Boulevard Saint-Germain

The Boulevard Saint-Germain (French pronunciation: [bulvaʁ sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃]) is a major street in Paris on the Rive Gauche of the Seine.

[1] One landmark removed to make way for the project was the prison of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés which stood entirely on what is now the boulevard, just west of what is now the Passage de la Petite Boucherie.

In the 17th century, the Saint-Germain quarter became a major site for noble town houses, or hôtels particuliers.

This reputation continued throughout the 19th century, where the old aristocracy of the Saint-Germain quarter is frequently contrasted with the new upper bourgeoisie of the Right Bank, having their homes on the Boulevard Saint-Honoré or on the Champs-Élysées (as noted, for example, in the novels of Honoré de Balzac and Marcel Proust).

From 1908 to the outbreak of World War II, number 195 was the headquarter of the Office international d'hygiène publique, ancestor of the WHO.

At 184 Boulevard Saint-Germain is the Société de Géographie, the world's oldest geographical society, founded in 1821 by von Humboldt, Chateaubriand, Dumont d’Urville, Champollion among others.