The Rue de Richelieu is a long street of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, starting in the south of the 1st arrondissement at the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

and ending in the north of the 2nd arrondissement. For the first half of the 19th century, before

Georges-Eugène Haussmann Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann (; 27 March 180911 January 1891), was a French official who served as Prefect (France), prefect of Seine (department), Seine (1853–1870), chosen by Emperor Napoleon III to carry out ...

redefined Paris with grand boulevards, it was one of the most fashionable streets of Paris. It is most notable for scattered coin dealers and currency changers, being near the

Paris Bourse Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...

, the stock market.

Name

The street is named for the

Cardinal de Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

, chief minister of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

from 1624 to 1642. The street was originally called the Rue Royale and then Rue de Richelieu soon after. The name was changed to the Rue de la Loi during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

; its name was restored to Richelieu in 1806.

Buildings of note

Palais-Royal The Palais-Royal () is a former royal palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal ...

, a Richelieu residence (''

Monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'') *

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

, a historical building (''Site Richelieu'') (''Monument historique'') *

, main hall (

Salle Richelieu The Salle Richelieu () is the principal theatre of the Comédie-Française. It is located in the Palais-Royal in the first arrondissement of Paris and was originally constructed in 1786–1790 to the designs of the architect Victor Louis.Wild ...

) * The old

Fauré Le Page Fauré Le Page () is a French firearms manufacturer (arquebusier and fourbisseur) established in Paris in 1716. Founded by Louis Pigny, the company remained in the same family until 1913. Throughout its history, the manufacturer was successivel ...

store located 8, Rue de Richelieu at the corner of the Rue de Richelieu and the Rue de Montpensier. The famous firearms played an active role to the French Revolution by distributing arms to the people in 1789 and in 1830. * The former Royal Palace hôtel which opened in 1909 was located in the same building as the

store. * The birth of the croissant itself—that is, its adaptation from the plainer form of kipferl, before the invention of

viennoiserie ''Viennoiseries'' (, "things of Vienna") are baked goods made from a yeast- leavened dough in a manner similar to bread, or from puff pastry, but with added ingredients (particularly eggs, butter, milk, cream and sugar), which give them a richer, ...

s—can be dated to at least 1839 (some say 1838) when an Austrian artillery officer,

August Zang August Zang (; 2 August 1807 – 4 March 1888) was an Austrian entrepreneur who founded the Viennese daily ''Die Presse''. He also had a major influence on French baking methods. Soldier and baker The son of Christophe Boniface Zang, a Vienna ...

, founded a Viennese bakery ("Boulangerie Viennoise") at 92, Rue de Richelieu in Paris.The 1839 date, and most of what follows, is documented in Jim Chevallier, ''August Zang and the French Croissant: How Viennoiserie Came to France'', p. 3–30; for the 1838 date, se
Giles MacDonogh "Reflections on the Third Meditation of La Physiologie du goût and Slow Food"
(p. 8); an Austrian PowerPoint �
Ess-Stile
– gives the date of 1840 (slide 46). A 1909 image of the bakery shows the same date for its founding, but the bakery was already documented in the press before that. This bakery, which served Viennese specialties including the kipferl and the Vienna loaf, quickly became popular and inspired French imitators (and the concept, if not the term, of ''viennoiserie'', a 20th-century term for supposedly Vienna-style pastries). The French version of the kipferl was named for its crescent (''croissant'') shape and has become an identifiable shape across the world. Place Mireille - Paris I (FR75) - 2021-06-14 - 1.jpg, Rue de Richelieu at Place Mireille Bibliothèque nationale de France, Salle Labrouste, 14 September 2019 03.jpg, Salle Labrouste, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ''Site Richelieu'' Ancienne boutique Fauré Le Page.jpg, The old Fauré Le Page store is located at 8, Rue de Richelieu in Paris ROYAL PALACE HOTEL.jpg, The Royal Palace Hotel, inaugurated in 1909 P1090007 France, Paris, le bâtiment du théâtre de la Comédie-Française (5629183743).jpg, Comédie-Française

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References

{{Reflist Richelieu Richelieu

Name

Buildings of note

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See also

References