Cour du Commerce Saint André

Most tourists and other visitors of the Quartier Latin, would walk up (or down) Rue Saint André des Arts, not all will deviate to see also the narrow passageway Cour Commerce Saint André. Even fewer (hardly anybody) would visit Cour Rohan. I will talk about Cour Rohan tomorrow, today just a few words about Cour du Commerce Saint André.

One entrance to this partly covered narrow street is from Rue Saint André des Arts, the other one is from Boulevard Saint Germain. The oldest known Paris wall, the Philippe-Auguste wall (built 1190-1213, see my post Jan 8, 2008), used to pass here and there are still some traces, however inside an existing building (the Catalogne tourism office).

Anyhow, the street has some kind of 18th century atmosphere, is covered by centuries- old cobble-stones, has a lot of charm and a number of historical references.
The first experiments with the guillotine (on sheep) took place in this building (no. 9).

The oldest still existing Paris café*, Le Procope – opened in 1686 - , has its (today backdoor) entry here. Among its regular visitors you can mention Racine, Molière, Voltaire, Diderot, Balzac, Napoleon and his marshals, George Sand, Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Jefferson … Benjamin Franklin (who is said to have “fine-tuned” the American constitution here)… a lot of ancient times’ actors (the old Comédie Française was just across the street) .. and the Revolutionary Robespierre, Marat, Danton….and Guillotin.

Marat also printed the Revolutionary newspaper “L”Ami du Peulple” in this street (no. 8) and Danton had his home at no. 20 which corresponds to a part of the street which disappeared with the construction of Boulevard Saint Germain. Danton’s statue now stands where his house used to be.

*/ As a small extra note – I referred to Le Procope as a “café”: Did you know that the word “restaurant” comes from the French word “restaurer” (to restore)? It was used for an eating establishment for the first time around 1765 by a Parisian soup-seller. The first restaurant in the form we know it today (sitting down, ordering from a menu…) was founded in Paris in 1782. Previously eating places were basically for travelling people who paid a flat rate for what the inn owner wanted to serve.

A few of these pictures can be found on my photo blog.