Rue de Rennes is a thoroughfare in the

6th arrondissement of Paris The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''. The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in ...

. It is a major shopping street on the

left bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

of the capital.

Location and access

Rue de Rennes begins at Place du Québec and ends at Place du 18-Juin-1940. It is a straight north-south street, over one kilometer long and twenty meters wide. Opened in the mid-nineteenth century, it is a recent thoroughfare in terms of Paris history: its buildings, of fairly homogeneous scale, are all post-

1850 Events January–March * January 29 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the United States Congress. * January 31 – The University of Rochester is founded in Rochester, New York. * January – Sacramento, Ca ...

. Rue de Rennes is served by line 4 at

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the nor ...

, Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Placide stations, line 12 at

Rennes station Rennes station (French language, French: ''Gare de Rennes'') is situated in the town centre of Rennes, France. It is situated on the Paris–Brest railway, Paris–Brest, Rennes–Saint-Malo railway, Rennes–Saint-Malo and the Rennes–Redon ra ...

and lines 4, 6, 12 and 13 at Montparnasse - Bienvenüe station.

Origin of the name

The street is named after the city of

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

, because in 1853, the street ended at the “gare de Rennes", today the

Gare de Paris-Montparnasse Gare Montparnasse (; Montparnasse station), officially Paris Montparnasse, is one of the seven large Paris railway termini, and is located in the 14th and 15th arrondissements. The station opened in 1840, was rebuilt in 1852 and relocated in ...

, from which lines serving Brittany depart.

History

Rue de Rennes was built during the Second Empire. It was originally intended to join the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

. For this reason, the numbering begins at 41, the previous numbers having been reserved for the part of the street that was to be cut north of

Boulevard Saint-Germain The Boulevard Saint-Germain () is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. It curves in a 3.5-kilometre (2.1 miles) arc from the Pont de Sully in the east (the bridge at the edge of Île Saint-Louis) to the Pont de la Concord ...

. The existing section was excavated twice. BazarRueDeRennes

It was opened by decree on March 9, 1853, from rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs and rue de

Vaugirard The 15th arrondissement of Paris () is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ('the fifteenth'). The 15th arrondissement, called , is situated on the left bank of the River Seine. S ...

to place du 18-Juin-1940. The plan appended to this decree gave the road a width of just 20 meters. However, it was opened up, following different alignments, to a width of 22 m, as shown on the plan appended to the decree of July 25, 1855, setting its level between rue de Vaugirard and place du 18-Juin-1940. The second section, from

boulevard Saint-Germain The Boulevard Saint-Germain () is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine. It curves in a 3.5-kilometre (2.1 miles) arc from the Pont de Sully in the east (the bridge at the edge of Île Saint-Louis) to the Pont de la Concord ...

to rue de Vaugirard and rue du Regard, follows the decree of July 28, 1866. The construction of this thoroughfare led to the disappearance of several streets: * Beurrière street, * Guillemin new-street, * , * . The third section was never built; the route finally chosen involved the destruction of the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

. In 1880, the point where rue de Rennes meets

boulevard du Montparnasse The Boulevard du Montparnasse () is a two-way boulevard in Montparnasse, in the 6th, 14th and 15th arrondissements of Paris. Situation The boulevard runs south-eastward from the Place Léon-Paul Fargue to the Port-Royal ( Place Camille Jul ...

was renamed “place de Rennes” (now place du 18-Juin-1940). In 1977, the area in contact with became part of the latter. On March 30, 1918, during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, a shell fired by Big Bertha exploded at the corner of rue de Rennes and

boulevard Raspail The Boulevard Raspail () is a boulevard of Paris, in France. Its orientation is north–south, and joins boulevard Saint-Germain with place Denfert-Rochereau whilst traversing 7th, 6th and 14th arrondissements. The boulevard intersects maj ...

. The following day, another shell exploded at no. 106. Rue de Rennes is often referred to as the

rue de Rennes bombing The Rue de Rennes bombing took place on 17 September 1986, when a handmade bomb planted by Hezbollah militants detonated outside of the ''Le Point'' Headquarters Building and Tati Store, both located at 140 Rue de Rennes. The attack killed seven p ...

, which took place in front of the '' Tati'' store on September 17, 1986. It was the latest and deadliest (7 dead and around 60 injured) in a series that began on September 4 (11 dead in all). Carried out in broad daylight, it was claimed by CSPPAC, a false name concealing

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

acting on behalf of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, which demanded the release of Lebanese leader

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (, born 2 April 1951) is a Lebanese militant, who founded the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF) and was convicted of terrorism. He is currently serving a life sentence at Lannemezan prison, France, for complicit ...

