Бульвар Сен-Мишель: История и современность парижской улицы

Boulevard in Paris, France
the street in Paris

Boulevard Saint Michel (bulvaʁ sɛ̃ miʃɛl) is one of the two major streets in the Latin Quarter of Paris, France, the other being Boulevard Saint Germain. It is a tree lined boulevard which runs south from the Pont Saint Michel on the Seine and Place Saint Michel, crosses Boulevard Saint Germain and continues alongside the Sorbonne and the Jardin du Luxembourg, ending at the Place Camille Jullian just before the Port Royal RER station and the Avenue de l'Observatoire. It was created by Baron Haussmann to run parallel to Rue Saint Jacques which marks the historical north south axis of Paris. It is known colloquially as Boul'Mich in French. The boulevard serves as a boundary between the 5th and 6th arrondissements of Paris; odd numbered buildings on the eastern side are in the 5th arrondissement and even numbers on the western side are in the 6th. It has a length of 1,380 m (4,530 ft), an average width of 30 m (98 ft) and takes its name from the Pont Saint Michel. As the central axis of the Latin Quarter, it has long been a hotbed of student life and activism, but tourism is also a major commercial focus of the street and designer shops have gradually replaced many small bookshops. The northern part of the boulevard is now the most frequented, due to its bookstores (such as Gibert Joseph and the Gibert Jeune), cafes, cinema and clothes shops. The main buildings of the boulevard are the Musée de Cluny, the Lycée Saint Louis, the École des Mines and the university facilities of the Sorbonne.

The boulevard Saint Michel was the other important part of Haussmann's renovation of Paris on the Left Bank along with the creation of the boulevard Saint Germain. It was formerly approximated by the rue de la Harpe which for centuries led from the Seine to the Porte Saint Michel, a gate to the walls of Paris near what is now the intersection of the Boulevard Saint Michel and rue Monsieur le Prince. Construction of the Boulevard was decreed in 1855 and began in 1860. The boulevard was initially known as the boulevard de Sébastopol Rive Gauche, but was changed to Boulevard Saint Michel in 1867. The name is derived from the eponymous gate destroyed in 1679 and the subsequent Saint Michel market in the same area (the current Place Edmond Rostand). Numerous streets disappeared as a result of the boulevard's creation, including the rue des Deux Portes Saint André, the passage d'Harcourt, the rue de Mâcon, the rue Neuve de Richelieu, the rue Poupée, part of rue de la Harpe and of rue d'Enfer, part of the former place Saint Michel and the rue de l'Est. The part of the boulevard Saint Michel at the entrance of the rue Henri Barbusse and the rue de l'Abbé de l'Epée was previously known as the place Louis Marin. During 1871, the Hôtel des Etrangers was the meeting place of the Vilains Bonhommes (renamed Circle Zutique by Charles Cros) which included Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud. Jules Vallès, socialist writer and survivor of the Paris Commune was buried in the cemetery of Père Lachaise. His body was carried there from the funeral home at n° 77, into which 10,000 people are claimed to have squeezed. On 10 December 1934 the founders of the Comité de rédaction du traité d’analyse met at the Café A. Capoulade, n° 63, to discuss writing a textbook on mathematical analysis. This meeting included Henri Cartan, Claude Chevalley, Jean Delsarte, Jean Dieudonné, René de Possel and André Weil. They were, together with others, to become famous in mathematical circles as the Bourbaki Group.

A political candidate named Duconnaud famously proposed, as an electoral promise, to "extend the boulevard Saint Michel to the sea." The idea was taken up by Ferdinand Lop who, responding to the question of how to know at which end it would be extended, answered with panache: "It will be extended to the sea at both ends". This is the version given by Alphonse Allais.