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Starting point and access: Sèvres-Babylone underground station.
- Metro - Line 10 or 12. Take exit 1 Rue de Sèvres.
- Bus - Lines 63, 68, 70, 83, 84, 86, 94.
The main animal representations and key points of interest are indicated in italics in the body of the description.
(S/E) Upon exiting the metro station, continue straight ahead on Rue de Sèvres. Take the first left onto Rue Juliette Récamier. Above the door of No. 5, there is a mascaron representing Hercules wearing a lion's head, and at No. 6, there is an old electricity distribution building. Enter Square Roger-Stéphane and walk around it. Retrace your steps.
Return to Rue de Sèvres and follow it to the left. Cross Rue des Saints-Pères on the left and continue along Rue de Sèvres. At No. 6, there is a building decorated in Art Deco style, featuring female representations of the five continents and two medallions with two snakes in fruit tree foliage. At the crossroads (monumental sculpture of the Centaur on the right), take the second left, Rue du Dragon.
(1) Take the first right, Rue Bernard Palissy. At the fork shortly afterwards, turn left. At No. 4, you will see caryatids carrying a kind of dish decorated with several shells, two fish and a snake. This leads to Rue de Rennes, which you should follow to the left. At No. 50, there is a sculpture of a dragon above the former entrance to a courtyard that is now closed. Cross Boulevard Saint-Germain in three stages at the pedestrian crossing and you will arrive at a square at the foot of the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
(2) Follow Boulevard Saint-Germain to the left and cross Rue Saint-Benoît on the right-hand side. Pass in front of the headquarters of the Société de Gégographie, with its gate decorated with a map of the world and two statues. Walk along Square Tarass-Chevtchenko (inside, there is a stele in homage to Laennec with a caduceus with two snakes). Then turn right into Rue des Saints-Pères and walk past the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Saint Volodymyr (snakes on the gate).
Continue straight ahead and walk past the Faculty of Medicine building, which is decorated with numerous sculpted medallions dating from 1953. You will see, in succession: snakes, a lion, a gazelle and a crocodile; a bird; sea horses; a mountain goat; a figure covered in fish skin; a sheep; a bird; snakes; a sheep; a fight between a lion and a snake. Pass in front of the faculty gate, designed by Paul Landowski, with numerous animal representations: horses, centaurs, lions, birds, snakes and other reptiles, insects, etc. Then, more medallions: monkeys; gazelle; sheep.
(3) At the crossroads, turn left into Rue de l'Université (at the corner, balcony corbels with lions). Cross Rue du Pré aux Clercs on the left-hand side, continue along Rue de l'Université and note: at no. 24, a gate with lion's head rings; at no. 13, a gate decorated with a caduceus; at No. 15, a richly decorated gate with, among other things, two lion's head rings, lions clutching a snake in their mouths and griffins.
At the crossroads, turn right into Rue de Beaune and, at the next crossroads, turn right again into Rue de Verneuil. Then take the first left, the narrow Rue Allent. At the end, turn left into Rue de Lille. At the crossroads, rejoin Rue de Beaune and follow it to the right. At No. 1, there is a gate with a caduceus and snakes, surmounted by two griffins and two sphinxes. At the end, cross Quai Voltaire at the pedestrian crossing on the right.
(4) Turn right and walk along the Seine on the left below. Note the gate at No. 13 on the opposite side, with fish, griffins and lion-headed corbels from top to bottom. On the left-hand side, cross the Pont du Carrousel bridge, framed by allegories of the Seine and the city of Paris, and note a modern sculpture entitled L'Oiseau de la Paix (The Bird of Peace). Shortly before the statue of the Republic and the dome of the Institut, turn right to cross Quai Malaquais in two stages at the pedestrian crossing.
On the other side, turn into Rue Bonaparte. At No. 5, you will see door rings with coiled snakes. At the gate of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture, turn left into Rue des Beaux Arts. At No. 13, there is a sign with a ram's head and a medallion with a horse's head; at No. 18, there is a lion.
(5) Come out onto Rue de Seine and follow it to the right. Take the first right, Rue Visconti. At the end, rejoin Rue Bonaparte and follow it to the left. At the crossroads, turn right into Rue Jacob, then left into Rue Saint-Benoît. At No. 5, there is a gate topped with two sitting dogs (literally). Between No. 16 and No. 18, there is a school pediment topped with a pelican feeding its young. Turn left onto Rue Guillaume Appolinaire. Come out onto a square, turn right and walk past the foot of the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
(2) Follow Boulevard Saint-Germain to the left, then turn left into Square Félix Desruelles. Walk around the square and observe a fountain (1923) with a shepherd and his sheep and an Art Nouveau gate (1900) with two owls. Exit by the same place and follow Boulevard Saint-Germain to the left. Cross Rue de l'Échaudé, then turn right to cross Boulevard Saint-Germain at the pedestrian crossing. Follow the boulevard to the right and take the first left to pass by the Statue of Diderot.
