5th arr

Or as I call it, home!  The 5th arr is better known to the outside world as the Latin Quarter, though here it's more often known as "the Pantheon," and it's been well-known for its population of writers, artists, and students for centuries.  It's our first foray into the Left Bank, which is more artsy and less chic than the Right Bank.  Being that it is my neighborhood, I've already written up several posts having to the with the 5th: the Roman ruins, the streets immediately around me and the background of the Pantheon itself, and about half of this walking tour post pertains to the 5th.

So as I discussed a while back, this area was one of the very first areas of Paris that was settled.  We know that there was a Gallo-Celtic tribe (the Parisii, after whom the city is now named) before the Romans, but we don't know too much about them.  But we do obviously know a lot about the Romans - see that first post I linked to see the Roman amphitheater that's not too far away from me.  There are also ruins of an ancient Roman bath just a couple of block from me, on top of which the Cluny monastery was built in the Middle Ages. Wikipedia claims that the 5th is the oldest arr but I am not sure that's true.  It seems in my other research that the Ile-de-la-Cite, now shared between the 1st and 4th, is the oldest, but whatever.

Anyway, moving a bit ahead in time, the 5th was probably the most important arr in the city from the early to late Middle Ages in terms of your average citizen.  While the government was based across the river in the 1st arr, the 5th had a truly lively and diverse population, with lots of businesses, but more importantly lots of early churches and schools.  It defined the intellectual society of Europe at that point in time, and was home to the most important names in philosophy, theology, and the arts.

Why is it called the Latin Quarter, you might ask?  Well, precisely because of the large percentage of the medieval population here that either were involved in the clergy (and therefore spoke Latin a lot) or in higher education/were students (and therefore spoke Latin a lot).  The Latin language was so predominant that I would venture to guess if you lived here in, say, the 13th century, you'd hear it at least as much as the colloquial French of the time.

I've tried to think of several different ways to structure this post so that you can follow it easily, but it's hard to figure out how to cover the 5th in a logical manner.  I could go chronologically but I think that would get a bit confusing in terms of the modern space.  I could go geographically but that might get chronologically confusing.  I could go thematically but that would be both chronologically and geographically confusing.  So I have chosen to split up the arr into three sections: first, the now-tourist-area around St Michel; the university area (though those overlap quite a bit); and the rest.  I apologize if it gets a bit confusing, but there is a lot to cover here!

So, St Michel.  Whenever someone comes to visit Paris inevitably something in this area is on their list of must-see places, because it's historically important and interesting, one of the most picturesque areas of the city, and it's a very central location.  It's probably best to do this area chronologically.

The Place St Michel, which is a very pretty few blocks somewhat marred by kitschy tourists shops, is just across the river from Notre Dame cathedral.  Its central feature is this mid 19th century fountain, representing a "Peace" figure.

The immediate area around the fountain, and just next to the river, has more medieval religious structures than you can shake a stick at.  A couple of blocks away is St Julien le Pauvre, which claims to be the oldest church is Paris.  I tend to believe it just based on architecture.

Right around the corner from that is St Severin, my personal favorite church in the city.  It's high Gothic but not as gaudy as most from the time, holds the crushed finger bones of St Ursula (fun!), has a mixture of medieval and modern stained glass, and one of its columns is randomly shaped like a palm tree.  I should find my old pictures of it, but here is the outside.

And right around the corner from St Severin hides my favorite bookstore in the city, the Abbey bookshop, run by a nice older Canadian man, and built atop the medieval vaults of the Cluny abbey.  Of course, the remains of the Cluny abbey itself (and one of the best museums in Paris, I must say), are at the next block.  

The Cluny abbey probably the most important monastery in medieval Paris, and many of its affiliated men were amongst the first staff of the Sorbonne, including Abelard (of Heloise and Abelard fame - if you don't know them, look it up, they have a great story and are probably one of the most intelligent and interesting couples in history).  There were also extremely rich and politically influential, and they owned much of the land in this immediate area.  St Michel was probably the most intellectually significant few blocks in all of Europe during the Middle Ages, and I really can't say enough how interesting this area is to any historian.

Many centuries later, in the 1968, St Michel was also the site of most of the student/popular demonstrations in Paris.  I've told a lot of people about the French tendency to build barricades and protest things; I've also told the story of how in 1968 the government of Paris decided to remove cobblestones from some streets because they were being dug up to throw at police during the 60's demonstrations.  This is true: during the manifestations of 1968 young Parisian students ripped up some of the cobblestones from the streets and used them as projectiles - not as building block of barricades as they had in times past.  The government decided that nostalgia was less important than their immediate safety, I suppose.  Nearly all of those streets were around St Michel - I believe the primary offender was the Boulevard St Michel itself.

Anyway, tourists love this area because of its tiny and mostly cobblestone streets, authentic medieval buildings, and monuments every other block. I love it because despite it being rather overrun with tourists there are some great out-of-the way, quiet, special places, like the Abbey bookshop, a Lebanese creperie on the Rue St-Andre-des-Arts, the Oubliette jazz club with the guillotine, and countless little cafes.