Rue des Petits-Champs explained

Rue des Petits-Champs
Former Names:	Rue Bautru Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs
Map Type:	France Paris
Map Size:	265
Arrondissement:	1st, 2nd
Quarter:	Palais-Royal Gaillon Vivienne
Terminus A:	1, rue de la Banque et rue La Vrillière
Terminus B:	26, avenue de l'Opéra
Length:	450m (1,480feet)
Width:	12m (39feet)
Completion Date:	1634
Inauguration Label:	Denomination
Inauguration Date:	24 January 1881

The Rue des Petits-Champs (pronounced as /fr/) is a street that runs through the 1st and 2nd arrondissement of Paris, France.

Location

This one-way street, running east–west, is located between the Rue de la Banque and the Avenue de l'Opéra.

History

It was officially created in 1634 by orders of the king during the construction of Palais-Cardinal. It was named the Rue Bautru, then the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs. In 1881, it was given its present name. In 1944, the part of the Rue des Petits Champs that extends across Opera near the Place Vendôme was renamed the Rue Danielle Casanova after a French Resistance fighter who died in 1943.

Name origin

The street received that name because of the small fields, or the large gardens, that used to be there (petits champs meaning "small fields" in French).^[1] There is a record of a street, in the same location and under the same name in the (1273).^[2]

Buildings of note

The Rue des Petits-Champs is lined by several impressive mansions:

• No. 4: Galerie Vivienne, a registered historical monument, one of the most iconic covered passages in Paris.
• No. 6: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, site Richelieu (Galerie Colbert Entrance)
• No. 8: Hôtel du Président Tubeuf, built in 1635, houses the national library's departments of Maps and Plans and Etchings and Photography.
• No. 40: Passage Choiseul, the longest covered passage in Paris.

Closest transport

Metro: Line 3 (Quatre Septembre), 1 & 7 (Palais-Royal-Musée du Louvre), 7 & 14 (Pyramides)

Bus: Lines 39 (Bus Sainte-Anne - Petits Champs), 68 21 27 95 (Pyramides)

Trivia

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived at number 57.^[3]
• Louis-Ferdinand Céline (né Destouches) grew up at no. 40 rue des Petits-Champs, in the Passage Choiseul where his mother owned a lace and lingerie shop with family quarters upstairs.^[4]
• Henri Paul Deputy Director of Security at the Hôtel Ritz Paris and driver of the car in the crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997 lived in an apartment on the fifth floor at number 33 Rue des Petits-Champs.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Book: Dictionnaire historique de Paris. Antoine Nicolas Béraud (called Antony). Pierre Joseph Spiridion Dufey (called Dufey de l'Yonne). 1825. French.
2. Book: Dictionnaire topographique, étymologique et historique des rues de Paris. Jean La Tynna. J. de La Tynna. 1812. French.
3. Book: Jurgen Oelkers. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. 23 October 2014. A&C Black. 978-1-4411-5470-5. 16–.
4. Book: David Burke. Writers in Paris: Literary Lives in the City of Light. 1 March 2009. Catapult. 978-1-58243-958-7.
5. Web site: The Operation Paget inquiry report into the allegation of conspiracy to murder Diana, Princess of Wales and Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed Report.