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What is the Passage des Panoramas?

In 1876-1877, George Moore used at least three addresses in the Passage des Panoramas: 27 Galerie Montmartre, 10 Galerie Feydeau, and 34 Rue Vivienne. The first was the premises of Académie Julian.

The Passage des Panoramas, an arcade leading from Boulevard Montmartre to Rue St. Marc, gave its name to several tributary arcades, called galeries, which together occupied an entire city block.

Small shops and restaurants lined a pedestrian mall that was roofed with semi-opaque glass. “We shall never see the sky nor feel the wind blowing, and I looked up at the glass roofing through which trickled a sordid twilight” (Vale, page 94). With such trepidation GM rented rooms in the same complex as his school.

The Passage des Panoramas was built 1800-1834 and mostly still exists. I’ve been unable to find vintage photographs. A collection of evocative modern photographs has been posted by Le Journal by Parisian Moments.