Rue de Montmorency

The rue de Montmorency is a street in the historic Le Marais quarter of Paris, part of the city's (3rd arrondissement) in the historical heart of the capital. It runs from the rue du Temple to the rue Saint-Martin (at number 212).

Named in 1768 after the Montmorency family, prominent residents of Le Marais during the Renaissance period, it was known between the end of the French Revolution and 1806 as the rue de la Réunion.

Residents of the Rue de Montmorency

*A house built in 1407 by Nicolas Flamel himself still stands, the oldest stone house in Paris, at 51 rue de Montmorency; the ground floor, always a tavern, currently houses the Auberge Nicolas Flamel. Nicolas Flamel, a scrivener and manuscript-seller who developed a reputation as an alchemist, claimed that he made the Philosopher's Stone which turns lead into gold, and that he and his wife Pernelle achieved immortality. Engraved images were discovered during recent works on this house. The house also underwent new restorations in June 2007.
*At Number 5 of the street stands an old mansion which belonged until 1624 to the Montmorency family. Nicolas Fouquet, appointed by Anne of Austria as superintendent of the finances in 1653 lived there from 1651 till 1658. Théophile de Viau also stayed there. A neoclassic fountain can still be seen in the garden of the hôtel Thiroux de Lailly.
*Madame de Sévigné lived from 1676 until 1677 in the building located at 8 of the rue de Montmorency.

The street is close to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers housed in the medieval priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. It is also located very close to the Centre Georges Pompidou (also named Beaubourg Museum). Numerous modern art galleries can be found on Rue de Montmorency.

Places and monuments

* Paris
* IIIe arrondissement
* Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
* Centre Georges Pompidou
* Place des Vosges
* Musée Picasso
* Montmorency
* House of Montmorency
* Nicolas Flamel