Croix de l'Évangile, Monumental wayside cross in Evangile district, Paris, France

The Croix de l'Évangile stands on the pavement at the corner of rue de l'Évangile and rue d'Aubervilliers in Paris's 18th arrondissement. It is a wrought-iron crucifix about 2 metres tall, with a figure of Christ, mounted on a concrete pedestal roughly 1.5 metres high. A low curved wall frames a small grassed and flowered garden behind it, and a stone stele on the wall recounts the monument's history.

A cross is recorded here as early as 1540, on the pilgrimage route from Saint-Denys de la Chapelle to Notre-Dame-des-Vertus in Aubervilliers. Destroyed during the Revolution, it was rebuilt in 1808 by Joseph Hirth and restored in 1823. The present cast-iron crucifix, made by the Val d'Osne foundry, was erected in 1860, the year La Chapelle was annexed by Paris; the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est moved it between 1863 and 1871 for railway works.

The cross gave its name to the rue de l'Évangile, not the reverse; it stood on the pilgrimage route known as the chemin des Vertus linking Saint-Denys de la Chapelle to Notre-Dame-des-Vertus in Aubervilliers. Residents still decorate it with flowers and candles. In 1946 Marcel Carné recreated the spot in a studio for Les Portes de la nuit, where Diego and Malou kiss before it.

The cross stands directly on the pavement at the corner of rue de l'Évangile and rue d'Aubervilliers, just north of the railway bridge, and is freely accessible at all times. A low curved wall frames a small lawn behind it, and a stele on the wall's edge to the left of the base recounts the monument's history. The nearest transport is Rosa-Parks station on RER line E; Porte d'Aubervilliers tram stop (T3b) is under 300 m north, Crimée metro (line 7) 700 m southeast, and Marx Dormoy (line 12) 1 km southwest.

The cross appears in Marcel Carné's 1946 film Les Portes de la nuit, where Diego and Malou kiss in front of it against a backdrop of gasometers; René-Jacques photographed it in the same setting that year, and Robert Doisneau staged actress Nicole Courcel there in 1949.