6th arr

I haven't done a post on any arrondissements for quite some time because I was putting this one off.  I had two reasons: it's a diverse place and it's hard to know what to say about it; since it's right next door I wanted to walk around myself taking pictures for it, but it rained for more than two months straight before I left for NY, discouraging my wanderings. 

Anyway, it's getting silly so I will just steal pictures from the interwebs.  I also wanted to get some nice pictures of the main monument here, St Germain des Pres, from my mother but she never actually went in.  Alas.

First, let's see the map again.

So we have the 6th here, south of the river in the center, next to where I live in the 5th.

If you remember from last time the 5th, the Latin Quarter, has historically been associated with universities, learning, and students.  Its counterpart is the 6th, which is less about universities and students than general artists and intelligentsia.  When you think of philosophers, writers, and/or artists sitting around talking/arguing in Parisian cafes, that scene is happening in the 6th arr.

Just a few of the most recognizable people who have inhabited the 6th in the 20th century (and only one half of the 6th at that): philosophers and writers Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Hemingway, Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut (the most famous and important French film directors, they basically created the French film style), president Francois Mitterand, poet Jacques Prevert, and artist Giacometti.  After World War II the area immediately around the St Germain des Pres abbey, next to the river, became the center of writing and philosophy, although even before that it was the birthplace of existentialism.  In fact, there are two specific cafes - Les Deux Magots and Cafe des Flores - where Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, and their group always used to hang out, and they milk that connection to this day by remaining two of the most expensive and well known cafes in the city.  My mom and I had dinner one night at Les Deux Magots, just to follow in the illustrious writers' footsteps!

The southern half of the 6th has traditionally been more of a residential area, and now it is mostly for living and shopping.  The family I used to work for lives in the 6th, very close to the 14th, and there are tons of shops, restaurants, etc around there, including le Bon Marche, the department store I've mentioned before.

Finally, the eastern extremity of the 6th and its border with the 5th is basically the Luxembourg gardens, just a few blocks from where I live.

So the first place to mention in this area, which is informally just called "St Germain des Pres," is indeed the St Germain des Pres abbey.  

That lower bit in the front is actually the abbey "palace" where the abbot used to live.  This is one of the oldest churches in the city, and the site has been a church for much longer than the dates of the actual buildings.  During Roman times it was a temple to Isis, the first Christian church there was founded in the mid 500's, and the church we see today began to form in the 11th century (the time of a huge explosion of religion-based intellectualism, see my posts on the 5th for more info).

For about 900 years now the intellectual life of the 6th has been based around the abbey area: the cafes I mentioned earlier are just out of sight in the above picture, and the square in front is dedicated to Sartre and de Beauvoir.  Descartes is buried there, along with a number of early medieval kings and queens.

I took a walk over there today but forgot to take my camera, so these following pictures are all from  my phone.  It's also one of the most dark and somber churches in Paris; forgive the darkness of the pictures here.

Unusually, almost all the walls are covered in painted designs.  If you compare with pictures of other churches you'll see that the walls are normally just plain stone.  You can kind of see here what I mean:

The windows are a mix of modern and old.

This was an interesting piece: it was found in three pieces under a wall supporting the old abbey palace, and evidently is the beginning of a statue of the Virgin Mary intended for a chapel in the church.  There was a problem with sizing, however, and the artist abandoned it to begin a bigger one.  In the spirit of recycling, this was then used as an underground wall support.  It appears to be mid 13th century.

 The area outside the church is always very lively: not only is it the home of the Christmas market I mentioned a while ago, all summer this jazz band has been playing in the afternoons.

Anyway, moving on.  Walking up and down the Boulevard St Germain or by the river, the artistic side of this area is evident.  It's the main strip for art galleries of all kinds, but you can also find shops and studios of photographers, diverse types of interior designers, fashion and accessory designers, and all kinds of custom made furniture.  Nearly anything creative is here; it's also home to the second most important music conservatory in the country.

This area is much more focused on shops and galleries than monuments and museums.  In fact the only other significant site I can think of in the 6th, aside from the Luxembourg which isn't exactly part of it, is the Delacroix museum.

Mysteriously, although my mom and I visited it just a couple of weeks ago I can't find any pictures. It's in his former house, just behind the church, and it's a very cute, spacious apartment with a large studio in the garden.  It doesn't have many of his most well known works, which are in the Louvre, but it was a really nice way to see his less well-known stuff and see how he worked.  I really loved his studio especially - it sits in a very peaceful, green garden, lets in a lot of light, and has a nice atmosphere.  I could definitely imagine an old Delacroix painting in there.

Despite there not being a lot of things to see in the 6th it's actually one of my favorite places in the city; I really like its artistic mentality and cafe life.  It's also quite central, and it's relatively easy to get anywhere else in the city while there.  My mom stayed near the church while she was here in August and it was very convenient; I would recommend it for a visit to Paris.