Printable tour · 6 places

Left Bank: Saint-Germain and Sainte-Geneviève

A hospital, a learned society's hall, a Symbolist café, Delacroix's church and the garret of a Pythagorean abbé.

On foot · about 1 h 30 · 3.5 km

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1. 118

   Former Hôpital de la CharitéAngle du boulevard Saint-Germain et de la rue des Saints-Pères (45, rue des Saints-Pères), 75006 Paris · Metro Saint-Germain-des-Prés (4) / Saint-Sulpice (4)GoneScene1880s-1890s; 1916

   As a medical student, Papus attended the teaching of Dr. Jules Luys here, a specialist in hypnosis whose interest in magnetism he shared. Churton relates that he brought Anatole France here in an attempt to interest him in occultism. Papus would die in this hospital in 1916.

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2. 119

   Société de géographie – Léo Taxil's confession184, boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006 Paris · Metro Saint-Germain-des-Prés (4) / Rue du Bac (12)In operationScene1897

   On 19 April 1897, a crowd of Catholics, Freemasons and journalists waited here for the appearance of Diana Vaughan, supposedly a repentant member of a Luciferian sect. Instead Léo Taxil took the stage to reveal that the whole affair, his books and his revelations had been a hoax kept up for twelve years.

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3. 120

   Lodgings of Péladan and Henriette MaillatAngle de la rue de Seine et de la rue des Beaux-Arts, 75006 Paris · Metro Saint-Germain-des-Prés (4) / Mabillon (10)Private, seen from the streetResidencelate 1880s

   For a time Péladan lived with Henriette Maillat on the top floor of a house on the corner of these two streets. This woman, who later had a brief affair with Huysmans, inspired some features of Mme Chantelouve in his Là-bas (1891). The neighborhood was one of publishers and art schools.

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4. 121

   Church of Saint-Sulpice – Chapel of the Holy Angels (Delacroix)2, rue Palatine (place Saint-Sulpice), 75006 Paris · Metro Saint-Sulpice (4) / Mabillon (10)Still openPlace of worship1861; 1890s

   Delacroix's murals in the Chapel of the Holy Angels, completed in 1861, fascinated Maurice Barrès. In his writings for the Catholic Rose+Croix, Péladan counted Delacroix among his “saints” and cited these angels as a source of daily inspiration. Éliphas Lévi had been a seminarian at Saint-Sulpice.

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5. 122

   Former Café Voltaire1, place de l'Odéon, 75006 Paris · Metro Odéon (4, 10)Other useScene1880s-1890s

   This café near the Odéon theater was a meeting place for the Symbolists: Verlaine, Moréas, Mallarmé, Gauguin, Charles Morice, Aurier and Redon debated there. Churton brings Gauguin here before his departure for Tahiti, and it was in a café in this neighborhood that Barrès introduced Michelet to Guaita.

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6. 123

   Abbé Lacuria's garret11, rue Thouin, 75005 Paris · Metro Place Monge (7) / Cardinal Lemoine (10)Private, seen from the streetResidence1865-1880s

   Abbé Paul-François-Gaspard Lacuria, author of Les Harmonies de l'être, lived poor and almost blind in a garret filled with books and scores. Young seekers of mysticism nicknamed him the “French Pythagoras”. Péladan, who revered him, recounted climbing up to see him one cold afternoon.

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