For the
Romans, the heart of the city was considered to be the
crossing point between two principle streets: a north-south
axis called cardo and an east-west axis called
decumanus. The center of Lutetia
(the Roman name for Paris) was at the junction of Rue
Saint-Jacques (the ancient city's cardo) and
Rue Cujas (the main decumanus).
The Hôtel
des 3 Collèges is therefore located
at the very historical center of Paris.
The forum
was the political center of Lutetia and
was situated on what is currently Rue Soufflot,
between Rue Cujas and Rue Malebranche. Clovis,
King of the Franks, and Sainte-Geneviève,
Patron Saint of Paris, were buried on Mount
Sainte-Geneviève.
Rue Saint-Jacques
is the oldest street in Paris. The pilgrims
on the St. James' Way (chemin
de Saint-Jacques) used to take this road,
stopping off at the Saint-Jacques hospice.
The first Preaching Friars settled down
in this house in 1218 and soon adopted the
name of Jacobins in tribute to Saint-Jacques
(St. James). The Jacobins monastery
was situated in the block between Rue Saint-Jacques,
Rue Soufflot, Rue Victor-Cousin and Rue
Cujas. Its church contained the body, heart
and organs of 22 princes and princesses
of royal blood.
Present-day
Rue Cujas is located on the former Passage
des Jacobins built through the monastery
building after it was closed in 1790. At the exact
location of the Hôtel des 3 Collèges
was the Cluny College, one of
the first colleges of France.
In
1865 the street was named after Jacques
Cujas (1520-1590), a jurisconsult
and Roman law exegete who was knowned as
the "prince of Romanists". Recognized
as the precursor to modern law, Cujas taught
during the reigns of Charles IX and Henri
III.
The
hotel is at the corner of the former Rue
de Cluny, renamed in 1864 to pay tribute
to the philosopher Victor Cousin
(1792-1867), Sorbonne professor, Academician,
director of the Ecole Normale Supérieure
and State Education Minister. Victor Cousin
introduced the history of philosophy to
France.
