Cardo (Paris)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Cardo of Paris or Cardo of Lutetia is the main axis laid out in the Gallo-Roman city, which, as usual, ran from north to south.

course

The Cardo of Paris was the part of the Roman road from Soissons to Orléans that crossed the Seine within Lutetia, which is much smaller than today's Paris ; If you add its extension to the north and south in accordance with the current expansion of the city, the result is the following course, which is still understandable today:

To the north, the road merges into Route nationale 2 to Soissons, and to the south into Route nationale 20 to Orléans.

Back streets

Apart from the Cardo, there were only a few roads at the time of the Romans that can still be traced today. These are mainly:

North of the Seine

  1. The rue Saint-Denis 150 meters west of the rue Saint-Martin, which has existed since the 1st century, began at the Grand Châtelet (now Place du Châtelet) and went north via Saint-Denis to today's Route nationale 1 to Calais and Flanders empties, but also turns west in Saint-Denis, where the river allows it, and leads into Normandy . An ancient connecting road between Rue Saint-Denis and Rue Saint-Martin is not known
  2. The road to Melun and Champagne , which branches off to the east just after the Pont Notre-Dame at the level of Avenue Victoria , intersects the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville and the Hôtel de Ville itself, into Rue François Miron and Rue Saint-Antoine passes.

South of the Seine

  1. The Rue de la Harpe , which at that time probably went off from the Petit Pont to the southwest (it has been connected to the Pont Saint-Michel since the end of the 14th century , the piece between Petit Pont and Rue Saint-Sévérin no longer exists), and beyond today's Boulevard Saint-Germain under the name Boulevard Saint-Michel towards the outskirts.
  2. The road to Burgundy and Lyon , which probably also started off the Petit Pont , but now to the southeast; This is probably the Rue Galande and a piece of the Rue Lagrange , from here the Place Maubert , the Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève , the Rue Descartes and the Rue Mouffetard - the beginning of today's Route nationale 7 to Lyon
  3. The Rue Cujas east of the Rue Saint-Jacques is the only documented street from Roman times that was not used for overland traffic, but presumably linked two streets. However, it is no longer possible to determine whether the road to Burgundy actually reached it, as it was built over by the Sainte-Geneviève Abbey in the early Middle Ages .

Decumanus

A decumanus - a street perpendicular to the Cardo - as a land bridge did not exist in Paris apparently as a continuation of the leading from the east or southeast routes to the west due to the meandering course of the Seine was not an option. A decumanus leading from east to west was not necessary either, since the Seine, which at that time was already one of the most important traffic arteries in the country, played this role from the start.