The 2nd Arrondissement

By Thirza Vallois

Paris Kiosque - December 1997 / January 1998 - Volume 4, Number 12
Copyright (c) 1997 Thirza Vallois - used with permission
Excerpted from "Around and About Paris"

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Having given you a taste of the 1st arrondissement in the last issue of The Paris Pages, Thirza Vallois continues her exploration of the arrondissements of Paris. This excerpt from her books "Around and About Paris") will take you to the eastern and lower-class part of the 2nd arrondissement. - Norman Barth

A walk into the plebeian eastern section of the 2nd arrondissement is not as aesthetically gratifying or spiritually uplifting, but it can be exciting and of historical interest. Avoid coming here on Sunday when, deprived of its teeming bustle, it tends to resemble a ghost town.

We shall start from the northern end of rue Saint-Denis and follow in the footsteps of travellers of yore, who entered the city along this route. Honoured by royalty, it was also selected for the celebrations open 30 June 1878 of the young Third Republic, as depicted in Monet's painting Rue Saint-Denis (now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen), bursting with a riot of tricolours. The Republic needed a ritual to enforce it legitimacy but was careful to avoid celebrating Bastille Day so as not to arouse revolutionary feelings only seven years after the civil war of the Commune. A national holiday was proclaimed to coincide with the Universal Exhibition, which was bound to draw large crowds.

On normal days, rue Saint-Denis was just the bustling high street of Paris, leading from the city gate to the market of Les Halles and to the Châtelet provostship and prison. With so much coming and going, prostitution could not be far off, and today still is as conspicuous as it ever was. Don't let this deter you from venturing here, for rue Saint-Denis is essentially a colourful slice of old Paris.

The Porte Saint-Denis at its northern end had been the gateway to the city since the reign of Charles V. In 1672, Louis XIV, confident that the city no longer needed to be defended after his spectacular victories, had Blondel replace the 14th-century gate, a crenellated construction complete with towers and drawbridge, with the present one for the sole purpose of glorifying his person. At numbers 224-226 on your left stood a religious institution, Les Filles de l'Union-Chrétienne, which provided an education for poor orphan girls and also a home for wives on the brink of marital separation. The wealthier ones occupied the 18th century house in the courtyard. Despite the additional storys, which somewhat spoilt it, the original building retains its elegant proportions, but the lovely gardens in which it stood are gone. A workshop was opened here in the 17th century, providing work for 200 lacemakers, the first of its kind in Paris. After the Revolution the premises found different commercial uses and at one point became a printing house belonging to Monsieur Michelet, the father of the great historian Michelet who was born on this site. The present building was put up in the first half of the 29th century. At number 237 stood the wooden cross of the convent of the Filles-Dieu, where the tumbril would stop on its way from the Grand-Châtelet prison to the gallows of Montfaucon., to let the prisoner kiss the cross. The convent, which extended all the way to the present number 223, disappeared in the wake of the Revolution and was replaced a few years later by the Passage du Caire, now strongly redolent of an exotic oriental Bazaar and worth a detour.

Turn right into rue Montorgueil, a picturesque pedestrian artery lined with colourful food stalls (closed between 1 and 4 pm and on Monday all day). Since the fresh sea catch from the north used to arrive here, this became the fish section of the market of Les halles and also the central oyster market of Paris until 1866. The sales office of the Sociéte des huitres [oysters] d'Etretat et de Dieppe was located at number 61/63 from 1780 until the middle of the 19th century and was called Au Rocher d'Etretat, after the famous coastal landmark in Normandy. The town of Fécamp had its sales office further south on rue Tiquetonne. Rue de Montorgueil was also a gourmet's mecca in the last century, famous for such restaurants as Philippe at number 54 and Le Rocher de Cancale at number 59 until 1845, then acros the street, at number 78. Balzac considered Le Rocher de Cancale "the meeting place of the best society of Paris and the establishement which best honours French cuisine." All the heroes of La Comédie Humaine dined there, but also Balzac's contemporaries - Dumas Père, Eugène Sue and Théophile Gautier among others. The building still stands with the name of the restaurant engraved on the shabby façade. If only it were restored to its glorious past.

Turn right into rue Saint-Sauveur. The 17th century corner house at number 12 and number 23 rue Dussoubs was La Gourdan's notorious brothel, where she settled in 1774. It was on her earlier premises on rue Montorgueil that Jeanne Bécu had first met the notorious pimp Jean du Barry, through whom she became the royal mistress, the Comtesse du Barry. La Gourdan catered to a select clientele from both court and town and moved to this corner house because it offered more discretion. Madame Gourdan even devised a secret exit so as to prevent unnecessary embarrassment: having chosen from among the wealth of costumes in the first floor changing-room to cloak their identity, clients could leave through a door hidden in a cupboard, which opened on to a staircase ending in the ground-floor antique shop at number 14 rue Saint-Sauveur. The main entrance of the brothel was on rue Dussoubs till 1865, when it was walled up, but its portal was preserved and moved to rue Saint-Sauveur, where it still stands. Inside, the elegant architecture of the hall and the wrought iron staircase have also been preserved.

Continue along rue Dussoubs, turn left into rue du Caire and left again into rue des Forges and rue de Damiettes. You will have entered the one-time realm of the underworld, the notorious Cour des Miracles, a safe refuge for its population of cutpurses and cutthroats who could vanish like shadows in these narrow streets. But today one is struck rather by the oriental atmosphere enhanced by some of the street names that commemorate Napoleon's Egyptian campaigns and the fervent Egyptomania that ensued - rue d'Aboukir, d'Alexandrie, du Caire, du Nil... Hence also the astonishing imitation Egyptian sculptures on the picturesque Place du Caire adjoining the old Cour des Miracles.

Turn right at a sharp angle into rue du Sentier, which has given its name to both this rag-trade neighborhood and to the mentality of its occupiers (l'espirit Sentier). It leads to rue Saint-Joseph on the left, where Emile Zola was born in 1840, at number 10. At that time, this was the stronghold of the press, where most of the major newspapers were printed - Le Siècle, La Patrie, among others. Turn right into rue Montmartre, the medieval road that led to the abbey of Montmartre. At number 140/144 on the right, between rue Saint-Joseph and rue du Croissant, was the cemetery of Saint-Joseph, where Molière was buried on 21 February 1672. It took four days of tough negotiations and the intervention of the King to persuade the recalcitrant clergy of Saint-Eustache, in Les halles, who regarded the theatrical profession as an insult to the church, to agree to the burial. Sor a long time it was erroneously thought that the fable write La Fontaine was also buried here. There was also confusion as to the exact site of Molière's grave. Consequently, when the Revolutionary authorities ordered the remains of the two illustrious writers to be exhumed and honoured elsewhere, other remains were dug up in their stead and eventually found their way to the cemetery of Père Lachaise (now in the 20th arrondissement), where they still receive undue homage. The cemetery was replaced by a market in 1806, and that in turn in 1882 by a building where, until 1914, several major newspapers were published - La Patrie, Le Radical, La Presse and L'Aurore. You can still see the building with the names of Le Journal du Soir and La France engraved on its fa&ccecil;ade, supported by four female sculptures. On 13 January 1898 L'Aurore ran on its front page the dramatic headline J'accuse!, followed by Emile Zola's historic open letter to the President of the Republic, Féix Faure, in defence of Alfred Dreyfus, of truth, and justice and a direct accusation against members of the General Staff. 300,000 copies were hawked that day on the streets of Paris and France at large. Tried for libel and sentenced to one year's imprisonment and a heavy fine, Zola fled to England, like other members of France's intelligentsia, before and after, who voiced unacceptable opinions (Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Charles de Gaulle...) But Zola's manifesto polarized French opinion on the Dreyfus case. There were mass riots and street duels fought with swords and pistols. Ten years later the fury against Zola had not abated and his enemies had not disarmed. On the occasion of his pantheonization in June 1908 - the greatest posthumous honour bestowed on the Republic's heroes - they marched through the streets shouting "Spit on Zola! Death to Zola!", while Dreyfus himself was shot in the arm in an attempt on his life. On 30 September 1902 Zola's body was found suffocated in his house, officially an accidental death, although many, including Zola's son, have always believed it was murder.

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Thirza Vallois, long time resident of Paris, and now author of the three volume set Around and About Paris (which may be ordered here) currently lives just three hours outside of Paris in London. She may be contacted via thirzavallois@iliadbooks.demon.co.uk.