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Earlier this 12 months, when Paris began selling 1000's of tons of cobblestones that after paved the city's streets and alleys, French entrepreneur Margaux Sainte-Lague bought 5 tons. Now she is reselling them to vacationers and collectors desirous to non-public a little bit of the French capital's historic previous.

The cobblestones have attracted the curiosity of many people on account of the individual stones are low-cost and charming. Customers are common and can be found from far-flung areas. They range from Chinese brides to a U.S. based French expatriate "nostalgic about her youth all through the protests of May 1968" when cobblestones had been thrown at police by demonstrators.

Most of the cobblestones purchased instantly by the city have gone to small firms who're recycling them to pave terraces and driveways. The shoppers have included a foundation created by French photographer and environmentalist Yann Arthus-Bertrand for the renovation of the Longchamp fortress in entrance of the well-known horse-racing course. At a retail price of eight euros a sq. meter, the product sales might add about 400,000 euros ($371,000 USD) to municipal coffers yearly.

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Paris simply is not eliminating all of its cobblestones. Those throughout the Arc de Triomphe and Placa de la Concorde will keep. Those alongside the Champs-Elysees are being polished and refurbished into smoother, further frequent shapes to accommodate all forms of wheels and extreme heels.

Sainte-Lague is making a premium off the stones by personalized adorning and cleaning each one. Her adorned cobblestones promote at prices ranging from 60 to 150 euros per stone. Some are even adorned with gold leaves. With the chance that these stones may need been stepped on by well-known artists like Van Gogh or Pablo Picasso inside the Montmartre neighborhood, Sainte-Lague is promising her customers a little bit of Paris's romantic historic previous.