A guided walk through Paris Latin area of yesterday and today with Google images and maps and Street view all combined with a videogame
Click this link or the image above to view and/or print a free poster(50x75cm) of the Promenade

See underneath where La promenade has been overlayed on top of the videogame plan of Louis the VIIth.

L'Art Nouveau You can also access web sites offering a different historical view of Paris such as La plume et le Rouleau for the History of the Metro or L' Art Nouveau with its Cartes Postales and coloured images from 1900, edited or non edited, current photos by day and night, paitings sculptures and plans Just click on the picture above or links here after.
(click image above or links underneath)

☻► Access L'Art Nouveau Menu

☻► L'Art Nouveau Photos

☻► L'Art Nouveau Quartier Latin


☻► La plume et le rouleau -
including L'Histoire du Métro
and all metro stations - click here

☻► Metro Maps and Paris History


Above Like in Dr Who the videogame of La Promenade has some locations enabling to travel through time from the Xth century for example to the XVIth century at the same time you can watch the location today with Google Street view and google maps if you wish to...see below

Above the planned walk projected on the ancient map of Paris from Merian made in the XVIth century(French National Archives) and below moving with the video game to automatically follow the promenade Paris plans since the Middle Age.
** Click either image
to start the free videogame
otherwise keep in reading mode**

Contextual viewpoint of the walk
and the origins of Paris.

Yellow (1) shows the oldest neighborhoods of Paris, the Montagne Ste Geneviève in the yellow circle, and quatiers St Marcel St Victor St Germain and
the Isle of of the Cité before the seventh century.

The turquoise (2) is showing the first extension of Paris on the right bank up to the seventh century which will be followed by the first fortification of Paris out of the ile de la Cité.

Magenta (3) displays the following expansions of Paris until the twelfth century with the fortification of Philippe Auguste (4) surrounding Paris, this construction was to be followed by the construction of the fortification of Charles the VIth which today is covered by the Grands Boulevards (Boulevards des Italiens).

From Philippe Auguste, to the thirteenth century, the suburbs of Paris were developped further to including the Faubourg St Honoré and later the gardens of the Queen Marguerite which were created in the days of Henry the IVth, and extended to the Ouest from 1600 and across the river Seine, this portion across the river Seine will become the Champs Elysees, around 1800.

(5) In the thirteenth century after the Tuileries, the Faubourg Saint Antoine and the Bastille will see the day, emerging around 1380 (6) and for many centuries the Porte St Antoine besides the Bastille will become the main entrance of Paris.

Les Grands Boulevards around Paris to the West and North appear on the Merian plan in 1636, while the Bastille disappeared in 1789, with the révolution, after 1800 Bonaparte christened the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe(1836), the development of the western part of Paris followed shortly after, during the time of Baron Haussmann.

The enclosure of the “Fermier Generaux” created around 1750 still separated Paris from farmland in the West and North until 1850 and later was covered by the “métro aérien” 1900!

Finally after the 1914-18 the Boulevards extérieurs, named after the Marechals of the empire became the new limit of Paris.

You cannot get lost during this walk because within each of the thirty stages you can reach the location live with street view. Just click on the picture associated with each step. This action will open an additional window, that will save you from losing the promenade thread while viewing images in far more detail and/ or visit the location live.

Click below to check
all the stages
of the guided Promenade
or if you get lost
to catch the metro!:


Getting to METRO
1-Pont St Michel
2-Rue de la Huchette
3-Shakespeare and Company
4-Petit Pont
(Connection avec jeu vidéo)


5-Notre Dame

6-Passerelle St Louis
7-Pont de l'Archevêché
8-Quai et rue du Chat qui pêche
9-Rue St Séverin

10-Rue St Jacques
(Connection avec jeu vidéo)



Getting to METRO Cluny la Sorbonne
11-Rue Soufflot
12-Panthéon



13-Place de la Montagne Ste Geneviève
Eglise Saint Etienne du Mont
Ancienne Abbaye St Genevieve
(Ste Patronne de Paris)
et tombe du Premier Roi Franc



14-Rue de la Montagne Ste Geneviève
15-Rue Clovis et Descartes


Getting to METRO Place Monge near
16-Place de la Contrescarpe
(Connection avec jeu vidéo)



