Walk on the Isle de la Cité

Please be very careful when reading the materials below as you walk through crowds and busy streets

[Begin on the left bank where the Boulevard Saint-Michel comes to the Seine at the Pont Saint-Michel.]

This is what this section of the Seine looked like in 1783

Here is the view towards Isle de Cité. (You can see the towers of Notre Dame behind the buildings on the left.)

... and the Left Bank

Here is another (highly idealized) view from a little closer to Notre Dame

Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, View of Notre Dame (c.1775)

If someone in 1850 had looked up the Seine towards the Petit Point (the next bridge) and Notre Dame, this is what they would have seen.

Engraving of the Petit Pont Charles Meryon (1852)

Here is a map of the Isle de la Cité in 1771

Here are some of the changes made by Haussmann

Here is a map of the area that you will be entering as it was in 1754.

Here is an aerial view of the Isle today.

Cross the Seine and walk toward Notre Dame. At the bridge (Petit Pont) turn left and proceed to the Place in front of Notre Dame. Stand near the entrance of the Archaeological Crypt and look towards the cathedral. The Rue Neuve Notre Dame would have run through there.

Below is an 18th century map of the area where you now are.

Here is the view towards Notre Dame from roughly where you are standing in 1826

Below is the view in 1857 looking from one of the towers of Notre Dame towards the spot where you are now standing.

Here is the same view in 1865

If you turn and look to your left (north), the area now completely occupied by a hospital complex, once looked like this:

Turn around and walk away from Notre Dame. Turn right on the Rue de la Cité, and then left onto the broad Rue de Lutèce. This area was once filled with streets like those below.

Continue walking through the Rue de Lutèce. On your left you will see an archaeological dig with large posters tracing the history of this area (unfortunately only in French). The area in the circle in each poster is the precise spot in front of you. Continue to the broad Boulevard du Palais that Haussmann cut through the Isle de la Cité to unite the Left and Right banks of Paris.

You are now done with this part of the walking tour.

• If you have not done the other walking tour, turn left on the Boulevard du Palais, go toward the river, cross the street, and then go across the Seine on the Pont Saint-Michel. Continue straight along the right side of the Place Saint-Michel to the Place Saint-Andre-des-Arts and follow the 6th arrondissement tour backwards along the Rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts

• If you have already completed both walking tours, you are free to do what ever you want. If the sun is out, you might, however, consider crossing the street and standing in line to see the medieval Saint Chapel, which has some of the most spectacular stained glass ever produced.