Why is this street called « la rue des Lions » anyway? The street was originally just a walking path on the grounds of the royal palace built by the king Charles V in the 1360s and occupied by him and then by his son, the king Charles VI until 1422. Either there were lions painted on the door or gate leading into the property, or the king had a small menagerie/zoo there that included a lion or two.
I thought the house above, on the corner of the Rue des Lions and the Rue Beautreillis, was unusual, and I thought it was older than it turns out to be. According to a real estate web site, it was built in 1800. It contains eight apartments, and the price per square meter for an apartment in the building is about 11,000 euros! A fairly small unit would cost about half a million euros, at that rate.
The Rue des Lions changes names (at least that's how Americans would describe it) and becomes the Rue Jules-Cousin for one block before you arrive at the Boulevard Henri IV and the building occupied by the Garde Républicaine — its headquarters, in fact. It's a unit of the French gendarmerie nationale. Turn left and you arrive at the Place de la Bastille after a short walk up the boulevard, and turn right to get to the Seine and the Ile Saint-Louis.
wow it is a fantastic building..
ReplyDeleteThe Republican Guard building is handsome. What about the photo of the horse and Arche de Triomphe?
ReplyDeleteE., the Garde Républicaine does ceremonial work in Paris as well as police work. I can imagine that a lot of their horses are trained at places like Le Haras du Pin, where we saw that spectacular show in 2011.
DeleteSo, what exactly is the Republican Guard? My French 4s and I read a two-part news story about a missing woman in France (happened back in 2009, I believe), and the text includes reference to mobilizing a large search team that included "les chevaux de la Garde Republicaine". Is that like a mounted police force?
ReplyDeleteJudith
ReplyDeleteHere is a breakdown of the organization of the French law enforcement:
http://www.justlanded.com/english/France/Articles/Culture/The-French-police
As Ken said, the GR is part of the Gendarmerie Nationale and you have a description here
:http://www.lagendarmerierecrute.fr/index.php/Metiers2/Unite-de-prestige/Cavalier-de-la-garde-republicaine
btw: You can visit inside - it is a guided visit.
Thanks!
DeleteJudy, the GR seems to be a basically Paris organization. It protects the national government and provides colorful displays and music at national events.
DeleteThanks for the intro to this interesting corner of Paris.
ReplyDeleteHi, hope you are doing well. The street in question is not very far from the Bastille neighborhood where you had that apartment in 2008. I really enjoyed my walk through there and the whole walk through Paris, actually.
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