17-Rue Mouffetard
18-Place St Médard
(Connection avec jeu vidéo)

19-Rue Lhomond et Soufflot
20-Place Edmond Rostand

21-Rue de Médicis



Getting to METRO
22-Place de L'Odéon



23-Rue de L'Odéon
Rue de l'ancienne Comédie
carrefour Blvrd St Germain
(Connection avec jeu vidéo)


24-Rue Dauphine


Getting to METRO
25-Pont Neuf
(Connection avec jeu vidéo)

26-Place Dauphine
27-Quai des Orfêvres




28-Blvrd du Palais La Sainte Chapelle
L'eglise de l'étoile et des templiers


29-Place du Châtelet et St Germain l'Auxerrois
la Chapelle Royale et du Louvre

30-Getting to
METRO Hôtel de Ville Rue de Rivoli



Your guided
walk-promenade
starts here
♣




1 - Pont St Michel

Your guided tour of the old Latin Quarter begins on the Pont St Michel click the image below of the Quai des Grands Augustins near the Pont St Michel for more detail and to get you there.



2 - Rue de la Huchette

On the Place St Michel turn into the first street to your left, la Rue de la Huchette, once famous for its jazz clubs and cafe theater, at one time well known for the blue note and the Cantatrice Chauve, click the image below for more images from the street.



3 - Bouquinistes et Shakespeare and Co

Following rue de la Huchette you will arrive at the foot of the Rue St Jacques near the Petit Pont and the restaurant-bar of the same popular name “le Petit Pont” also popular in the past with artists such as Regine and Chou-Chou.

Once upon a time one could be found in the some booksellers of the quaysides some of the classic esoteric books such as the course of personal magnetism or the book of Allan Kardec on spiritism or the book about dreams of Artemidore d' Ephese, or the Treaty on hypnosis ... ... but for bilingual reading and readings of poetry in public there is a unique place,

Kilometer Zero Shakespeare and Co.


Along the quay just near by.

Click below for more images of Shakespeare and Co or to go live, just on location with street view.



4 - Le Petit Pont

If you did not linger too long for a coffee or a cup of tea you can cross the Petit Pont, this location was the location of the first bridge of Paris. Click the image below for more pictures or to go live, just on location with street view.




☻► L'Art Nouveau
Ile de la Cite
5 - Notre Dame

Notre Dame de Paris, like the Ste Chapelle, and Vezelay are places full of history, a piece of the cross and the crown of thorns were exposed in the past in the cathedral whose construction by the companions batisseurs(Stone Masons) the ancestors of the free masons, was completed around 1240. Click the image below to Notre Dame and the Petit Pont in 1248 for more images or to go live, just on location with street view.





6 - Passerelle et Rue St Louis en l'Isle

Coming out of Notre Dame de Paris, turn behind you to cross to the island St Louis or just stay on the bridge St Louis, below a painting by Shigueru Wakayama near the bridge behind Notre Dame, the Galerie Jacqueline Lemoine exposing his paintings is about two hundred meters further along the street St Louis en L'Isle. Click the image for more images of the bridge and of the Jacqueline Lemoine gallery, or to go live, just on location, with street view.






7 - Pont de l'Archevêché

The Bridge of the Archdiocese is another icon of the neighborhood, padlocks attached to the sides of the bridge though today are no longer welcome by the council, from there you can turn right on the Montebello quay to go to the rue of the fishing cat and St Séverin or take the shortcut by the rue de Bièvre to follow the rue de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève right from the foot of the hill, it is a shortcut for this promenade, this way you will pass near the secret pied-a-terre of former President Mitterand(a much less formal place and far more enjoyable place than the Elyses Palace)!
Click on the image to display well known paintings of the bridge and Notre Dame, some with the Archevêché which has almost disappeared today.



8 - Rue du Chat qui Pêche

Following the quai de Montebello you cross the rue St Jacques and the Petit Pont to find on your left the street of the fishing cat, which is the smallest street in Paris.



9 - Rue Saint-Severin

Follow the rue of the fishing cat to the other end near rue Xavier Privas and follow this latest street which terminates near the Eglise and the rue St Séverin both are amongst the most ancient landmarks in Paris. Click the image for more images, or to go live, just on location with street view.



