Passage du Pont-aux-Biches, thoroughfare in Paris, France
The Passage du Pont-aux-Biches is a pedestrian way in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris linking Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth to Rue Meslay. It runs as an ordinary street from the first, but the Meslay end passes under a building and is reached by a staircase climbing the remnant of the former butte Saint-Martin, partly levelled.
The passage began as the cul-de-sac de la Chiffonnerie, a dead end off Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth. In 1634 the open sewer it crossed was covered and diverted north through a gallery under the Saint-Martin bastion, built before 1609 on a mound of rubble. On 20 October 1881 the lane was classified as a public way and its extension to Rue Meslay, via a new staircase, was declared of public utility.
The name refers to a footbridge over the open sewer that ran along Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth, and to a shop sign depicting does. Before 1851 the stretch of today's Rue Volta between Rue du Vertbois and Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth also bore the name Rue du Pont-aux-Biches. The passage was long called cul-de-sac de la Chiffonnerie.
Access from Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth is at street level, but the Rue Meslay end lies under a building and is reached by a staircase climbing the remnant of the old butte Saint-Martin. The nearest metro stations are Temple, République and Strasbourg - Saint-Denis.
The name refers to a long-vanished bridge over a drain rather than a river, and the sign that inspired it showed young deer. This detail reveals how Paris historically relied on practical infrastructure for managing water, with such systems now hidden beneath the feet of those who pass through.
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