L’ÎLE ST-LOUIS
Crossing the bridge painted of yore bright red and known therefore as le
Pont-Rouge, we find ourselves upon the Île St-Louis, in olden days two
distinct islands: l’Île Notre-Dame and l’Île-aux-Vaches, both
uninhabited until the early years of the seventeenth century. Tradition
says the law-duels known as _jugements de Dieu_ took place there. The
Chapter of Notre-Dame had certain rights over the island.
In the seventeenth century, consent was given for the Île St-Louis to be
built upon, and the official constructor of Ponts and Chaussées obtained
the concession of the two islets under the stipulation that he should
fill up the brook which separated them, and make a bridge across the arm
of the Seine to the city quay. The brook became Rue Poulletier, where we
see interesting vestiges of that day and two ancient _hôtels_, Nos. 3
and 20--the latter now a school.
All along Rue St-Louis-en-l’Île and in the streets connected with it,
fine old mansions, or beautiful vestiges of the buildings then erected,
still stand. The church we see there was begun by Le Vau in 1664, on the
site of a chapel built at his own expense by one Nicolas-le-Jeune. The
curious belfry dates from 1741. The church is a very store-house of
works of art, many of them by the great masters of old, put there by its
vicar, Abbé Bossuet, who devoted his whole fortune and his untiring
energy to the work of restoring the church left in ruins after its
despoliation at the Revolution, and died so poor in consequence as to be
buried by the parish. At No. 1 of this quaint street we find a pavilion
of l’hôtel de Bretonvilliers of which an arch is seen at No. 7, and
other vestiges at Nos. 5 and 3. The Arbalétriers were wont to meet here
in pre-Revolution days. No. 2, its northern front giving on Quai d’Anjou
(_see_ p. 328), is the grand mansion of Nicolas Lambert de Thorigny,
built by Le Vau, 1680; its splendid decorations are the work of Lebrun
and other noted artists and sculptors of the time. In 1843 it was bought
by the family of a Polish prince and used in part as an orphanage for
the daughters of Polish exiles till 1899.