Rue Bonaparte

Rue Bonaparte

view starting at no. 88 rue Bonaparte from the rue de Vaugirard
Length	1,010 m (3,310 ft)
Width	11 m (36 ft)
Arrondissement	6th
Quarter	Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Odéon
From	7 Quai Malaquais
To	58 rue de Vaugirard
Construction
Completion	Ord. du 7 septembre 1845
Denomination	12 August 1852

Rue Bonaparte is a street in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It spans the Quai Voltaire/Quai Malaquais to the Jardin du Luxembourg, crossing the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the place Saint-Sulpice and has housed many of France's most famous names and institutions as well as other well-known figures from abroad. The street runs through the heart of the fashionable Left Bank and is characterised by a number of 'hôtels particuliers' (grand townhouses) and elegant apartment buildings as well as being bounded by the river at one end and the park at the other. With fifteen buildings or monuments classified as Monument Historique, it has more such listed sites than any other street in the 6th arrondissement.

Rue Bonaparte also has many literary associations and contains a number of bookshops, antiquarian booksellers, publishers and art galleries. Its architecture and location have made it one of Paris' most historic and sought-after residential addresses.

The length of the street was formerly the site of a river called La Noue, which at the time formed the eastern boundary of the Pré-aux-Clercs (an area of land belonging to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés). Later, the river was enlarged into a 27-m wide canal and named Petite Seine ('Little Seine'), which in turn supplied water to the moat of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés when its fortifications were built during the 14th century. In the 17th century, those fortifications were demolished along with the moat and the canal.

At one time, it was divided into two streets - the rue du Pot de Fer dite du Verger and the rue des Petits Augustins (also known variously in the late 16th century as the rue Bouyn, Petite rue de Seine, Rue de la Petite Seine and the Chemin de la Noue). Its present form was established by government decree on 7 September 1845, which resulted in the opening of the part of the street between the Boulevard Saint-Germain and the rue du Vieux-Colombier. Its name was subsequently changed on 12 August 1852 to commemorate the Emperor Napoleon I.