PARIS, March 9 — As part of a renovation programme masterminded by decorator Pierre-Yves Rochon, the furniture of the famous restaurant in the InterContinental Paris le Grand Hotel will be auctioned off on March 19 and 20.

Turning a page in its history, the Café de la Paix is about to embark on a major overhaul, which follows on from work already undertaken to upgrade the InterContinental Paris le Grand Hotel.

The famous restaurant on the Parisian Place de l’Opéra, which is a listed historical monument, is to be "restored to its former glory.”

In the course of its 158-year history the Café de la Paix has been a noted haunt of such writers as Guy de Maupassant, Oscar Wilde, Emile Zola and Ernest Hemingway, who mentioned it in his novel "The Sun Also Rises.”

Red chairs, carpets, stools, china cabinets will be among the pieces of history to be go on sale on March 19 and 20, with the first lots going under the hammer from 10 AM.

The curious will have an opportunity to view all items to be auctioned at a March 18 exhibition in the InterContinental Paris le Grand, which will be held from 10am to 8pm.

A percentage of the funds raised by the auction will be donated to Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque, an NGO that finances paediatric heart operations. — AFP-Relaxnews