Rue de Vaugirard

Rue de Vaugirard
	A view of the Rue de Vaugirard in the 15th arrondissement in 2008
	Shown within Paris
Length	4,300 m (14,100 ft)
Arrondissement	6th, 15th
Quarter	Quartier de l'Odéon; Quartier Necker; Quartier Saint-Lambert
Coordinates	48°50′34″N 2°18′42″E / 48.84278°N 2.31167°E
From	Jardin du Luxembourg
To	Porte de Versailles

The Rue de Vaugirard (French pronunciation: [ʁy d(ə) voʒiʁaʁ]; English: Street of Vaugirard) is the longest street inside Paris's former city walls, at 4.3 km (2.7 mi). It spans the 6th and 15th arrondissements. The Senate, housed in the Palais du Luxembourg, is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard.

Location

The Rue de Vaugirard is mostly a one-way street from the southwest edge of Paris (at the Porte de Versailles) towards the Latin Quarter at the junction of the Boulevard Victor and the Boulevard Lefebvre. Traffic flows in both directions between the Rue de Rennes and the Place de l'Odéon. Numbering starts in the Latin Quarter, reaching the 400s by the Porte de Versailles. It the longest street in Paris.

History

The road, which appeared in the 15th century, led from Philip II's city walls towards the village of Vaugirard. This route was itself based on an old Roman road.

Origin of the name

Vaugirard came from an old French noun-and-genitive construction val Girard (Latin: vallis Girardi), meaning "vale of Girard", after an Abbé Girard, who owned the land over which the road passes.