Cour du Commerce-Saint-André

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The cour du Commerce-Saint-André /kuʁ dy komɛʁs sɛ̃tɑ̃dʁe/ is a little cobblestone pedestrian street at the western end of the Latin Quarter. It is several hundred years old and has a lot of charm, so I thought I’d show you a picture of it.

This street is as old as the United States: both were built (so to speak) in 1776. Today the street is lined mostly with restaurants and shops. The right side of the street (as seen from here) runs just outside the ancient city wall of Philippe Auguste, of which a few remains can still be seen inside some of the shops.

Although it is hard to see here, one restaurant, the Café Procope, on the left in the background, has been here for three hundred years; it was founded in 1686 by the eponymous Sicilian Procopio dei Coltelli. The restaurant has been patronized over the centuries by a long line of important French and global historical figures, such as Rousseau, Beaumarchais, Robespierre, Verlaine, and many others.

It was in a workshop near this spot that Doctor Guillotin first tested a “humane” execution machine on sheep that worked by decapitation, which was later named after him when it came into general use in France. It was tested here because the contracting builder of the prototype guillotine, Tobias Schmidt, had his workshop in this street, just across from number 8.

The walls of some of the buildings on this street are kind of crooked, but that seems to be common among very old buildings; I guess nobody knew how to use plumb bobs or levels in those days.

Photographed on August 15, 2001.