10 - Rue St Jacques

Coming out of rue St Séverin, turn right into rue Saint Jacques named after St Jacques de Compostella and the templars escorting pilgrims to Jérusalem and Compostella where the corps of St Jacques covered with shells was discovered around the VIIth century, and go up the street. Click the image to find out more about the templars and Compostella.





11 - Rue Souflot

Near the top of Rue St Jacques turn left into rue Soufflot, then follow the rue Soufflot up to the Panthéon, you are near the well known Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève et littèraire de Doucet, you are also near the cafés where Paul Valery (text below) met with his friends poets and writers of the Mercure de France, he created with Gertrude Stein.

Le cimetière marin

Paul Valéry

Ce toit tranquille, où marchent des colombes,
Entre les pins palpite, entre les tombes;
Midi le juste y compose de feux
La mer, la mer, toujours recommencee
O récompense après une pensée
Qu'un long regard sur le calme des dieux!

Quel pur travail de fins éclairs consume
Maint diamant d'imperceptible écume,
Et quelle paix semble se concevoir!
Quand sur l'abîme un soleil se repose,
Ouvrages purs d'une éternelle cause,
Le temps scintille et le songe est savoir...

click the image for more... and a full special translation of this most well known piece of french poetry by anothe poet.


12 - Le Panthéon - Eglise Sainte Genevieve

The last home of Victor Hugo and many other celebrities, who was originally named shortly after the Patron Saint of Paris, Sainte Genevieve before resuming to its original name of Panthéon.

The Panthéon stands at the top of the Montagne Ste Geneviève whose Abbey was on the site almost 1000 years before, containing the relics of the Saint and that of Clovis, the first king baptized, the abbaye was the destination of the first pilgrimage in Paris. The Pantheon was created well after the eighteenth century with a more secular role.

The Pantheon and St Etienne du Mont are sharing today the top of the hill.






☻► L'Art Nouveau
Le Pantheon


13 - Place de la Montagne Ste Geneviève et église St Etienne du Mont
Ancienne Abbaye St Genevieve
(Ste Patronne de Paris)
et tombe du Premier Roi Franc

Go around the Pantheon on the left to reach behind this imposing building, instead, the rue de la Montagne Ste Genevieve and St Etienne du Mont.
This church replaces the Abbey Ste Genevieve who was with St Germain the oldest abbaye in Paris.
It contains the tomb of the first roi Franc, Clovis.

Click the image to see more images of the Church, or to go live, just on location with street view.





14 - Rue de la Montagne Ste Geneviève

The rue de la Montagne Ste Geneviève is located below the square of the same name and St Etienne du Mont church, this street is in yellow below, in red we can see on the plan the rue Descartes which guides you to the Rue Mouffetard and the Place de la Contrescarpe in blue.

The polytechnic school near by in the street was founded by Henri Poincaré the brother of the President Raymond Poincare (both are amongst the first founders of the Alliance Française), the street was also the home of Gertrude Stein who co-founded the Mercure de France with Paul Valery. Click the image to go on location live or view more images of the street.



Note: If you have seen the Woody Allen movie midnight in Paris, a witty clin d'oeil of Jean Cocteau Testament d'Orphee, when the car arrives on top of the street, it is near the home of Gertrude Stein, to transport its occupants into the universe of a surprise party, Jean Cocteau's way.





15 - Rue Clovis et Descartes

A small span walking rue Clovis near the top of rue de la Montagne Ste Geneviève will enable you to reach rue Descartes and place Contrescarpe.



16 - Place de la Contrescarpe

Just time for a coffee break click the image below for more



17 - La rue Mouffetard

La rue Mouffetard begins Place de la Contrescarpe with cafés and restaurants, and the market there is like a picture of Paris, it starts at the very bottom of the street. Cliquez the image below for more.




18 - Place St Médard or rue du Pot de Fer

At the bottom of the rue Mouffetard and its market you will find the place St Médard painted par Shigueru Wakayama, see underneath.
If you want to shorten the walk instead of going right down rue Mouffetard half way down, take on your right the rue du Pot de Fer, to connect with rue Lhomond, click below for images.




☻► L'Art Nouveau
Quartier St Medard


19 - Rue Lhomond and Soufflot

Through rue du Pot de Fer you access to rue Lhomond, you then pass in front of the Ecole Normale Supérieure before getting to rue Soufflot, going dow rue Souuflot you will reach place Edmond Rostand in front of the gates of the Luxembourg garden and the top of the Boul'Mich, le Boulevard St Michel.

