Saint-Germain is a classy area in Paris to see and stay if you love picturesque and magnificent architecture, breathtaking art pieces or history. Like most tourists, you long to prove that Saint Germain touted to be among the best part of Paris, is what you hear it is and satisfy your curiosity.
Rest assured, Saint-Germain-des-Pres is a romantic and stunning place. For your adventure and joy let us explore the city now.
Cafes, Art, and Existentialism
Saint-Germain-des-Pres is the 6th Arrondissement of Paris. It is positioned on the left bank of the Seine and famous for literary icons and gifted painters.
It had many bookstores and publishing houses which have moved as of date. Most of those writers and painters lived in small cafes like the famed Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots, and the Brasserie Lipp and practiced their art in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
In those cafes, Jean-Paul Sartre started the existentialism philosophy with Simone de Beauvoir, a writer. Sartre was a thinker, novelist, playwright, theater director, and political activist.
To experience the top shopping parts of Paris and enjoy those famous cafes and booming restaurant services with ease, stay in Saint-Germain-des-Pres.
Other exciting places to go to see include Le Bon Marché, a fashionable departmental store, antique stores, cinemas, art galleries, theaters, and street markets.
Saint-Germain-des-Pres : the heart of Paris
Saint-Germain-des-Pres is notable for being in the center of Paris. You can visit attractive places in less than a mile of walking from Saint Germain.
Some of these places are Notre-Dame, Jardin du Luxembourg, Sainte Chapelle, and Musée d’Orsay. The rest are Centre Pompidou, Pont Neuf, Louvre, and Hôtel de Ville.
Enjoy train travel? Hop on to the Saint-Germain-des-Prés station Métro route on line 4, and ride from the country’s North to the South. The train stops at three key train stations in Paris.
That train station was opened in January 1910 and is a portion of the rail line below the Seine that connects Châtelet and Raspail.
Historic events in Saint-Germain-des-Pres
The city witnessed an epoch event like the peace treaty between France and Austria signed there in 1919.
Another event was The Treaty of Paris signed in 1783 between the American and British representatives to consolidate American Independence. That event took place at the Hotel York in 56 Rue Jacob in Saint-Germain-des-Pres.
Childebert I built the Saint Vincent Church in Saint-Germain-des-Prés to house the Holy Cross and Saint Vincent Stole, a relic. The Bishop of Paris consecrated it in December 558.
Also note that, Childebert I, who reigned in 511, was the son of the former ruler Clovis. He died on 558,the day Saint Vincent Church was dedicated, and buried in that Church.
Musee Delacroix National Museum
Musée Delacroix Gallery is in 6 Rue de Furstenberg, in Saint-Germain-des-Pres, inside the past room Delacroix stayed. Though the building was to be demolished, Société des Amis d’Eugène prevented it, and now a national museum.
That museum holds the paintings, the studio, and life history of one of the most revered French painters Delacroix, born in 1798 and died in 1863. Delacroix is known as the pioneer of the French Romantic Art program. The museums exhibit most of his early crayons, oil paintings, and sketches.
Delacroix’s most famed painting is the Liberty Leading the People, on display in the Louvre-Lens museum, northern France.