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One of the locals who used the word “catastrophic” was a restaurateur called Lies in the usually bustling Latin Quarter, who said July had been his worst month for 25 years.

The blast - believed to have been the result of a gas explosion - tore through the Rue Saint-Jacques near the historic Latin Quarter.

It describes itself as the French capital’s “first bilingual design school, located in the Paris Latin Quarter.”

The chorus, like the orchestra, was adroit, even in the Latin Quarter chaos of Act II. Best in the cast was the bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, his Colline solidly, capaciously and wittily sung.

In the historic Latin Quarter and just a short walk from the magnificent, domed Pantheon, tucked so deeply away that you could easily miss it, lies the Place de l’Estrapade.