Suddenly the soft glow of old Paris flickers before us. This is Rue des Lampes. Imagine a time when the only light came from candles and oil lamps.
Rue des Lampes whispers stories of Paris slowly illuminating itself. It’s a tale of royal decrees and citizens struggling against the dark. Imagine walking these streets centuries ago. You would need a lantern or a hired torchbearer to navigate safely.
In 1318 King Philip V ordered a candle to be kept burning at the Châtelet’s door. This was to deter criminals. The Châtelet was then the busiest place in the capital. Two other lights existed one at the Tower of Nesle and another at the Cemetery of the Innocents. That was all of Paris.
Royal decrees from 1504 to 1553 ordered homeowners to hang lanterns. They had to hang them with lit candles from their first-floor windows between 9 PM and midnight. This was to ward off bad people who roamed the city at night. These decrees were not effective. About fifteen people were murdered each night then.
In 1661 the Parliament of Paris extended illumination hours. A torch carrying and lantern carrying business existed. For a fee they lit the way for passersby from 9 PM to 4 AM. The fee was three sols per quarter hour. Each lantern carrier wore an hourglass marked with the city’s arms. It measured half an hour. They lit the bourgeois’ way with a wax torch or oil lamp.
Until 1667 people walking at night had to carry lanterns. There were also night watchmen. They carried police-numbered lanterns shouting “Here’s the lantern”. These watchmen guided people home. They helped them cross streams in the middle of the road using planks. They could also light torches at their clients’ homes or alert the royal guard. Paris was lit by a few lanterns before madonnas in the streets or candles in windows. Parisians only had to keep buckets of water at their doors and lanterns at their windows during alarms.
In 1667 police lieutenant Nicolas de La Reynie put up 6500 lanterns in Paris. The first lanterns used candles. They were placed at each end of main streets. Despite this light the streets weren’t safe in spring. The lights only burned from November 1st to the end of February. Parisians only had starlight to light their way the rest of the year. Breaking these lanterns was punishable by imprisonment.
Madame de Sévigné noted the improved lighting in 1672. Around 1700 lanterns were hung from facades with ropes and pulleys. A designated resident had to light them. In 1702 there were 407 lanterns in the Cit\u00e9 district. By 1729 the city had 5772 lanterns.
In 1749 a clerk was chosen to light the fourteen public lanterns in the Saint-Eustache area. Before that residents took turns. The chosen clerk a notary didn’t light anything. A watchmaker replaced him but he didn’t light anything either. The residents hired a professional lighter.
These lanterns lasted until 1763. They were replaced by 2400 oil streetlights. Antoine de Sartine tested them on Rue Dauphine. The council approved them in 1769. In 1774 four thousand two hundred of eight thousand lanterns were streetlights. They hung in the middle of streets five meters high and sixty meters apart.
In 1785 police lieutenant Louis Thiroux de Crosne ordered special streetlights. They would be placed in front of the homes of police commissioners. This was so people could easily find these officers at night.
Experiments with gaslights began in 1817. The first public lighting using gas came to Rue de la Paix in 1829. In 1830 Paris had 9000 gaslights and 3000 oil lamps. By 1853 there were 12400 gaslights and 23325 by 1869. In 1859 lantern lighters disappeared. In 1904 only a few oil and kerosene lamps remained.
Rue des Lampes stands as a reminder of a time. It’s a time when simple light was a luxury. Now walk on and appreciate the bright city around you.