You’re strolling on a Sunday afternoon through the 14th arrondissement. As you pass by Pharmacie Didot-Pernety, you make a turn and enter another world. This stretch of plant-adorned, pastel-painted, bicycle-embellished cobblestone is so far from the grime-covered, metro-lined, Seine-smelling city you left behind. You have discovered the paysan within Paris. Welcome to the Rue des Thermopyles.
The street finds its name in an ancient history. Its characteristic narrowness reminded an old quill-wielding Parisian of the tapered passages of the 450 B.C.E. Battle of Thermopylae. And so, this Greek nomenclature wrote its way into the French landscape. The Rue des Thermopyles has been described as a place which lingers in the past and exists outside of the Parisian present. It is the pastoral charm and tranquility of this street which garnered local attention when it was released from private control and made public in 1925. Due to this history, the residential area remains comparatively free of the cafés and shops which clutter every other Parisian street. For a brief 280-meter stretch, your surroundings convince you that you must be in the French countryside.
Yet, on your Sunday afternoon meander, you might notice the ways in which modernity is altering the street’s vintage character. In between the blue, pink and yellow flower boxes, white walls have become the collective canvases for the community’s artists. Miss Tic, the Parisian-born daughter of a Tunisian immigrant and French farmer, is a celebrated feminist graffitist whose compelling work contrasts the pleasant scene of the Rue des Thermopyles. The black-and-white image of a woman with a sword and shield is captioned: “Dépasser le passé. Toute une histoire.” This striking call to arms finds great contrast within its fairytale-like environment.
As you investigate the neighborhood’s street art, be careful! You might accidentally fall prey to the roaming Instagrammer searching the neighborhood for the perfect background to post. The Rue des Thermopyles has become quite the Internet attraction in recent years because of its simultaneous accessibility and foreignness. Just search #ruedesthermopyles, and see for yourself. Is that the back of your head next to the purple heart-shaped door?
References
“La rue des Thermopyles, le charme bucolique du 14e.” Paris Zig Zag. https://www.pariszigzag.fr/balades-excursions/balade-paris/rue-des-thermopyles-le-charme-bucolique-du-14eme
“Paris: Rue des Thermopyles, promenade fleurie et souvenirs du village de Plaisance – XIVème.” Paris la Douce. 1 April 2017. https://www.parisladouce.com/2017/04/paris-la-rue-des-thermopyles-promenade.html.
“Qui est Miss Tic ? Artiste street art ou féministe ?” slave 2.0, 23 January 2017. https://www.slave2point0.com/2017/01/23/qui-est-miss-tic-artiste-street-art-ou-f%C3%A9ministe/.
Vellut, Guilhem. “Rue des Thermopyles @ Paris.” Wikimedia, 14 June 2017. Image. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=20&offset=20&profile=default&search=rue+des+thermopyles&advancedSearch-current=%7B%7D&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns12=1&ns14=1&ns100=1&ns106=1#/media/File:Rue_des_Thermopyles_@_Paris_(35182129971).jpg.