Gustave Courbet, Portrait of Jo, the Beautiful Irish Girl, 1865 (?), Oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 25 5/8 in. (54 x 65 cm), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

Hediard's opens! This is a world class food store with specialties from throughout France and initially, from French colonies. It is on rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. This is on the Right Bank in the 9th arrondissement and is still there today - worth a visit for foodies. (AF)

Printemps opens in Paris, founded by Jules Jaluzot. This is one of the grand magasins, or one of the earliest department stores. Truly a great year for shoppers! (CHF)

Cholera shows up in Paris and 4349 die within two months. (AF)

Claud Bernard writes Introduction a l'etude de la medicine experimentale. (AF)

Left: the passage de la Cour de Commerce is in the 6th arrondissement (Left Bank) and runs from rue de St. Andres des Arts to the north to Blvd. Saint Germain on the south. The passage dates from the 1730s and the photo from 1865. The passage looks very similar today, with the exception that the paving stones are more irregular. Then as today, on the left side of the passage from this view, is the restaurant Procope, a meeting place for people involved with the events of the French Revolution. Just under the overpass at the end of the picture is another restaurant, Jacobin, that offers a good meal today in a quarter rich in history, and one that survived Haussmann. Charles Marville is the photographer, and the book, Le Nouveau Paris is edited by Philippe Mellot.

Right: Stanislas Lepine, Vue du pont Austerlitz, 1865. This is view from upstream in Paris. The cluster of buildings behind the barges in the center of the picture are on Ile St. Louis. You are looking at the back of Notre Dame. The Austerlitz bridge is named to commemorate a Napoleonic victory. Today there is also a rail station of the same name on the left Bank located here. This image is from Duby, L'Histoire de Paris par la Peinture.

More broadly:

Garnier and Doudart de Lagree discover the ruins at Angkor Wat. (CHF)

Bank checques are legalized. (CHF)

Manet paints Olympia, Courbet paints Prouhdon et ses infants, Gustave Dore illustrates the Bible. (CHF)

The first municipal pharmacy opens in Marseille. (AF)