Les Halles was Paris’s central fresh food market. It was demolished in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles, a modern shopping mall built largely underground and directly connected to the massive RER and métro transit hub of Châtelet-Les-Halles.

A major reconstruction of the mall was undertaken in 2010, and the new version of the Forum des Halles was inaugurated in 2018. The 2.5 hectare Canopée was opened on 5 April 2016. In 2017, the Forum des Halles was the second most visited shopping mall in the Paris region with 42 million visitors.

Before being demolished, here is what everyday life of the Les Halles looked like in 1968.

(via Archives photographiques du MRU, Photo © Ministry of Equipment)