Les Halles

Les Halles (pronounced [le al]) is an area of Paris, France, located in the 1st arrondissement, just south of rue Montorgueil. It is named for a large central wholesale marketplace which was demolished in 1971 and replaced with an underground modern shopping precinct, the Forum des Halles, whose open air center area is below street level, like a sunken garden, and contains sculptures, fountains, and mosaics.

Beneath the shopping precinct lies the underground station Châtelet-Les-Halles, a central hub of Paris's express commuter rail system, the RER.