Patrick Comerford
We are in Paris for two nights, staying in the heart of the Latin Quarter in the Hotel Europe-Saint-Séverin on Rue St Séverin, a few steps away from the Boulevard Saint-Michel.
The Latin Quarter (Quartier latin) is in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris, on the Left Bank (Rive Gauche of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. It is the oldest area in Paris, popular with tourists and known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and the bistros and streetside cafés.
The area gets its name because Latin was widely spoken in and around the university during the Middle Ages, after the 12th century philosopher Pierre Abélard and his students moved there.
The Latin Quarter was largely spared the sweeping renovations of Baron Haussmann and so in many parts it retains its ancient feel, with winding, cobblestone streets that are reminders of what mediaeval Paris once looked like. From the food stalls on Rue Mouffetard to the Jardin des Plantes, the Pantheon, and the Cluny Museum, there is much to see and do here during these few days.
The Latin Quarter is home to many centres of higher education, including the Sorbonne, PSL University with the École Normale Supérieure, and les trois lycées de la montagne: the lycée Henri-IV, the lycée Louis-le-Grand and the lycée Saint-Louis.
The Rue Saint Séverin is just 170 metres long, running parallel to and south of the Seine. We are three to five minutes from the Quai de Montebello, with the cranes and hoardings surrounding Notre Dame rising above the river, the Petit-Pont and the cruise boats.
The street and the hotel take their name from the nearby Church of Saint-Séverin, the Église Saint-Séverin, at the east end of the street, one of the oldest churches on the Left Bank. It was first built in 1230 and later was a parish church for students at the Sorbonne.
Ths a short narrow street, but it is busy – almost boisterous, I imagine, when tourists arrive in greater numbers. It is lined with restaurants and souvenir shops and because of its location and because it is a pretty street it attracts many tourists.
The rue Saint-Séverin is one of the oldest streets in Paris, and dates from the creation of the Latin Quarter in the early 13th century. At first it only stretched the short length between the Rue de la Harpe and the Rue Saint-Jacques, and in the 16th century this section of the street was called the Rue Colin Pochet.
Later, this street was extended west from the former street to join the Rue Saint-André-des-Arts. The Rue Saint-Séverin reclaimed the remnants of the ancient Rue de Mâcon after the Boulevard Saint-Michel was built from 1867, but from 1971 this isolated westward portion was renamed the Rue Francisque-Gay.
Among the houses and buildings of note on the street, Nos 7, 9 and 11 date from the 17th century. No 13 still has a name sign that predates street numbers in addresses – this one is Le Cygne de la Croix, a play-on-words of ‘the sign of the Cross’ and ‘the Swan on the Cross.’
At numbers 4, 24 and 26, on the engravings of the street name on the corner of the buildings, the ‘St’ was scratched away after the French revolution in 1789.
No 6 has an alleyway that existed as early in 1239, No 8 has a door and alleyway that date from the 16th century, while No 34 is a building dating from the 17th century, with a remarkable doorway, arch engravings, courtyard and internal stairway.
Numbers 20, 22 and 36 date from at least the 17th century. No 20 is a 17th century rotisserie or grill, No 22 is a 17th century hotel, and the building at No 36 was known in 1660 as l’auberge de l’Étoile.
The Hotel Europe-Saint-Séverin, where we are staying, is at numbers 38-40 Rue Saint Séverin, on the corner with the Boulevard Saint-Michel, and with the Italian Trattoria RIM Café on the ground floor.
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