20 - Place Edmond Rostand


The Place Edmond Rostand at the top of the Boul'Mich is not far where use to stand the ancient Porte St Michel of Philippe Auguste(see above).


Place Edmond Rostand en haut du Boul'Mich is half way bewtween the Ste Geneviève Panthéon area and the area of St Germain des Prés Odéon.
(for more detail or images click image below).



21 - Rue de Médicis

Rue de Médicis follows along the gates of the Jardin du Luxembourg near the magnificent fontaine Médicis, it is a short street which ends near the French Senate at the foot of the theatre of the Odéon(today theatre of Europe). The French Senate is inside the Luxembourg gardens, the inside of the Senate mirrors the beauty and love of the arts of the Medicis as Marie de Medicis said I wanted something built that would remind her of her childhood in Florence.
Above a contemporary art exhibition attached to the Gates of the Luxembourg garden.


22 - Place de l' Odéon théatre de l'Europe

The rue de Médicis ends near the end of the rue de Vaugirard, the longest street of Paris, beside the Odéon théatre de l'Europe(see images underneath, click on the images for more).



23 - Rue de l'Odéon and of the Ancienne Comédie

The rue de l'Odéon opens in front of the "théatre de l'Odéon et de la Comédie Française" now Théatre de l'Europe.
At number 10 rue de l'Odéon, un café sangria to listen the songs of Edith Piaf(l'hymne à l'amour, Milord...) or Thierry Magne(Au Père Lachaise)...!
Rue de l' Odéon terminates at the Blvrd St Germain, on the other side of the Blvrd starts the Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie, only for about a bit more than one hundred mêtres, until the next crossroad where it becomes rue Dauphine.

La Comédie Française once was in this part of the street in the time of l'illustre théatre de Molière.
Le Procope, the most ancient café in Paris is still standing rue de l'Ancienne Comédie...since Molière!
Click underneath for more.


Above a scene from yesterday and today of la promenade with the fortification de Philippe Auguste and la Porte et rue de Buci(23) the constructions and streets in the image above are also in the videogame that follows La Promenade. Rue de Buci, rue Dauphine and rue de Seine are still there today.


24 - La rue Dauphine

The rue Dauphine with the Rue de Seine were already there in 1180 but rue Dauphine was inside, in the Paris side along de la fortification of Philippe Auguste, while rue de Seine was outside of the fortification, on the side of the abbaye of St Germain and therefore outside Paris
(see image above showing the fortification de Philippe Auguste).

Follow the rue Dauphine with its Art Galleries and restaurants until the Pont Neuf, for more click the image below.



25 - Le Pont Neuf

The Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge of Paris, walking through the first half of the bridge takes you to the middle of the bridge where stands the statute of Henri IV, the bridge stands at the extreme west end of the island of the Cité. The best view of the Pont Neuf, the west end of the island of the Cité and Notre Dame is from the Passeelle des Arts The middle of the bridge communicates with the garden du vert galand below the bridge. At the tip of the Vert Galand one can admire the sunset behind the passerelle des arts or travel the river Seine with a "bateau mouche*" check references about "coches d'eau" for the origin of this name.


26 - La Place Dauphine

If you turn to your right in the midle of the bridge you will be walking towards place Dauphine where once upon a time the late Président Mitterand dictated his mémoirs, sitting at the terrace of chez Paul, just behind the Palais de Justice and the Saint Chapelle. Shigueru Wakayama painted place Dauphine, see tableau below.



27 - Quai des Orfêvres

Quai des Orfêvres is well known thanks to the movies, the HQ's of the Police and attached judiciary are standing beside the Palais de Justice and the Sainte Chapelle.



28 - Blvrd du Palais - Palais de Justice -Sainte Chapelle


Church of the Star and the Knights Templar


The Boulevard du Palais offers a good sight of the Palais de Justice, above the Palais de Justice stands the Sainte Chapelle, the constructon of the Ste Chapelle took place at the same time time as the construction of Notre Dame but finished earlier, the Sainte Chapelle is also known as the church of the Star in reference to Compostella and its pilgrimage organised by the knights templar and the statutes of the Knights Templar standing inside the church.
As mentioned earlier in La Promenade, the rue St Jacques(named after the pilgrimage), is very close, crosses the quartier latin and still contains ancient stones, stables that blacksmiths used for the horses of the Knights templar while the pilgrims living in the Hostelleries in the street resting on their way to spain or Jerusalem.

