rue du Pot-de-Fer

Continue climbing up rue Mouffetard until you get to number 60 on your left, at the corner of the rue du Pot-de-Fer [pr. ’Po’]

PRESS PAUSE

Here, at the corner of rue Mouffetard and rue du Pot-de-Fer, you will find a fountain. It is level with the ground. In the early 17th century, Marie de Medicis, widow of King Henry 4, needed water for her Luxembourg Palace – which now houses the present-day Senate. So she had a new aqueduct built. The old aqueduct, south of Paris, dated back to Roman times, just like the famous Pont du Gard in Southern France, that stills stands today. Marie de Medicis offered part of the water to the city of Paris, which built 14 fountains on the Left Bank and 2 on the Right Bank.

This is one of those Left Bank fountains. It was built in 1671, after a design by Louis Le Vau [pr. ‘Vo’], architect to Louis 14. He also designed a part of the palace of Versailles and the colonnade of the Louvre. The city of Paris had only 35 public fountains at that time. In those days, people got their supply of water directly from those fountains, and water was in short supply. Historians have calculated that before the Revolution, Parisians consumed one liter (one quarter of a gallon) of water per day per person for all their needs. (In comparison, the average Parisian today uses about a hundred liters a day, and the average US citizen about 450...)

Now take the rue du Pot-de-Fer.

This is an old wine-growing road. Its name dates from the 17th century, when an iron pot was hanging as a sign there. It may have been the sort of kitchen pot that was used to simmer the famous pot-au-feu, a French dish of boiled meats and vegetables made famous by King Henri 4.