The Place de la Contrescarpe is a square in the

5th arrondissement of Paris The 5th arrondissement of Paris (''Ve arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le cinquième''. The arrondissement, als ...

Location and access

The Place de la Contrescarpe is located along

rue Mouffetard Rue Mouffetard () is a street in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. Situated in the fifth (''cinquième'') arrondissement of Paris, Rue Mouffetard is one of Paris's oldest and liveliest neighbourhoods. These days the area has many restaura ...

, at the end of rue Lacépède and rue du Cardinal-Lemoine. It is at the center of four administrative ''quartiers'' or districts; Saint-Victor, Jardin-des-Plantes,

Val-de-Grâce The (' or ') was a military hospital located at in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was closed as a hospital in 2016. History The church of the was built by order of Queen Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII. After the birth of h ...

and

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, making it a central point of the 5th arrondissement. It has a

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

of around and has a circular

traffic island A traffic island is a solid or painted object in a road that channels traffic. It can also be a narrow strip of island between roads that intersect at an acute angle. If the island uses road markings only, without raised curbs or other physical ...

in the middle, which is partly occupied by a public fountain. Now popular with tourists, it contains many cafés, mostly recent. However, the facades of some buildings still show signs of the place as it used to be.

Name history

The place takes its name from the area around the former street rue de la Contrescarpe-Saint-Marcel, now shared between the rue Blainville and the rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, which made reference to the word ''contrescarpe'' (

counterscarp A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ditch or moat used in fortifications. Attackers (if they have not bridged the ditch) must descend the counterscarp and ascend the scarp. In permanent fortifications th ...

in English), the embankment outside the ditch in front of the

Wall of Philip II Augustus The Wall of Philip Augustus is the oldest city wall of Paris (France) whose plan is accurately known. Partially integrated into buildings, more traces of it remain than of the later fortifications. History The wall was built during the struggle ...

History

Opened in 1852, it was formed by the removal of a cluster of houses between the rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, rue Lacépède and

.Dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris, ed. 1 (1960), p.386. This cluster would today be located adjacent to the café ''Les Arts'', that is, around the eastern part of the square.

References

Streets in the 5th arrondissement of Paris {{Paris-road-stub