The island was first known as the Île Notre-Dame, and was used mostly for grazing cattle, fishing, drying laundry, and occasionally for fighting duels.

[2] In 1360 it was cut in half by a canal, at about the current Rue Poulettiere, in order to bring it into the protection of the new wall around the city built by King Charles V, The slightly smaller eastern portion was named the Ile des Vaches (Island of Cows) (not to be confused with another island of the same name farther downstream).

Beginning in 1614, he was chief builder for Marie de' Medici, the widow of Henry IV and regent of the young King, Louis XIII.

[4] Marie de' Medici promised a long series of benefits, including tennis courts and laundry boats for washing clothing and linen, to those who purchased lots and built houses on the island.

She succeeded in attracting magistrates and financiers, but few aristocrats, who preferred the Marais quarter, which had larger plots of land and places for gardens.

Louis IX, who was made a saint only thirty years after his death in 1270, was believed to have sometimes held court and rendered justice on the island.

[3] The Quai d'Anjou on the north side of the island, was named for Gaston, Duke of Orléans, the brother of Louis XIII.

[6] The Quai de Bourbon was named for the royal family and has a series of very elegant townhouses constructed in the early 17th century.

The sculptor Camille Claudel lived at number 19 between 1899 and 1923, and had her workshop overlooking the courtyard, and remained here until she was sent to an insane asylum for thirty years.

It was built shortly after the assassination of Henry IV, and is named for the late king's prime minister, Maximilien de Bethune, the Duke of Sully.

[10] Other celebrated residents of the quai included the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Marie Curie, who lived at number 36 from 1912 until her death in 1934.

Its notable buildings include the Polish Library (number 6 quai d'Orleans), originally built for Antoine Moreau, the secretary of Louis XIII.

[11] The responsibility for the development of the Île Saint-Louis in the 17th century was given to Christophe Marie, general builder for Public Works.

Despite its commercial character, it still retains many early residential buildings, the most notable of which is Hôtel Lambert, located at the Quai Anjou on the eastern end of the island.

This large town house, with a rotunda overlooking the Seine, was constructed beginning in 1640 by the royal architect, Louis Le Vau.

The Hercules Gallery was designed by Charles Le Brun, whose future work for Louis XIV included the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.

It became the home of the Polish Prince and patriot Adam Czartoryski in 1843, and welcomed famous writers and musicians, including Balzac, George Sand, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin.

In the 20th century, it was the home of actress Michèle Morgan, then, in 1975, the art collector Baron Guy de Rothschild, and after his death in 2007, Abdallah Al Thani, brother of the Emir of Qatar.

[17] The interior is a good example of French Baroque architecture, with a central dome or cupola and an abundance of gold and white, a style borrowed from Italy.

[18] The most prominent art work in the square is a sculpture of Barye depicting the combat between a mythological centaur and a lapith, made in 1894, and placed on a disproportionally large pedestal.

The statue was removed and melted down for its bronze during World War II, but was replaced in 2011 with a copy financed by a Taiwanese donor.