Bibliothèque historique was chosen to receive the competition’s wealth of material, produced in just a few weeks: 30,000 color slides and 70,000 black-and-white prints. The exhibition showcases this vast, illuminating, and moving collection, at once nostalgic for the 1960s and heralding the modernity of the Seventies. It invites visitors to immerse themselves in these visual archives, which bear witness to a Paris that has partly disappeared: streets where children play French skipping and cops and robbers freely, where older people gather on a bench for a game of belote, and where pétanque players can be found in every square and vacant lot. A city dominated by cars under the watchful eyes of parking enforcement officers, with a maze of tunnels beneath it carrying the Métro lines and the newly introduced RER. A city of construction sites, amid demolition, building, and redevelopment, where people worry about expropriation as they did in Haussmann’s time. Finally, a city where news and politics are found in the printed press, distributed everywhere, and on walls covered with posters and graffiti. Alongside the exhibition reprints, visitors will have access to the entire collection of digitized photographs, allowing them to explore the capital’s different neighborhoods. An immersive installation will present a selection of slides under conditions similar to those used in the 1970s. - Free admission from Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. - Guided tours by reservation: Ticket office: Guided tour of the exhibition "This Was Paris in 1970" - Billetweb
Admission: Access for people with reduced mobility: Jardin Lamoignon - Mark Ashton at 25 rue des Franc-Bourgeois
Source: paris.fr — photo: BHVP