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streets | the 20 districts of Paris
Cartography of Paris, part 2: The Streets
It's difficult to draw the streets on an ASCII map, so I'll use a
text description. Please see Paris buildings and sites for a simple map
of Paris.
A map of Paris is confusing at first sight, because the streets
look like they have developed at random over the centuries. Paris is
certainly not New York, but there is a structure under the apparent
mess. That structure is similar to a spider's web with consists in:
A North-South axis which passes somewhere
between Pigalle and République, then crosses the Seine at Châtelet
and joins the left bank at Saint-Michel. The boulevard Saint-Michel
passes near Luxembourg to Port-Royal and continues under other names to
Denfert-Rochereau and Porte d'Orléans, where it leaves
Paris. An East-West axis. It goes from Bois de
Vincennes to La Défense through Place de la Nation, Bastille, Hôtel
de Ville, Châtelet, Louvre and the Champs-Elysées. On its west part,
from Louvre to la Défense, this axis is known as the Historical
Axis. It's a 6- or 7-kilometer straight line which starts from the
Louvre (Middle Ages, Renaissance, 19th century), then crosses the
Place de la Concorde (18th century), then follows the Champs-Elysées
(19th century), then crosses the Place de l'Etoile (19th century) and
eventually reaches la Défense (second part of the 20th century). The
perspective, wherever you stand on this axis, is probably unique in the
world. Three incomplete rings of large boulevards. The 1st
ring passes at Concorde, Opéra, République, Bastille on
the right bank, and at Montparnasse and Invalides on the left bank. The
2nd ring passes at Arc de Triomphe, Pigalle,
Père-Lachaise, Nation on the right bank and Place d'Italie,
Denfert-Rochereau, Montparnasse on the left bank. The 3rd
ring is a high speed ring road; in the above map, only la
Défense, Boulogne Wood and Vincennes Wood are located outside the 3rd
ring. - A series of streets which start from the center and go to the
outskirts. These streets, most of which are named after saints, are:
rue Saint-Honoré, rue Montmartre, rue Saint-Denis, rue
Saint-Martin, rue du Temple, rue Saint-Antoine, rue
Saint-Jacques. These streets are older than the boulevards, as shown
by their irregular lay out. They add "faubourg" in their name after they cross the first ring of boulevard, which once was the
boundary of Paris: rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, rue du Faubourg
Montmartre, rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, etc.
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