Did you realize that these vintage postcards actually show the oldest street in Paris? I was happy to learn this history tidbit. What is now called Rue Saint-Martin was called Cardus Maximus by the Romans.
The Cardus Maximus was always a north-south oriented street according to ancient Roman city planning. It was the hub of economic life and was buzzing with shops and merchants. But this Cardus Maximus is even older even than the Holy Roman Empire, archaeologists claim. It lies atop the Bronze Age trade route that linked northern Europe via Lutèce —the Celtic settlement of the Parisii tribe—to the Mediterranean!
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