. The leader of the terrorist commando responsible for the attacks, Fouad Ali Salah, was arrested in March 1987. A plaque inaugurated by President

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

honors the memory of the victims. Rue de Rennes was redeveloped in the early 2010s. The first stage, involving the southern section between Place du 18-Juin-1940 and Boulevard Raspail, was launched in May 2011 and completed on June 30, 2012, with the widening of sidewalks, the creation of bicycle lanes and delivery spaces. To make these improvements possible, the bus lanes have been removed, although four bus lines, including two Mobilien lines, run on them. File:Paris 06 - 72 rue de Rennes.jpg, Late Haussmann building at no. 72. File:P1330656 Paris VI rue de Rennes rwk.jpg, No. 120: building towards the middle of the street. File:P1330655 Paris VI rue de Rennes rwk.jpg, The southern end of the street; in the background, the

Montparnasse Tower Tour Maine-Montparnasse (Maine-Montparnasse Tower), also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a office skyscraper in the Montparnasse area of Paris, France. Constructed from 1969 to 1973, it was the tallest skyscraper in France until 2011, whe ...

and

Paris-Montparnasse station Gare Montparnasse (; Montparnasse station), officially Paris Montparnasse, is one of the seven large Paris railway termini, and is located in the 14th and 15th arrondissements. The station opened in 1840, was rebuilt in 1852 and relocated in ...

Remarkable buildings and places of memory

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

and

Ségolène Royal Ségolène Royal (; born Marie-Ségolène Royal; 22 September 1953) is a French politician who took part in the 2007 French presidential election, losing to Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round. She was the first woman in France's history to r ...

lived at an unknown number in the 1980s. * No. 44: on March 22, 1895, the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: Buildings * Lumière, a building used by the Bibliothèque publique d'information in Paris, France * Lumiere (skyscraper), a cancelled skyscraper development in Leeds, ...

gave their first public film screening here, before the

Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale The Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale (; ) is an organization established in 1801 to support French industry. Over the years it has provided prizes and support to inventors, promoted transfer of technology and management techniq ...

. * No. 46: painter Charles Wislin (1852-1932) lived here. * No. 50: above the doorway is a

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

depicting Saint Marguerite's dragon, created in 1732 by Paul-Ambroise Slodtz. It originally stood above a gateway leading to an inner courtyard, the Cour du Dragon. The courtyard was demolished in the mid-20th century, and the portal, although listed as a historic monument, was demolished in 1935 to make way for a concrete building. The fresco on display today is a copy, the original being in the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. * No. 54: Charles Pigeon died here. File:Cour du Dragon - Vue sur cour - Paris 06 - Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00037578.jpg, View of the entrance to the Cour du Dragon. File:Paul-Ambroise Slodtz - Dragon.jpg, Au Dragon sign by Paul-Ambroise Slodtz (Louvre). File:P1240308 Paris VI rue de Rennes cour du Dragon rwk.jpg, Copy of Le Dragon bas-relief at no. 50. * No 62: Gaston Prost (1881-1967), painter and lithographer, lived here. * No 64: during the siege of Paris,

Bourg-la-Reine Bourg-la-Reine () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. History In 1792, during the French Revolution, Bourg-la-Reine (meaning "Town of the Queen") w ...

's town council met here from September 1870 to March 14, 1871, first in the former building No 43, boulevard Saint-Germain (the present building dates from 1890), then here, with Jean Alphonse Gosse as mayor. * No 71: in 1919,

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

, who was still a child and had been living until then in the beautiful apartment where she was born in 1908, at 103,

, her family having suffered reverses of fortune, moved to this new address, to a less plush apartment on the sixth floor, with no elevator or running water; she lived there until 1929. * No. 76:

L'Arlequin The Arlequin is a cinema in Paris, noted for its spacious modernist main theatre and its former role as a showcase of Soviet film. History Opened in 1934 as the Lux Rennes, the cinema was situated in the building of its patron, the ''Compagnie ...

