The murals of the 13th arrondissement

Starting point and access: Place d’Italie.
- Metro - Lines 5, 6, 7. Take Exit 1 onto Boulevard Auguste Blanqui.
- Bus - Lines 27, 47, 57, 59, 61, 64, 67, 83.

To avoid having to go back and forth between sections, the murals are listed directly in the description, identified simply by their name in italics. Where a photo of the mural in question has been taken, a link has been provided.

(S) As you exit the metro station, turn slightly left onto Rue Bobillot. At the nursery school, turn right into the Passage du Moulin des Prés (bird on a blue background). At the end, turn right onto Rue du Moulin des Prés. Then take the^first left at a sharp angle, Rue Gérard. At the junction with Rue Samsom, turn right into Rue Jonas (graffiti).

At the junction immediately ahead, turn left onto Rue des Cinq Diamants. Note, at no. 29, a shop front covered in graffiti and, at no. 31, a metal shutter decorated with a boy with his finger in his nose. Cross Passage Barrault on the right-hand side and note a sprawling mural there.

At the end of the street (ibex), turn left and take Rue de la Butte aux Cailles (piranha). Note at no. 13 a metal shutter decorated with portraits of Jacques Brel and Léo Ferré. Shortly afterwards, turn right into Passage Boiton (graffitied walls). Note a hippopotamus on the left-hand side.

At the end, turn left and you’ll come out onto a small square. Cross it, veering to the right, and continue along Rue du Moulinet. Pass by a building featuring the Donkey Kong mural (a reference to a video game).

Further on, cross Rue du Moulin des Prés and continue straight ahead for about twenty metres. Then turn left into Passage Vandrezanne and you’ll come to a small square.

(1) Turn left into Rue Vandrezanne to see, on the right-hand side, the long mural entitled Cinq visages. Retrace your steps.

(1) Back at the small square, turn left and continue along Rue Vandrezanne. Pass by the foot of a tower and take a detour to the right, onto Place André Masson, to see the small mural with childlike motifs at no. 7. Continue along Rue Vandrezanne.

At the traffic lights, cross Avenue d’Italie and follow it to the left. At no. 17, turn right, pass under a colourful mosaic and enter a covered passageway (retoucherie). Go straight on, go down a flight of stairs and emerge onto Avenue de Choisy.

Follow the avenue to the left and, after a few dozen metres, cross it at the pedestrian crossing. Then cross Avenue Edison and continue along Avenue de Choisy to Place d’Italie.

Then turn right at the corner of a fast-food restaurant. After about 50 metres, at a traffic light, cross Boulevard Vincent Auriol in several stages. Continue straight ahead through a small green space.

(2) At a sort of roundabout, turn right and use the pedestrian crossing to cross the street running parallel to the square. Continue straight ahead into Rue Godefroy and note a long mural featuring paper aeroplanes and two figures wearing aviator’s helmets.

At the end, go round the Place des Alpes and take the^second left, Rue Stephen Pichon. Turn into the^first left, Rue Édouard Manet, and note the reimagined ‘Luncheon on the Grass’ on the left-hand side.

At the end of the street, turn right onto Boulevard de l’Hôpital and walk alongside the large Arts et Métiers building. At the traffic lights, turn left to cross the boulevard. Note a mural entitled Mécanismes on the corner of Rue Watteau.

Then turn right and continue slightly downhill along Boulevard de l’Hôpital. You’ll pass Rue Titien on your left, then Rue Duméril. At the next set of traffic lights, turn right to cross Boulevard de l’Hôpital again. Then take a first turn left then right to cross Rue Esquirol and reach Place Louis Armstrong (Wallace Fountain).

(3) Walk along the square on your left and, at the end, first turn left then right to enter Rue Jeanne d’Arc, which features several murals. First, two photographers frame the gateway at No. 110, a woman and then a man. The next building has a façade decoratedwith coloured ellipses. At the corner of this building, note a toddler in shorts.

At the level of this last mural but on the odd-numbered side, at the corner of No. 107, turn right into Square Gustave Mesureur. At the Fork in the road that appears immediately, turn left and cross the square at the foot of the buildings.

Just before the exit, note on the right the monumental mural depicting a couple embracing. Leave the square and immediately note on the left a portrait of Philippe Pinel, after whom the square is named. Walk around the square anti-clockwise and note a portrait of a woman on Rue Esquirol.

Head towards Boulevard Auriol and follow it to the left. Immediately at the corner, note a figure who appears to be opening a sliding door. Walk alongside the elevated metro line on your right and note, on the left, a building whose façade is decorated with blue motifs.

There are then two murals to look out for on the left: a dancer at the junction with Rue Jeanne d’Arc, then a face seen in profile at the junction with Rue Jenner.

(4) At the traffic lights, turn right, cross Boulevard Auriol in two stages, passing under the elevated metro line. On the other side, follow Boulevard Auriol to the right and immediately note two murals: the Madre Secular (by turning round) and then a pair of brackets.

