Smaller museums abound in the Marais, a neighborhood best known as a chic, artsy haven for gay Parisians and foreigners. Striking monuments and museums stand amid new shops, galleries and restaurants. The Marais is a blend of old Paris charm and the contemporary. The Hôtel de Salé off the rue Vieille du Temple is a beautifully proportioned 17th-century townhouse of stone and marble housing the Musée Picasso. The Hôtel de Guénégaud (Musée de la Chasse et de la nature) on rue des Archives is one of the neighborhood's architectural gems, along with the Hôtel de Sully, Hôtel de Soubise and Hôtel de Rohan. Place des Vosges, with its manicured linden trees and façades of pink brick and stone, is another early 17th-century treasure that includes Victor Hugo's house. The Hôtel de Carnavalet, an outstanding building on rue des Francs-Bourgeois, was once the home of writer Madame de Sévigné and now a museum of the history of Paris.