At the crossroads (with cats on the façade of the building opposite), turn left onto Rue des Ciseaux. This leads to Rue du Four, where you first turn right then left onto Rue des Canettes. At No. 18, you will see the sign from the early 18th century that gave the street its name. Continue straight ahead until you reach the entrance to Saint-Sulpice Church.
(6) Cross the square diagonally to the right, leaving the Fontaine des Quatre Évêques fountain decorated with reclining lions on your right. At the end, turn left and follow a tree-lined alley parallel to Rue Bonaparte. Pass the Bonaparte Fountain (small lion heads from which water spouts and a bas-relief in homage to agriculture with two oxen harnessed to a plough) and continue along Rue Bonaparte. At the end, cross Rue de Vaugirard at the pedestrian crossing and follow it to the left for about 50 metres.
(7) Then turn right into the Jardin du Luxembourg. Go straight ahead and walk along the Musée du Luxembourg on your left. Cross an alleyway and turn right before the toilets. Immediately turn left and walk along a lawn on your right with a statue in the centre. This will bring you to the foot of a sculpture group representing Silenus (father of Dionysus) on a donkey. With your back to the sculpture, go straight ahead, walk past the tennis courts on your right and continue along a wide path. Just before a balustrade, turn left onto a tarmac path.
Go down a flight of steps, turn right and walk along the Senate on your left. On the other side, turn left, ignore a path on your right, then turn right and walk along a small pond on your left. Pass by the foot of the Medici Fountain (at the front, a sculpted group representing Polyphemus surprising Galatea in the arms of Acis; at the back, difficult to spot, Leda and the swan). Continue along the path, which leads to another path. Follow this path to the right, parallel to Boulevard Saint-Michel. Pass in front of the statue of a dancing faun and you will soon come to a crossroads.
(8) First turn right then left and leave a statue of Leconte de Lisle on your right. At the next crossroads, follow a wide path to the right. At the end, go down some steps and then go around a lawn on the right. Continue along a large pond on your left. Then go around a lawn on the right and pass by several statues, including that of Venus with the Dolphin (the dolphin looks more like a large conger eel).
At the crossroads (statue of Flora on the right; basin with ram's heads opposite), turn right into a wide path. Walk along a large lawn on your left with a statue of Diana with a deer in the centre. At the end of the lawn, turn right and climb a flight of steps (statue of a lion). At the top, first turn right then left and leave a hut on your left. Go straight up a tree-lined path.
(9) Just before the garden gates, turn sharply right and walk past a sculpture of a lion and its prey (an ostrich). At the fork that appears immediately, turn right and walk along the right-hand side of a lawn with a sculpture of a stag, a doe and a fawn. At the next crossroads, turn left. Pass in front of the bust of the writer Ferdinand Fabre, at the foot of which is a shepherdess and her goat.
In front of a garden exit gate (bust of Charles Baudelaire on the right; lions on the façade of the Lycée Montaigne on the other side of the street), turn right. At a fork, turn left (monument in homage to the painter Watteau on the right). Ignore a path coming from the right and you will immediately come to a crossroads.
(10) Turn right, pass a boules court on your left and, at the corner of the court, turn left. After about 20 metres, turn right onto a path, then right again, passing a bust of Frédéric Chopin on your right. Walk along the lawn on your left until you reach a crossroads with a replica of the Statue of Liberty. Continue straight ahead, then turn left to exit the garden.
(11) Cross Rue Guynemer and take Rue de Fleurus (griffins above the gate at no. 2). At the crossroads, turn right into Rue Madame (at no. 58, there is a temple with beautiful modern stained glass windows). Cross Rue Vaugirard (on the corner, premises of a former butcher's shop, recognisable by the carved bovine and ovine heads) and continue along Rue Madame. At the next crossroads, turn left into Rue Honoré Chevalier. At the end (Virgin and Child on the corner), follow Rue Cassette to the right.
At the next intersection, turn left onto Rue de Mézières. Further on, cross Rue de Rennes and follow it to the left (lion heads at no. 81). Immediately turn right onto Rue Coëtlogon (lion head above no. 7). At the end, turn right onto Rue d'Assas. Cross Rue du Cherche-Midi on the right-hand side, then turn right onto Boulevard Raspail. Cross Rue de Sèvres at the traffic lights and you will soon see the entrance to Sèvres-Babylone metro station on your right (S/E).
To return home:
- Metro - Line 10 or 12.
- Bus - Lines 63, 68, 70, 83, 84, 86, 94
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