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Ile St Louis- Paris 3rd & 4th
History
This is an authentic part of Paris like it looked already in the
17th and 18th century! Pretty, elegant, narrow streets, dignified
premises and picturesque interior courtyards, like in the Marais.
An oasis of peace in the middle of this busy city. It is really
a privilege for Parisians to live here. And especially students
appreciate a stroll along the sunny quays, fleeing their stuffy
classrooms, when other Parisians are queuing to get an ice cream
at “Berthillon”.It remained a small village where common
17th and 18th century houses with plastered facades are inserted
between beautiful stone hotels de maitre with majestic portals.
Here is balcony from where you have a splendid view of the Seine,
the quays and Notre Dame, there you have the immense satisfaction
of loitering in the old streets, admiring sculptures and iron wrought
items, or to do window shopping in the boutiques of rue Saint-Louis
en L’Ile who refuse all modernity.
The Ile Saint-Louis was in fact composed by two isles: Ile aux Vaches
(cow island), where indeed some cows grazed and the larger Ile Notre
Dame, belonging to the canon of Notre Dame. Legends tell that devils
and witches held Sabbath here…..against the will of the canon
of Notre Dame. The two islands were reunited in the 17th century
when Louis XIII ordered to fill up the Seine arm separating the
two islands. A bridge, the pont Marie, connected the new island
to the rest of the “mainland” and the island became the
jewel of Paris. Louis and Francois le Vau made a fortune by selling
houses to the wealthy nobility and bourgeoisie. Like the Hotel de
Lauzun, built in 1657 (17 quai d’Anjou), the only hotel particulier
of that epoch open for the public, where Baudelaire and Theophile
Gauthier lived, the hotel Lambert (2, rue St.Lambert-en-l’Ile)
maybe the most beautiful of the Ile Saint Louis, formerly the residence
of Michele Morgan, now the residence of Guy de Rotschild, and hotel
de Jasson (19, quai de Bourbon) inhabited for a while by Camille
Claudel, the furious mistress of Rodin. Other nice houses in the
quai de Bourbon: at no.11 the hotel de Champaigne (French painter)
and no.15 hotel de Charron built in 1637, with an interesting courtyard.
And let’s not forget the famous Hotel de Comans (16-18 quai
de Bethune) once the residence of the duke of Richelieu, a nephew
of the famous cardinal.
Stroll along all these streets (quai d’Anjou, de Bethune, de
Bourbon, d’Orleans, rue Saint-Louis en L’Ile), be charmed
by their quiet magnificence and forget your stress and your worries.
Enter the church of Saint-Louis en L’Ile, built in 1644 in
the street of the same name. The inside is full of 17th and 18th
century masterpieces. At no.61, restaurant “Aux Anysetiers
du Roi” with its ancient signboard and at no 51 hotel Chenizot
from 1625.
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