The 2nd arrondissement of Paris (II<sup>e</sup> arrondissement) is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as deuxième (second/the second). It is governed locally together with the 1st, 3rd and 4th arrondissement, with which it forms the 1st sector of Paris.

Also known as Bourse, this arrondissement is located on the right bank of the River Seine. The 2nd arrondissement, together with the adjacent 8th and 9th arrondissements, hosts an important business district, centred on the Paris Opéra, which houses the city's most dense concentration of business activities. The arrondissement contains the former Paris Bourse (stock exchange) and several banking headquarters, as well as a textile district, known as the Sentier, and the Opéra-Comique's theatre, the Salle Favart. The 2nd arrondissement is the home of Grand Rex, the largest movie theater in Paris.

The 2nd arrondissement is also the home of most of Paris's surviving 19th-century glazed commercial arcades. At the beginning of the 19th century, most of the streets of Paris were dark, muddy, and lacked sidewalks. A few entrepreneurs copied the success of the Passage des Panoramas and its well-lit, dry, and paved pedestrian passageways. By the middle of the 19th century, there were about two dozen of these commercial malls, but most of them disappeared as the Paris authorities paved the main streets and added sidewalks, as well as gas street lighting. The commercial survivors are &ndash; in addition to the Passage des Panoramas &ndash; the Galerie Vivienne, the Passage Choiseul, the Galerie Colbert, the Passage des Princes, the Passage du Grand Cerf, the Passage du Caire, the Passage Lemoine, the Passage Jouffroy, the Passage Basfour, the Passage du Bourg-L'abbé, and the Passage du Ponceau.

Geography

The 2nd arrondissement is Paris's smallest arrondissement, with a land area of just 0.992&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, or 99.2 hectares (0.383 sq. miles, or 245 acres).

Demographics

The 2nd arrondissement reached its peak of settlement in the years before 1861, although it has only existed in its current shape since the re-organization of Paris in 1860. As of the last census (in 1999), the population was 19,585, while the number of jobs provided there was 61,672 &ndash; this despite a land area of only 0.992&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, making it the arrondissement with the densest concentration of commercial activity in the capital, with an average of 62,695 jobs per km<sup>2</sup>.

Historical population

{| class="wikitable"

! Year<br />(of French censuses)

! Population

! Density<br />(inh. per km<sup>2</sup>)

|-

| 1861 ¹

| 81,609

| 82,267

|-

| 1872

| 73,578

| 74,321

|-

| 1954

| 41,780

| 44,300

|-

| 1962

| 40,864

| 41,194

|-

| 1968

| 35,357

| 35,642

|-

| 1975

| 26,328

| 26,540

|-

| 1982

| 21,203

| 21,374

|-

| 1990

| 20,738

| 20,905

|-

| 1999

| 19,585

| 19,743

|-

| 2009

| 22,400

| 22,626

|}¹

Immigration

Economy

The French newspaper has its head office in the arrondissement. Bourbon has its head office in the arrondissement. All Nippon Airways has its Paris Office in the arrondissement. China Airlines also has its France office in the arrondissement.

Aigle Azur's registered office is in the arrondissement.

Education

thumb|[[Lycée Jean-Baptiste Lulli]]

In terms of state-operated schools, the second arrondissement has three nursery schools (écoles maternelles), five primary schools (écoles élémentaires), <!--one école polyvalente--> and one high school (lycée).

The nursery schools are École Maternelle Dussoubs, École Maternelle Saint Denis, and École Maternelle Vivienne.

École Élémentaire Privée Saint-Sauveur is the sole private primary school institution in the second arrondissement. Private secondary school institutions include École du 2nd Degré Général Privée Rene Reaumur, École Générale et Technologique Privée Lafayette, École du 2nd degré professionnel privée CTRE PRI ENS SOINS ESTHETIQUES, École du 2nd degré professionnel privée EC INTERNATIONALE DE COIFFURE, École du 2nd degré professionnel privée ECOLE DE BIJOUTERIE-JOAILLERIE, and École technologique privée ITECOM INST TECHN COMMUNIC.

  • Rue de la Banque
  • Place de la Bourse
  • Boulevard des Capucines
  • Rue des Capucines
  • Rue Étienne-Marcel
  • Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre
  • Boulevard des Italiens
  • Rue du Louvre
  • Rue Monsigny
  • Boulevard Montmartre
  • Rue Montmartre
  • Rue Montorgueil
  • Rue Notre-Dame des Victoires
  • Avenue de l'Opéra (partial)
  • Rue de la Paix
  • Rue des Petits-Champs
  • Rue du Quatre-Septembre
  • Rue Réaumur
  • Rue de Richelieu (partial)
  • Rue Saint-Denis
  • Rue Sainte-Anne
  • Rue Saint-Sauveur
  • Boulevard Sébastopol
  • Rue de Turbigo
  • Place des Victoires (partial)

References

  • Le Guide du routard 2006: Paris.
  • 54 Promenades en Famille. A Paris et en Île-de-France.