A few years ago the flea market on Rue des Rosiers, which is near the metro Port de Clignancourt, was given the status of national heritage. This fact shows how seriously Parisians refer to the marchés aux puces (flea markets), and doing their share of work in clearing the town of the old things.

Paris flea markets have existed for more than a century. Collection and resale of second-hand goods business as old as the world. In 1880, the Parisians were thrown up to 75 tons of junk in a year, all this stuff did not have time to disassemble an army of rag pickers.

Then the prefect of the capital Pubali ordered to put on the streets metal boxes. So there were litter bins, which are still called by the name of the prefect – poubelle. And rag-pickers were forced to focus on special markets outside the city limits, was held relatively close to the centre.

Markets called flea. The only officially permitted flea market in the centre of the town until 1955 was the market on a small square Saint-Médard on the Rue Mouffetard. But he could not withstand the competition with a huge secondhand markets, the biggest of which was the flea market on Rue des Rosiers.

It was founded in the late XIX century and is one of the largest in Europe. Here are several thousands of sellers holding trading places in the conglomerate fifteen small markets with different names and different orientation: from antique furniture to clothes and electronics. Gallery market stretches for several kilometers. Here you can find not only trash, but also completely new clothes and furniture, books and African figurines. And next may well be a bookshelf from an old French castle.

Weekly this market is visited by more than a hundred thousand of customers. Rush hour starts in the second half of the day, so better to come here in the morning. At a flea market is supposed to haggle. Many shops accept credit cards. Finally, starting here, the purse is better safely hide in the inside pocket – as in former times, it is actively foraged Paris pickpockets.