cinema. * From 1948 to 1956, part of the building's basement housed the cabaret-theater '' La Rose Rouge'' (150 seats), directed by Nikos Papatakis (1918-2010), who had co-founded it when it opened in 1947 in a restaurant of the same name at 53, rue de la Harpe. The fiction film La Rose rouge (1951) by Marcel Pagliero (1907-1980) captures the ambience of the place. * No. 112: former Crédit municipal de Paris building. Since 1983, the André-Malraux library. * No. 129: architect Theodor Josef Hubert Hoffbauer (1829-1922) lived here in 1868. * Nos. 136-138: former Grand bazar building on rue de Rennes, inaugurated on September 29, 1906, by architect Henri Gutton (who made his mark in Nancy with the Art Nouveau movement). The building's metal beams come from the workshops of engineer Armand Moisant. In 1910, it became the ''Grands Magasins de la rue de Rennes'', which in the 1920s became the property of Magasins Réunis. Around 1960, the latter placed a new, more plain facade on the original one. The original building was demolished and rebuilt. In 1974, the building became a

Fnac Fnac () is a French multinational retail chain specializing in the sale of entertainment Media (communication), media and consumer electronics. Fnac was founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its headquarters is located in ''Le Flavia' ...

store, the first Fnac store in Montparnasse to sell books. File:Bibliothèque André-Malraux, 112 rue de Rennes, Paris 6e.jpg, No. 112: André-Malraux Library. File:Gd Bazar, Rue de Rennes à Paris (2).jpg, Nos. 136-138: Interior of the former Grand Bazaar. File:Immeuble Félix Potin 2.jpg, Nos. 140-140 bis: Former Félix Potin building. * No. 140-140 bis: building of the former

Félix Potin Félix Potin is a French businessman (1820-1871) and his mass-distribution retail business, ''Félix Potin,'' founded in 1844. The business was bought out and then collapsed in the second half of the twentieth century, the brand has been revive ...

store, opened in 1904, designed by architect Paul Auscher, a six-storey food superstore richly decorated in Art Nouveau style, which notably offered a “cuisine service for the city” with its catering department. The building's facade and roof are listed historic monuments. The building was later taken over by Tati. The Rue de Rennes bombing took place here on September 17, 1986. The shopping area is now occupied by Zara. * No. 153: site of the first church of the Notre-Dame-des-Champs parish, created in 1858 and covering part of this district. The building was made of wood. It has since been replaced by the new Notre-Dame-des-Champs church, built from 1867 to 1876 on the corner of

and rue du Montparnasse. In 1931, it was reassembled in

Fermanville Fermanville () is a commune in the Manche department in north-western France. Located on the Channel coast between Cherbourg-en-Cotentin and Barfleur, Fermanville is divided into small hamlets on either side of the Cap lévi, the headland form ...

Commemorative plaques

File:Plaque J.-H. Rosny aîné, 47 rue de Rennes, Paris 6.jpg, Writer J.-H. Rosny aîné died at no. 47 in 1940. File:Plaque José Rizal, 124 rue de Rennes, Paris 6e.jpg, Philippine independence activist

José Rizal José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...

lived at no. 124 in 1883. File:Plaque Robert Fouré, 128 rue de Rennes, Paris 6.jpg, Robert Fouré, military leader of

Libération-Nord ("Liberation-North") was one of the principal resistance movements in the northern occupied zone of France during the Second World War. It was one of the eight great networks making up the National Council of the Resistance. History Initial ...

, who died in deportation, lived at no. 128. File:Plaque Attentat de la rue de Rennes, Paris 6.jpg, Plaque in memory of the rue de Rennes bombing at no. 140 bis. File:Joseph Canteloub plaque - 146 rue de Rennes, Paris 6.jpg, Composer

Joseph Canteloube Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret (; 21 October 18794 November 1957) was a French composer, musicologist, and author best known for his collections of orchestrated folksongs from the Auvergne (province), Auvergne region, ''Chants d'Auvergne''. ...

lived at no. 146. File:Hélène Boucher plaque - 169 rue de Rennes, Paris 14.jpg, Aviatrix

Hélène Boucher Hélène Boucher (; 23 May 1908 — 30 November 1934) was a well-known France, French pilot in the early 1930s, when she set several women's world speed records and the all-comers record for 1,000 km (621 mi) in 1934. She was killed in an acciden ...

lived at no. 169.

References

Bibliography

* {{Cite book , last=Hénard , first=E , url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k64888723/f5.image , title=Le prolongement de la rue de Rennes, à Paris, et le projet de pont en X sur la Seine , publisher=Le Génie civil , year=1910 , language=fr 6th arrondissement of Paris Arrondissements of Paris Geography of Paris