Rue de Vaugirard
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Rue de Vaugirard is the longest road in Paris, at 4.3 km. It spans the 6th and 15th arrondissements.
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Location
Rue de Vaugirard is mostly a one-way street from the Latin Quarter (at the junction of Boulevards Victor and Lefebvre) towards the edge of Paris (at the Porte de Versailles). Traffic flows in both directions between Rue de Rennes and the Place de l'Odéon. Numbering starts in the Latin Quarter, reaching the 400s by Porte de Versailles.
Origins of the name
"Vaugirard" came from an old French noun-and-genitive construction "val Girard" = "valley of Girard" (Latin vallis Girardi), after an Abbé Girard, who owned the land over which the road passes.
History
The road appeared in the fifteenth century, and led from Philip II's city walls towards the village of Vaugirard. This route was itself based on an old Roman road.
Sites of interest
A substantial chunk of Line 12 of the Paris Metro follows Rue de Vaugirard. The following stations have entrances on the road:
