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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. When you reach a 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, onto Rue Gérard. At the junction with Rue Samsom, turn right onto 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 onto 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 the foot of a block of flats 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 slightly left onto 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. Walk past 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 number 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 as far as Place d’Italie.
Then turn right at the corner of a fast-food restaurant. After about fifty metres, at a set of traffic lights, 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 along Rue Godefroy and note a long mural featuring paper aeroplanes and two figures wearing aviator’s helmets.
At the end of the street, walk round the Place des Alpes and take the second left, Rue Stephen Pichon. Turn into the first left, Rue Édouard Manet, and look out for 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. Look out for 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, followed by 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 arrive at 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 followed by 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 blocks of flats.
Just before the exit, look out for the monumental mural on the right depicting a couple embracing. Leave the square and immediately look out for a portrait of Philippe Pinel on the left, after whom the square is named. Walk round the square anti-clockwise and look out for a portrait of a woman on Rue Esquirol.
Head towards Boulevard Auriol and follow it to the left. Immediately at the corner, look out for a figure who appears to be opening a sliding door. Walk alongside the elevated metro line on your right and, on your left, look out for a block of flats 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, followed by 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 (if you turn 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 training studio). Pass under a series of arches and, at the T-junction ahead, turn right. About twenty metres further on, at the corner marked by a wall sculpture, turn left. You’ll come out onto Rue Dunois; follow it to the right.
Join 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, turn left onto a pedestrian street (Rue Yéo Thomas). At the end of this, 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 your left, then Rue du Docteur Hutinel, and continue along Rue Jean-Sébastien Bach.
You’ll immediately notice a portrait of a mother and child on the right. Then look out for a frog on the left. At the end of the street, look out for 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 junction of this street and Rue Lahire, look out for 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. Continue straight on, passing the Centre Pierre Mendès-France. At the traffic lights, cross Rue de Tolbiac and continue straight on. Note the mural *Les lettres* on your 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 by 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 right then left to enter the Jardin Baudricourt. Walk through the garden, past a fountain and with the toilets on your right.
On leaving, cross a street and enter the Jardin de la Dalle d’Ivry. Follow a cobbled path flanked by metal railings. After a bend, turn right and go through a gate. Continue straight ahead, passing a playground on your left. Turn round to see some blue-coloured fish. Leave the garden and cross Avenue de Choisy at the pedestrian crossing.
Take note of 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, look out for a bluish heron with a panda at its feet. Continue along the avenue and you’ll soon reach the Porte de Choisy (E).
To get back home:
- Metro – Line 7. Immediate access on the right.
- Tram – Line T3a. Stop on the right, in the middle of Boulevard Masséna (cross at the traffic lights).
- Bus – Route 183.
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