The Topographical Evolution of the City of Paris 
A SKETCH MAP OF MODERN PARIS 
Showing the streets and monuments mentioned in the text 
Specially prepared for House and Garden from 
Barrere's Plan du Department de la Seine, 
allel north 
and south 
line on the 
northern 
side of the city cor¬ 
responding to the 
modern Rue Saint- 
Martin, but he is 
not confirmed by better authorities. 
On the northern side, parallel to the river, 
there was an important road which started 
near the Tour de Saint-Jacques la Bou- 
cherie and following the course of the Rue 
Saint-Antoine led to the eastern provinces. 
The intersection of this road with that 
over the Pont Notre-Dame defines at the 
beginning of the Christian era the Grande 
Croisee of the City of Paris. Throughout 
the history of the city there have been two 
main lines of communication by land—one 
north and south over the bridges, and an¬ 
other at right angles to it on the north side 
parallel to the river. In the reconstruction 
of Paris in the nineteenth century attention 
was first drawn to the 
Grande Croisee and 
its rectification was the 
first resu It accom¬ 
plished. The con¬ 
necting Ruede Rivoli 
and Rue Saint-An¬ 
toine opened the 
arms parallel to the 
Seine, and the nearly 
continuous Boulevard 
de Strasbourg, Boule¬ 
vard de Sebastopol, 
Boulevard du Palais 
and Boulevard Saint- 
Michel the great line 
crossing the river. 
There were several 
Gallo-Roman road|s 
Vc'-j on the southern side 
all making for the 
Petit-Pont. The 
most interesting one 
followed the course 
of the Rue de Vau- 
girard by the Luxem- 
bourgto Meudon 
and Chartres ( Carnutes ). Between 
this and the river, precisely in the 
course of the Rue de Crenelle, was 
another road, to Issy and the bend 
of the Seine at Bas-Meudon, a local affair, 
doubtless, leading through the fine farms and 
gardens in the region of the Faubourg Saint- 
Germain described by the Emperor Julian 
in the Misopogon. Near this road was the 
temple of Isis where later stood the church 
of Saint-Vincent and now stands the famous 
old church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. An 
important road ran eastward from the Rue de 
Saint-Jacques, following the line of the Rue 
Galande, Place Maubert and Rue de Saint- 
Victor, to Ivry. It was to the southward of 
this road, and on the eastern slope of the 
hill of Sainte-Genevieve (Mons Lucotitius ), 
that the ruins of the great amphitheater 
were found in 1870. 
The course of the most important of these 
roads is marked by remains of Roman pave¬ 
ment, and of nearly all by tombs and graves 
which lined them beyond the limits of the 
Gallo-Roman town. The interesting Roman 
custom of burying the dead, not in the city, 
54 
