Sights in the 6th
Please be very careful when reading the materials below as you walk through crowds and busy streets
[Start at the intersection of the Rue de Rennes and the Boulevard Saint-Germain on the corner opposite the Church and the Square.]
(Above) The Abby of Saint-Germain-des-Prés before 1640
[Most of the Abby was destroyed in the French Revolution. Only the church across the intersection remains.]
[This is what this spot would have looked like when the Rue de Rennes was being run through here. Haussmann had intended to run the street straight through to the Seine, but he was ousted before he got that far.]
(Above) Rue Sainte-Marthe before 1860
[Turn so that the church is at a diagonal to your right. The present cafe Deux Magots would be in the middle of the Rue Sainte-Marthe, if that street still existed.]
[Cross the Rue de Rennes and the Rue Bonaparte. Then go down the Rue Gozlin to the corner of the Rue des Ciseaux. Turn and look to the left towards the church. The photograph above was taken at this spot sometime before 1865. Not that the Boulevard Saint-Germain did not exist.]
Rue Childebert before 1865
[Return to the Rue de Rennes and cross the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Walk away from the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés with the church on your left. When you get to the end of the church, turn around and look back towards the square. You are roughly in the same position as Marville when he took this photograph of the now non-existence Rue Childebert in the 1860s. (You would have to stand in the middle of the Boulevard Saint-Germain to get the exact view.)]
Turn around and walk down the Boulevard Saint-Germain away from the church. Turn left on the Rue de Buci and follow as it curves right. Continue for some time until you arrive at the rue de l'Ancienne-Comédie.
[SHORT DETOUR -- This is not particularly relevant to Haussmann, but while you're here, you might as well do a little unrelated historical sight-seeing.]
Cross the rue de l'Ancienne-Comédie. This street was built on the ditch that ran along the wall built around Paris by King Philippe Auguste (1200-1215). Continue to the restaurant Le Procope at Number 14.
Above is a painting of Voltaire, Condorcet, Diderot and other intellectuals of the 18th century French Enlightenment dining and discussing at Procope
| Le Procope is the oldest restaurant in existence in Paris. It was opened in 1686 by a Sicilian, who sold a drink that was brand new to the French -- coffee. In the next century it became a center for the intellectual ferment and was frequented by Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and other leaders of the French Enlightenment. Americans like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Paul Jones ate here when they were living in France, as did leaders of revolutionary era, such as Robespierre, Danton, Marat, and Napoleon. Throughout the 19th century it remained popular with artists, writers, and politicians. A plaque on the wall provides a list of some of the famous people who have dined here. |
Turn around and walk back to the corner of the rue de l'Ancienne-Comédie and the Rue Buci
[End of Detour]
Turn right on the Rue Saint-André-des-Arts (which is a continuation of the Rue de Buci.) Continue some distance until the street ends at Place Saint-André-des-Arts.
Above is the corner of the the Rue Saint-André-des-Arts and the Rue des Grands Augustin, c.1900
[This area will give you an idea of what Paris would have been like without Haussmannization. The Rue Saint-André-des-Arts was a major thoroughfare, leading from the fashionable Faubourg Saint Germain and the area around Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the Pont Saint-Michel, where the Seine could be crossed.]
Rue Saint-André-des-Arts, Beginning of the 20th Century
The Rue Saint-André-des-Arts opens into the Place Saint-André-des-Arts. Walk across the Place and turn around to see what area in the photograph above looks like today.
Above is a photograph by Eugene Atget of the Place Saint-Andre-des-Arts, 1903-1904
Continue to the left alongside the Place Saint-Michel towards the river. Before you get to the Seine, turn around to see what the scene below looks like today.
Cross to the Pont (Bridge) Saint-Michel and compare the scene to the photograph below, taken in the late 19th century.
Begin the tour the Isle de la Cité through the link on the previous page.