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Starting point and access: Place Denfert-Rochereau.
- Metro – Lines 4 and 6. Take Exit 1 to Place Denfert-Rochereau.
- RER – Line B.
- Bus – Routes 38, 59, 64, 68, 88, 216.
The main animal depictions and key features to look out for are indicated in italics within the description.
(S) As you exit the metro station (withthe statue of the Lion of Belfort in the centre of the square), go straight ahead and cross Avenue du Colonel Henri Roll-Tanguy. On the other side, turn left to cross Boulevard Saint-Jacques, then turn right onto Boulevard Arago. Walk past the memorial to Arago and turn right to cross Place de l’Île de Sein. Continue along Rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques.
At the traffic lights, cross Place Saint-Jacques. Then cross the boulevard of the same name in two stages and follow it to the right. Just before No. 67 (a beautiful façade with a bust), turn left into Villa Saint-Jacques (at No. 12, a bas-relief featuring horses). Walk past the Church of Saint-Dominique on your left and, at the corner, turn left to reach its entrance.
(1) Then turn right into Rue de la Tombe-Issoire. Just before the railway bridge, turn left into Passage Dareau. At the end, turn left. Cross Rue Broussais on the right-hand side and continue straight on along Rue Dareau (at No. 9, there are lion-headed mascarons).
At the end, you’ll rejoin Boulevard Saint-Jacques; follow it to the right, running alongside the elevated metro line on your left. Cross Rue Ferrus and take the next right onto Rue de la Santé. You’ll pass Rue Cabanis on your right and walk alongside the wall of Sainte-Anne Hospital.
(2) Take the first left into Passage Victor Marchand. At the traffic lights, turn left onto Rue de la Glacière. After about fifty metres, turn left onto a footpath heading towards a nursery school. Turn right along this path and walk past a mural featuring cats. When the path turns right again (with the entrance to a sports hall on the left), carry on straight ahead and walk past the foot of a block of flats.
(3) You’ll come out onto Boulevard Auguste Blanqui; follow it to the right. Cross Rue de la Glacière and turn left immediately to cross the boulevard in two stages and pass under the elevated metro line. On the other side, follow Boulevard Auguste Blanqui to the right. Take the first left onto Rue Vulpian. Note the mascarons at numbers 9 and 7, then a dog’s head with wolf’s ears at number 1.
(4) At the junction, take the second right, Rue des Cordelières. Note a mural entitled ‘L’arbre de vie’ by Julien Malland (alias Seth) and Aleksey Kislow (2013) after No. 31, and the Palais du Peuple, dating from 1912, at No. 29. Ignore a street on the right and note, at no. 2, the balcony railings adorned with lion heads. At the traffic lights, follow Boulevard Arago to the right (Art Nouveau building at no. 14).
At the first junction (wall mural featuring a dove and a hen), make the first turn right then left onto Rue des Gobelins. Carry straight on, passing behind the Château de la Reine Blanche at No. 17, and cross Rue Gustave Geffroy on the right-hand side. At the traffic lights, cross Avenue des Gobelins.
(5) On the other side, follow the avenue to the left (between nos. 27 and 25, there is a sign depicting a pig, designed by Barberousse (1920–2010), a famous illustrator of the 1960s). At the traffic lights, cross Boulevard Saint-Marcel in two stages and continue along Avenue des Gobelins. Take the first right, into Rue du Petit Moine. At the end, turn left into Rue de la Collégiale, then right into Rue du Fer à Moulin.
(6) After No. 32 (an old building), veer to the right and enter Square Théodore Monod. Walk across the square to the bas-relief dated 1897 depicting bakers. Turn left, go through a small gate and leave the square. Return to Rue du Fer à Moulin and follow it to the right.
At the traffic lights, cross Rue des Fossés Saint-Marcel and take the next street on the right, Rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Note, at No. 5, the pavilion (1760) of the former horse market, adorned with a crane and a cockerel. Pass the Impasse du Marché aux Chevaux on your right, then cross Boulevard Saint-Marcel in two stages (statue of Joan of Arc on the right).
(7) Follow the boulevard to the left. Walk past the Institute of Human Palaeontology, a building dating from 1914, adorned with friezes depicting groups of people from the five continents. Walk round the building, turning right into Rue René Panhard and then right again into Rue des Wallons. In the friezes, note a chained gorilla, a hunter skinning an elk under the watchful eyes of his dogs, and North American Indians covered in wolf skins for camouflage.
At the end of Rue des Wallons, turn left into Rue Jules Breton. Then turn left again and walk up Rue Jeanne d’Arc (Art Nouveau building at no. 165, mascarons at no. 162 and on the corner of no. 160).
(8) At the traffic lights, follow Boulevard de l’Hôpital to the right and cross Rue Duméril on the right-hand side (restaurant sign featuring peacocks and butterflies). Take the next right onto Rue Titien, and at the end, turn left onto Rue du Banquier. Cross Rue Watteau on the left-hand side and, level with no. 28, turn left and go through a small gate. Climb a flight of steps and enter the Jardin Kateb Yacine.
Pass a playground on your right, first turn left then right, and walk between two blocks of flats. Ignore a path on your left and walk alongside some communal vegetable plots to leave the garden.
(9) You’ll come out onto Rue Rubens (signposted further on) and follow it to the right. Then take the first left onto Rue Primatice. At the junction, turn right onto Rue Coypel. At the end, cross Avenue des Gobelins and follow it to the left. The gate at No. 70 is flanked by two female busts, and two birds are depicted on the lintel. Walk up the avenue to Place d’Italie and turn left to cross it again, heading for the metro station at the foot of the 13th arrondissement town hall (E).
To get back home:
- Metro – Lines 5, 6, 7.
- Bus – Lines 27, 47, 57, 59, 61, 64, 67, 83.
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