The temple over the head of the statutes remind people that, Jérusalem was the other destination of the templars, protecting pilgrims from England Scotlan Ireland and Northern Europee as well as pilgrims from Italie Spain and southern Europe en route to the holy land.

As you walk along the Boulevard du Palais you will pass in front of the tour de l'Horloge(see images below), then you will have the two towers of the "conciergerie" celebrated in the painting by Corot, Cross the Pont au Change(the latest one), le Pont au "Change", "change" refers to little coins used to pay the tax when crossing the bridge in very earier days, when Paris had only two ponts le Petit Pont and the Grand Pont, today Pont au change. Click the image below for more detail.



29 - Place du Châtelet and St Germain l'Auxerrois


la Chapelle Royale and of the Louvre

on the other side of the bridge it is the place du Chatelet, the Grand Chatelet was the official home of the Grand Prevot(tax inspector in the old days, since Philippe Auguste and before)...though he generally preferred the Petit Chatelet, above the Petit Pont to live in and let artists with a monkey on their shoulder cross for free. In these days the first university of Paris was near by and Paris was acknoledged on the maps by the title "Paris, the city, the university".

Today Le Théatre du Châtelet stands on the place since 1850, it has been the one of Sarah Bernhardt. Le Grand Chatelet itself has disappeard a long time ago.

The church of St Germain l'Auxerrois("vitrail" above) is not, 200m West of Place du Chatelet, it stands for the ancient Quartier of of St Germain l'Auxerrois, the ancient parish of the Kings of France and of the Louvre, the church was built during the XIIth century on top of an earlier church much older, the church contains very old artefacts..."retables".....

From a practical point of view and transports today, place du Chatelet is very central with connecting metro lines and bus lines in all directions, the metro is very deep underground at Chatelet.

Click the images above and below for more detail.



30 - Hôtel de Ville, Rue de Rivoli

From the place du Châtelet to the Hôtel de Ville there is only 300m, in front of the Paris Town Hall was standing the "place des Grèves"(see detail, it is a word with a double meaning, as the port of Paris was standing near by).

The Hôtel de Ville is at the foot of rue de Rivoli and its well known hundreds of arches. The Paris Town Hall stands half way between the Concorde in the Western side direction of rue de Rivoli, and la Bastille and le Faubourg St Antoine, Eastern side direction towards Place des Vosges, also with arches. These several hundred arches had large chandeliers beneath giving light in the evening, it gave to Paris its title of "ville lumière", the city of light, five hundred years ago. Google "Rue de Rivoli arches" for more detail.



☻► L'Art Nouveau
Hotel de Ville

Now that you have visited the most ancient area of Paris, le Quartier Latin, if you take the rue de Rivoli you will be going towards the Western side of Paris, the most recent.

The rue de Rivoli did not exist before Baron Haussmann redesign of some of Paris Arteries including Rue de Rivoli which will be situated just above the yellow line of Metro and along the garden des Tuileries from the map below.

The Paris Plan of Nicolas de Fer just below is from around 1694-1703, it enables to situate the development of Paris Towards the West and during the last three hundred years.

Paris in 1700 had just six bridges, le Petit Pont, Le Pont au Change, le Pont Notre Dame, Le Pont St Michel, Le Pont du Carroussel or Pont Royal, and le Pont Neuf.
Les Champs Elysés were still the "cour de la Reine" or the "allée des Tuileries" on the side of the "Marais St Honoré", the village of Monceau was just farms and land with its first houses.

The métro plan has been superposed on top of the old Paris Plan by the author to give an idea of today's location on the Nicolas de Fer Plan of Paris(library of congress, USA).

To find more
about he development
of Paris click this link
or the image below

If you have enjoyed "La Promenade", click the image below to visit the Quartier of my Childhood, Le Parc Monceau.
(It is awaiting translation!)
Le Parc Monceau is a more recent area of Paris.

You can also play "La Promenade" with the videogame.


Le Parc Monceau painted by the Author.