New Series: Behind the Paris Street Signs, Le Marais

While walking the streets of Paris have you ever noticed the blue street signs that sometimes are named after someone, and there’s a line or two describing who they are? 

I’ve always been intrigued by the people listed on the signs, and thought someday, one day I would further research \them. After 15 years of living here, I finally decided to hunker down and actually do the research.

This is the first entry in my new series Behind the Paris Street Signs. Each time I will write about a series of six signs. For the first run, I’m writing about signs in the Marais, close to my house. 

If you have any suggestions for streets you want to know more about, please send me the name, and I will feature it in an upcoming series. 

Rue Jules Cousin

Rue Jules Cousin, is in the 4^th arrondissement, just off of Blvd. Henri IV. Jules Cousin was born in Paris in 1830, and at an early age he started collecting books about the history of Paris along with historic prints. He was a librarian at La Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal but when it was destroyed by a fire during the Communard Revolution in 1870, he was called upon to create a new library at the Carnavalet, the former 17^th century palace of Madame Sévigné. Cousin donated his collection of 6,000 books and over 10,000 prints to the Carnavalet. In 1880 he received permission to merge the museum and the library and was appointed the curator of both. He died in 1899 at his home on Place des Vosges. 

Rue Rambuteau 

Rue Rambuteau is an east to west street, going from the Marais to Les Halles. Claude-Philibert Barthelot, the count of Rambuteau, was born in 1781 in the Burgundy region to an aristocratic family. He had an important position during Napoleon’s reign, and later went on to fight in the battle of Waterloo. Out of a job after the battle as the Second Restoration was the new government, he retired for 15 years until he was the Prefect of the Seine from 1833 to 1848. Now under the reign of King Louis Phillipe, he dedicates himself to making sure Parisians have enough water, air, and shade. Rambuteau starts to envision a cleaner and more modern Paris and coincides with Baron Haussmann, to transform the city by installing a new sewer system, widening the streets, increasing the amount of beds at the hospitals, and designating green spaces in the city along with newly planted trees. His big claim to fame, which is stated on the sign, is that he updated the streetlamps of Paris by replacing the obsolete oil lamps with gas and by the end of his tenure, there were 8600 gas lamps in Paris. 

 Rue Ferdinand Duval

Rue Ferdinand Duval is a one block street in the 4^th arrondissement, that runs between rue de Rivoli and ends at rue des Rosiers. Ferdinand Duval was a lawyer, journalist, and politician. Similar to Rambuteau, he served as the prefect of the Seine from 1873 to 1879. 

 Rue de Sévigné

Rue de Sevigne is a south to north street in the third and fourth arrondissement, that begins at rue Saint Antoine, and ends at rue Parc Royal, intersecting the Carnavalet Museum. It is named after Marie de Rabutin-Chantal who was born on the Place des Vosges to an aristocratic family in 1526. She later married the Marquis de Sévigné and she became known as Madame Sévigné. She lived in the Carnavalet palace from 1677 until she died in 1696. She’s best known as the foremost, female letter writer of France. 

 Passage Walter Benjamin

The name Walter Benjamin, sounds like an American name but in fact Benjamin was German. Born into an affluent family in Germany, they later moved to Paris for his father’s business as a banker. Benjamin became an influential philosopher, cultural critic, and essayist. He wrote a number of well received books and also wrote essays about writers including Goethe, Baudelaire, and Kafka, plus he translated Remembrance of Things Passed by Proust. At age 48, he committed suicide in small town on the French Spanish border trying to escape from the Nazi invasion. 

Rue Jacques Coeur 

Rue Jacques Coeur is a one block street near the Bastille, that runs in between the rue Saint Antoine and Blvd. Henri IV. Jacques Coeur, born in 1399, was a prominent merchant and initiated trade between France and the Levant region which is now Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel. In 1436, King Charles VII, appointed him the head of the mint. He was also an alchemist and a silversmith. 

Comments

[Peggy Bruns]

I'd like to know about Rue Jacob.