Left Bank of Seine River

The south side of the Seine is called the Left Bank.

The following description of the Left Bank takes an east-west tour along the Seine beginning across from the Île de la Cité and then loops around to the southeast.

~ The Latin Quarter ~
The area south of the Île de la Cité is known as the Quartier Latin, or the Latin Quarter.

The University of Paris, the oldest university in Europe, emerged in the neighborhood in the early 13th century. The area is so named because Latin was the official language of learning until 1789.

Several colleges belonging to the university—the most famous being the Sorbonne—were located throughout the neighborhood for centuries.

The University of Paris was restructured and decentralized in 1968 (see Universities of Paris), and most of its students no longer study in the Latin Quarter.

However, the Sorbonne and the Law Faculty are still located there, as is the prestigious École Normale Supérieure, an independent institution of higher education founded in 1794.

The oldest university building still standing in the Latin Quarter is the 17th-century chapel of the Sorbonne.

Two of Paris’s prestigious secondary schools are also in the Latin Quarter: the Lycée Louis le Grand and the Lycée Henri IV, located, respectively, on the site of an old Jesuit college and the Abbey of Saint Geneviève.

The Latin Quarter is a vibrant intellectual neighborhood, with numerous bookstores, shops, and movie theaters.

Boulevard Saint-Michel is the main thoroughfare of the Latin Quarter.

The Panthéon, southeast of the Sorbonne, is the Latin Quarter’s largest monument.

Once a church, the building is now the secular resting place of some of the nation’s heroes, including authors Victor Hugo, Voltaire, and Émile Zola.

Originally built for the Queen Mother Marie de Médicis, the Palais du Luxembourg is now the seat of the French Senate.

It sits west of the Sorbonne at the north end of the Jardin du Luxembourg, a magnificent park.

~ West from the Latin Quarter to the Eiffel Tower ~
Saint-Germain-des-Prés, west of the Latin Quarter and across the river from the Louvre, is named after the neighborhood’s church.

Constructed in the 11th century, the church is the only remnant of an ancient abbey.

It has been renovated or altered several times. Its church tower is the oldest in the city and one of the oldest in France.

In the 20th century, and in particular after World War II, the neighborhood became a mecca for French intellectual life, jazz music, and publishing houses, many of which still exist.

Today, Saint-Germain-des-Prés is one of the most elegant and expensive neighborhoods in Paris, lined with boutiques and art galleries.

At night it draws crowds to its restaurants, cafés, cinemas, and nightclubs.

The Faubourg Saint-Germain, further west, was an aristocratic neighborhood in the 18th century.

It is now home to many foreign embassies and government ministries, among them the French prime minister’s residence, l’Hôtel Matignon.

The Musée d’Orsay, a famous museum of 19th- and early-20th-century art, and the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the French National Assembly, are also located in the Faubourg Saint-Germain.

The 17th-century Hôtel des Invalides, built by Louis XIV as a hospice for war veterans, houses the Army Museum.

Napoleon’s tomb is located in the Church of the Dome, built from 1676 to 1706 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart.

The Invalides Esplanade extends to the Seine and bounds the Faubourg Saint-Germain to the west.

The Eiffel Tower and the École Militaire (Military School) face each other on the northern and southern edge of the Champ de Mars gardens, west of the Invalides.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Universal Exposition.

The École Militaire was built in the 18th century under Louis XV as a military academy.

The Champ de Mars served as the school’s training and parading grounds, and later as racetracks.

Universal Expositions were held here in 1855, 1878, 1889, and 1900.

~ Montparnasse and the Southeast ~
Montparnasse, to the south of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, is a commercial neighborhood centered around a major railway station and the tallest high-rise in Paris, the Tour Montparnasse (Montparnasse Tower).

In the first half of the 20th century, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, Montparnasse was the cultural and artistic center of Paris.

Artists from all corners of the world congregated in Montparnasse, in particular in the cafés near Carrefour Vavin (later renamed Place Pablo Picasso).

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France-François Mitterrand, located southeast of the Latin Quarter, across the river from Bercy, is the main location of the French national library.

It was inaugurated in 1996, and was the last in a series of public building projects undertaken during the 14-year presidency of François Mitterrand.