The 3 km of the rue de Rivoli
A curious street, or rather a street with a series of extensions: a part of its length longs a park, so it should suffer in terms of centrality (in fact, the street with the most retail is back, St Honoré), but its centrality role is undeniable. The street begins when the rue St Antoine widens in St Paul, and gets up to the place de La Concorde. Between its beginning and the rue du Louvre there is a lot of retail (the street has somehow resisted the closing in 2005 of the La Samaritaine departments stores, that could reopen around 2016-2017), when along the Louvre it resists reasonably the huge mass of the palace, and in its final part it creates a good façade, well oriented to the sun and the jardin des Tuileries.
The rue de Rivoli in its initial point: the widening of St Antoine at St Paul. There is a change in the fabric pattern, as you go from a medieval one (right) to a more recent one. St Paul is on average some 36 m wide, while Rivoli here has some 24 m
The initial part, looking west from St Paul
Rue de Rivoli in the La Samaritaine Section. A mix of historical fabrics, and a 22 m overall width. 5 m sidewalks
- The La Samaritaine area. A retail hub
The area in which the street adjoins the begining of the Louvre palace. The street space is less well defined for a moment. Curious elements as the Oratoire (blue dot)
The Oratoire on the right
The grand finale: Joan of Arc (blue dot) marks the arrval to the jardin de Tuileries. From a 22 m width (with narrow sidewalks to the north as there are arcades) to a substantial widening.
The end of the Palais du Louvre (right on the image, looking east) and the begining of the Tuileries
metrhispanic 