Rue Mouffetard () is a street in the

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

, France.

Description

Rue Mouffetard is one of Paris's oldest and liveliest neighbourhoods. These days the area has many restaurants, shops, and cafés, and a regular open market. It is centered on the Place de la Contrescarpe, at the junction of Rue Mouffetard and Rue Lacépède. Its southern terminus is at Square Saint-Médard where there is a permanent open-air market. At its northern terminus, it becomes Rue Descartes at the crossing of Rue Thouin. It is closed to normal motor traffic much of the week, and is predominantly a pedestrian street.

Name origin

Rue Mouffetard runs along a flank of the

Montagne Sainte-Geneviève The Montagne Sainte-Geneviève () is a hill overlooking the left bank of the Seine in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was known to the ancient Romans as .Hilaire Belloc, ''Paris (Methuen & Company, 1900)'' Retrieved June 14, 2016 Ato ...

, which was called the ''Mont Cétarius'' or ''Mont Cetardus'' from Roman times; many historians consider "Mouffetard" to be a derivation of this early name. Over the centuries, Rue Mouffetard has appeared as ''Rue Montfétard'', ''Maufetard'', ''Mofetard'', ''Moufetard'', ''Mouflard'', ''Moufetard'', ''Moftard'', ''Mostard'', and also ''Rue Saint-Marcel'', the ''Rue du Faubourg Saint-Marceau'' ("street of the suburb Saint-Marceau") and ''Rue de la Vieille Ville Saint-Marcel'' ("street of the old town Saint-Marcel").

History

The origins of this thoroughfare are ancient, dating back to

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times. As with today's Rue Galande, Rue Lagrange, Rue de la

and Rue Descartes, it was a Roman road running from the Roman

Rive Gauche The Rive Gauche (; Left Bank) is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two parts. When facing downstream, the southern bank is to the left, whereas the northern bank (or Rive Dr ...

city south to Italy. From the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, a church along this section of roadway became centre of a ''Bourg Saint-Médard'' (Saint-Médard village), and from 1724 was integrated into Paris as the main artery of the ''Faubourg Saint Médard''. The

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...

family moved at no. 6 Rue Mouffetard in April 1746, where lived also François-Jacques Guillotte, a police officer who wrote an article (''Pont militaire'') for the ''

Encyclopédie , better known as ''Encyclopédie'' (), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis ...

'' by Diderot. The area remained relatively unchanged because of its location on the

, which protected it from

Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

's redevelopment during the reign of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

. The

École de Paris The School of Paris (, ) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance of Paris as a centre o ...

painter Isaac Frenkel Frenel lived in the street from the 1950s until his death in 1981.

Cultural references

* In 1910,

Alexander Bogdanov Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov (; – 7 April 1928), born Alexander Malinovsky, was a Russian and later Soviet physician, philosopher, science fiction writer and Bolshevik revolutionary. He was a polymath who pioneered blood transfusion, a ...

delivered a lecture about Empiriomonism. *

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

replied quoting his own ''

Materialism and Empiriocriticism ''Materialism and Empirio-criticism'' (Russian: Материализм и эмпириокритицизм, ''Materializm i empiriokrititsizm'') is a philosophical work by Vladimir Lenin, published in 1909. It was an obligatory subject of study ...

'' in response. * At the beginning of Chapter IV of ''

The Sun Also Rises ''The Sun Also Rises'' is the first novel by the American writer Ernest Hemingway, following his experimental novel-in-fragments '' In Our Time (short story collection)'' (1925). It portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Par ...

'' (1926),

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

describes a taxicab heading down Rue Mouffetard from the Place de la Contrescarpe.Hemingway in Paris
/ref> * The area and the street featured prominently in

Krzysztof Kieślowski Krzysztof Kieślowski (, 27 June 1941 – 14 March 1996) was a Polish film director and screenwriter. He is known internationally for ''Dekalog'' (1989), ''The Double Life of Veronique'' (1991), and the Three Colours trilogy, ''Three Colours'' ...

's '' Trois Couleurs: Bleu'' (1992), and stands as the central locale and 'character' in

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...

's ''L'opéra-mouffe'' (1958). * The iconic

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

photograph ''

Rue Mouffetard Rue Mouffetard () is a street in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. Description Rue Mouffetard is one of Paris's oldest and liveliest neighbourhoods. These days the area has many restaurants, shops, and cafés, and a regular open market. I ...

'' was taken on this street in 1954.

References

* Mouffetard, rue Pedestrian streets in France {{Paris-road-stub