Rue Mouffetard

Rue Mouffetard

Length	605
Width	7
Quarter	Saint-Victor . Jardin des Plantes . Val de Grâce . Sorbonne .

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 restaurants, shops, and cafés, and a regular open market. It is centered on the Place Contrescarpe, at the junction of the rue Mouffetard and the rue de Lacepede. Its southern terminus is at the Square Saint-Médard where there is a permanent open-air market. At its northern terminus, it becomes the rue Descartes at the crossing of the rue Thouin. It is closed to normal motor traffic much of the week, and is predominantly a pedestrian avenue.

Origin of the name

The rue Mouffetard runs along a flank of the mont Sainte-Geneviève hill that was called "mont Cétarius" or "mont Cetardus" from Roman times : many historians consider "Mouffetard" to be a derivation of this early name. Over the centuries the rue Mouffetard has appeared as rue Montfétard, Maufetard, Mofetard, Moufetard, Mouflard, Moufetard, Moftard, Mostard, and also rue Saint-Marcel, rue du Faubourg Saint-Marceau ("street of the suburb Saint-Marceau") and rue de la Vieille Ville Saint-Marcel ("street of the Old Village Saint-Marcel").

History

The origins of this thoroughfare are ancient, dating back to Neolithic times. As with today's rue Galande, rue Lagrange, rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève and rue Descartes, it was a Roman road running from the Roman Rive Gauche city south to Italy.

From the Middle Ages 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 area remained relatively unchanged because of its location on the Saint Geneviève hill, which protected it from Baron Haussmann's redevelopment during the reign of Napoleon III.

Cultural references

The area and the street featured prominently in Krzysztof Kieślowski's Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1992).

References

• Hillairet, Jacques (April 22, 2005). Connaissance du Vieux Paris. Rivages. ISBN 2-86930-648-2.