Boulevard Saint Michel, Paris

The Boulevard Saint-Michel is one of the two major streets in the Quartier Latin of Paris (the other being the Boulevard Saint-Germain). It is a tree-lined boulevard which runs south from the pont Saint-Michel on the Seine river and the Place Saint-Michel, crosses the boulevard Saint-Germain and continues alongside the Sorbonne and the Luxembourg gardens, ending at the Place Camille Jullian just before the Port-Royal train station and the avenue de l'Observatoire. It was created by Baron Haussmann to run parallel to the rue Saint-Jacques which marks the historical North-South axis of Paris.

It serves as a boundary between the 5th arrondissement and the 6th arrondissement (odd-numbered buildings on the eastern side being in the 5th arrondissement and even numbers on the western side in the 6th). It has a length of 1380 m, an average width of 30 m and derives its name from the pont Saint-Michel (or "Saint Michael" bridge). In slang, the boulevard is sometimes referred to as the Boul'Mich.

As the central axis of the Quartier Latin, it was (and still is) a hotbed of student life and activism, but tourism is also a major commercial focus of the street and designer shops have gradually evicted many small bookshops. The northern part of the boulevard is nowadays the most frequented, due to its bookstores (such as the major bookstores Gibert Joseph and the Gibert Jeune), cafés, cinema and clothes shops.

The main buildings of the boulevard are the Musée de Cluny, the lycée Saint-Louis, the École des Mines, and the cité universitaire, the university area of the Sorbonne.