Rue de Vaugirard
A view of the Rue de Vaugirard in the 15th arrondissement in 2008
Shown within Paris
Length	4,300 m (14,100 ft)
Arrondissement	6th, 15th
Quarter	Quartier de l'Odéon Quartier Necker Quartier Saint-Lambert
Coordinates	48°50′34″N 2°18′42″E / 48.84278°N 2.31167°E / 48.84278; 2.31167
From	Jardin du Luxembourg
To	Porte de Versailles

The Rue de Vaugirard (Street of Vaugirard) is the longest street inside Paris's former city walls, at 4.3 km (2.7 mi). It spans the 6th and 15th arrondissements. The Senate, housed in the Palais du Luxembourg, is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard.

Location

The Rue de Vaugirard is mostly a one-way street from the southwest edge of Paris (at the Porte de Versailles) towards the Latin Quarter at the junction of Boulevard Victor and Boulevard Lefebvre. Traffic flows in both directions between the Rue de Rennes and the Place de l'Odéon. Numbering starts in the Latin Quarter, reaching the 400s by Porte de Versailles. It the longest street in Paris.

History

The road, which appeared in the 15th century, led from Philip II's city walls towards the village of Vaugirard. This route was itself based on an old Roman road.

Origin of the name

"Vaugirard" came from an old French noun-and-genitive construction "val Girard" = "vale of Girard" (Latin vallis Girardi), after an Abbé Girard, who owned the land over which the road passes.