Paris streets

In addition to the usual problems created by the passage of time and urban renewal, readers might find it difficult to trace Mary’s steps in Paris because of the many changes of name that occurred during and after the Revolution.  For example, in 1797 the rue de Richelieu was known as the rue de la Loi (the name was changed back in 1808), and the Place Vendôme was the Place des Piques.  (Before the Revolution it had been called the place Louis-le-Grand; it became the place Vendôme in 1799.)  Mary would have known the Pont Royal as the Pont National, but if she returned in 1804 she would find it called the Pont des Tuileries; in 1814 it became the Pont Royal again.  (The present Pont National was built in 1852-3, but was known as the Pont Napoléon III until 1870).  Some names even changed more than once during the Revolution.  For example, the rue de l’École de Médecine (previously the rue des Cordeliers) became the rue Marat in 1793, but so swift was the late Marat’s fall from favour that the medical designation was resumed a year later.  Similarly, the Place des Vosges (originally the Place Royale) briefly became the Place des Fédérés before changing to the Place de l’Indivisibilité in 1793.  That designation also proved short-lived, but after changing to the Place des Vosges in 1800, it became the Place Royale again in 1815 and retained that name until 1870.