Bataclan

What it is

The Bataclan is a concert hall of 1,694 seats at 50 Boulevard Voltaire, and it is the site of one of the worst attacks in modern French history.

Charles Duval designed it and it opened on 3 February 1865 as the Grand Café Chinois, in full chinoiserie — the façade is still painted, restored to its original colours in 2006, though the pagoda roof is gone.

It was a café-concert and a vaudeville house; Maurice Chevalier and Édith Piaf played it. It became a cinema in 1926, reopened as a concert hall in 1969, and has been a rock venue since the 1970s.

On 13 November 2015, three gunmen attacked a concert here and killed 90 people, wounding more than 200.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

What's inside

A working music venue. That is the point of it and it is what the people who run it want it to be.

The hall holds 1,694 and takes rock concerts, comedy and theatre. It reopened on 12 November 2016, the eve of the first anniversary, with a Sting concert for the victims' families.

There is no museum, no exhibition and no interpretive display about the attack inside the building.

A memorial plaque to those killed is on the exterior wall on the boulevard. It is a memorial, not an attraction, and the families of the dead visit it.

The decision to reopen rather than to close the hall or turn it into a memorial site was taken deliberately, and the building has been programmed as an ordinary venue ever since.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

How long to spend

The Bataclan is a place to attend a concert, not a place to tour.

There is no daytime visit. The building is closed except when there is a performance, and the only way inside is with a ticket to something.

For anyone who wants to pay respects, the plaque on the exterior takes a moment and asks for nothing more than quiet.

The 11th arrondissement around it — the Rue Oberkampf, the Boulevard Voltaire, the streets towards République — is one of the best evening neighbourhoods in Paris, and that is a proper evening rather than a stop.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Season and crowds

When there is something on that you want to see.

The programme is the reason to come. The venue takes touring rock acts, comedy and theatre, and tickets are sold by the promoters.

13 November is the anniversary and the pavement outside is used for commemoration. It is not a day for sightseeing here.

The surrounding streets are busiest from early evening onward, and the Rue Oberkampf keeps going long after the concert halls have emptied.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Tickets

Tickets are sold per event by the promoters, not by the building, and there is no admission otherwise. Current prices are not published on the sources this page uses and are not reproduced here.

There is no tour, no daytime opening and no visitor centre.

Any operator offering a guided visit to the site of the attack is not selling access to the building.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Getting there

The 11th arrondissement, at 50 Boulevard Voltaire, between République and Bastille.

Oberkampf on Métro lines 5 and 9 is at the door. Saint-Ambroise on line 9 and République on lines 3, 5, 8, 9 and 11 are both a short walk.

The Métro runs 16 lines across 321 stations, with stations 548 m apart on average — a two-stop journey is usually faster walked.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

What to watch out for

This is a place where ninety people were killed and where their families still come. Treating it as a sight is the thing to avoid, and it is what the neighbourhood objects to.

The memorial plaque on the exterior wall is a grave marker in function. Standing in front of it for a photograph of yourself is not acceptable.

There is no daytime access to the building and staff will say so.

Security screening applies at concerts and bag rules are stricter than at most venues.

On 13 November the pavement is given over to commemoration and the area around it is closed to ordinary passage.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Photography

The façade is a genuine piece of 1865 chinoiserie, restored to its original colours in 2006, and photographing the building as architecture is reasonable.

The memorial plaque is not a photographic subject. People are often standing at it who have lost somebody.

Photography inside is set by each promoter and is frequently prohibited entirely.

The chinoiserie detail reads best in flat light; the boulevard is wide enough to take the whole front from the opposite pavement.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Where it is

• 1 hour

  1 min walk · Paris 11e Arrondissement

  Jardin May-Picqueray

  • High
  • Nature site
• 1 hour

  3 min walk · Paris 11e Arrondissement

  Cirque d'Hiver

  • High · Heritage site
  • Art and culture venue
• 1 hour

  4 min walk · Paris 11e Arrondissement

  Clown-Bar

  • High · Heritage site
  • Restaurant or café

External links

• Official site
• View on Wikidata