At the corner of this last building, turn left and climb a flight of steps towards Square Dunois, passing blue and black birds on your right. At the top, turn right into a covered passageway (an acting school). Pass under a series of arches and, at the T-junction ahead, turn right. About twenty metres further on, at the corner of a wall sculpture, turn left. You’ll come out onto Rue Dunois; follow it to the right.

Return to Boulevard Auriol and follow it to the left. Cross Rue Jeanne d’Arc again and note a female face in shades of red. Then cross Rue Nationale and, looking back to your left, note a cat against a blue background and, further up, the face of Marianne surrounded by the motto of the French Republic.

(5) Then enter the Square de la Raffinerie Say and, looking up, observe a female face. Cross the square, ignore the^first exit on the left and turn left. Take the^second exit on the left and walk along the left-hand side of a building marked No. 202.

At the end of the lane, follow a pedestrian street to the left (Rue Yéo Thomas). At the end, note a door on the left opening onto a setting sun. Cross Rue Nationale at the pedestrian crossing and turn right. Pass Rue du Docteur Richet on the left, then Rue du Docteur Hutinel, and continue along Rue Jean-Sébastien Bach.

Immediately on the right, note a portrait of a mother and child. Then, on the left, look out for a frog. At the end of the street, note the blue arabesques on the right. On the left, on Rue Clisson, look out for a portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.

(6) Follow Rue Clisson to the right. At the corner of this street and Rue Lahire, note a map of the neighbourhood framed by portraits of Joan of Arc and her comrades-in-arms. Cross Rue Lahire, emerge onto Place Nationale and go round it on the left.

Take the^second left onto Rue Nationale and, after a few metres, turn right onto Rue Baudricourt. Go straight on and walk alongside the Centre Pierre Mendès-France. At the traffic lights, cross Rue de Tolbiac and go straight on. Note the mural Les lettres on the left. Continue straight on and, at the next set of traffic lights, cross Avenue d’Ivry.

(7) Follow the avenue to the left. At the corner of an Asian food shop, turn right towards the post office. Immediately turn left into Rue Simone Weil, keeping the post office on your right. At a junction, first turn left then right to enter the Jardin Baudricourt. Cross the garden, passing a fountain and keeping the toilets on your right.

At the exit, cross the road and enter the Jardin de la Dalle d’Ivry. Follow a paved path flanked by metal railings. After a bend, turn right and go through a gate. Continue straight ahead, passing a playground on your left. Turning around, look at the blue-coloured fish. Leave the garden and cross Avenue de Choisy at the pedestrian crossing.

Note a colourful mural on the corner, follow the avenue to the left and walk past the Notre-Dame de Chine church. On the opposite side, note a blue heron with a panda at its feet. Continue along the avenue and you will soon reach the Porte de Choisy (E).

To get back home:
- Metro - Line 7. Immediate access on the right. N.B. In January 2020, Porte de Choisy station was closed for works. In this case, take the T3a tram towards Pont du Gagliriano and get off at the next stop, Porte d’Italie, where the metro station is open.
- Tram - Line T3a. Stop on the right, in the middle of Boulevard Masséna (cross at the traffic lights).
- Bus - Route 183.

Good trainers are sufficient for this urban route.

Water points and public toilets in some gardens, marked on the OSM base map. Numerous bars, restaurants and shops all along the route.

A detailed map is required (at the very least the one accompanying this description).

Opening hours of public gardens:
Square Gustave Mesureur:
- Opening: 8.00 am on weekdays; 9.00 am on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
- Closing: 5.45 pm to 9.30 pm depending on the season. See detailed opening hours.
Square de la Raffinerie Say:
- Opening: 8.00 am on weekdays; 9.00 am on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
- Closing: 5.00 pm to 8.30 pm depending on the season. See detailed opening hours.
Jardin Baudricourt:
- Opening times: 8.00 am on weekdays; 9.00 am on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
- Closing: 5.45 pm to 9.30 pm depending on the season. See detailed opening hours.
Jardin de la dalle d'Ivry: 24 hours a day.

Walk undertaken by the author on 10 January 2020.

The murals, the vast majority of which date from the 2010s, are the main attraction of this urban walk. The density of works found here is the result of the determined efforts of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, notably Jérôme Coumet, mayor since 2007, and the Gallerie Itinerrance, established in the arrondissement since 2004. Not to mention the inventiveness of the artists to whom these walls, sometimes gigantic, have been entrusted...

It is, of course, impossible to be exhaustive! In the description, the murals visited are systematically highlighted, and the relevant information (artist, year, etc.) appears in the captions of the photos taken and published on the website, to which a link leads.

For further details, it is worth consulting the "Trompe l'oeil" website, particularly its interactive map of^{the 13th} arrondissement. By clicking on a marker on the map, you will find a summary of the artwork in question, which includes a link to a detailed description.

Many thanks to the team behind the "Trompe l'oeil" website: the map mentioned above was a great help in designing this itinerary, and most of the information in the photo captions comes from it.