Akila Apart City 
Paris was called Lutetia and sat on the Left Bank, around a street that still exists: rue Saint-Jacques, the old cardo, the north-south axis of the Roman town. Of that town, two monuments still stand, and they are ten minutes' walk apart.
Where Lutetia was
Contrary to the usual story, the Roman town was not on the Île de la Cité, or not only. The urban core, with forum, theatre, baths and aqueduct, lay on the flank of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, where the Latin Quarter is now.
The forum stood near today's rue Soufflot; its foundations have been found under the buildings. The main axis ran down rue Saint-Jacques to a bridge towards the island. An aqueduct carried water sixteen kilometres from Rungis to supply three sets of baths.
The town declined in the third century under pressure from invasions and pulled back onto the island, which was easier to defend. The monuments on the plateau were abandoned, quarried for stone and then buried. They would not reappear until the nineteenth century, by accident.
The Arènes de Lutèce
Built in the first or second century, the arena is a hybrid, half amphitheatre and half theatre: semicircular tiers, an oval arena for combat, and a stage with niches for performances. It could hold some fifteen thousand people, far more than the town's population, which suggests audiences came from the whole region.
It vanished completely. In 1869 the general omnibus company, digging a depot on rue Monge, uncovered rows of seating. Work was about to continue. A press campaign formed, led by a society of friends of the arena, to which Victor Hugo lent his signature: it was not possible, he argued, that Paris, the city of the future, should give up the living proof that it had been the city of the past.
The rescue was partial and slow. Full clearance came only in 1917, and a good part of the tiers is reconstruction. No matter: the place exists. And it is now one of the strangest spots in Paris, because people play football and boules between ancient tiers, with no barrier and no ticket.
The main entrance is at 49 rue Monge, through a narrow passage between two buildings. There are also entrances on rue des Arènes and through square Capitan. Free access.
The Baths of Cluny
At the corner of boulevard Saint-Michel and boulevard Saint-Germain, an eighteen-metre Roman wall in small coursed stone with brick bonding courses runs along the street. These are the North Baths, the largest of the three Lutetia had, built in the late second or early third century.
They were never lost: they were reused, inhabited, turned into gardens and cellars all through the Middle Ages. That is why the frigidarium, the cold room, still carries its original vault fourteen metres up. It is one of the few Roman vaults preserved north of the Alps, and the effect on entering is startling: a vast bare stone hall, with consoles carved as ships' prows, probably a nod to the Nautae, the Seine boatmen's guild that likely paid for the building.
The Hôtel de Cluny and the Lady and the Unicorn
Against the baths, the abbots of Cluny built a flamboyant Gothic mansion in the late fifteenth century, with a stair turret, decorative crenellations and an old-style courtyard. The whole, ancient and medieval stuck together, has housed since 1843 the Musée de Cluny, the national museum of the Middle Ages, reopened in 2022 after a long renovation with a new entrance.
Inside are the twenty-one heads of the kings of Judah torn from the façade of Notre-Dame in 1793 and found by chance in 1977 in a cellar in the 9th arrondissement. There are Sainte-Chapelle stained glass panels, ivories, altarpieces.
And there is The Lady and the Unicorn. Six tapestries woven around 1500 in Flanders, on a red ground strewn with flowers, rabbits and small animals. Five show the senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch. The sixth carries an inscription on a tent, À mon seul désir, and nobody agrees on what it means. The lady is either setting down a necklace or taking it up; renunciation or choice, we do not know.
They hang in a round, darkened room, and you can stay a long time.
Other traces, for those who look
- The archaeological crypt of the Île de la Cité, under the Notre-Dame forecourt: fourth-century walls, quays, hypocausts.
- Rue Saint-Jacques itself: it follows the exact line of the cardo maximus from the Seine to the top of the hill, and is the oldest working street in Paris.
- The Pillar of the Boatmen, given by the guild under Tiberius and kept at Cluny: the oldest carved monument in Paris.
- Square Capitan, next to the arena, where less restored tiers survive.
Frequently asked questions
Are the Arènes de Lutèce free?
Yes, free during the square's opening hours. It is a public garden, where people play ball games and boules.
Where is the entrance to the arena?
At 49 rue Monge, through a passage between two buildings that is easy to miss. Two other entrances exist, on rue des Arènes and via square Capitan.
What should I see at the Cluny museum in an hour?
The Roman frigidarium, the heads of the kings of Judah from Notre-Dame, and the Lady and the Unicorn room. That is the core, and an hour covers it.
What does 'À mon seul désir' mean?
Nobody knows for certain. It has been read as a renunciation of the senses, a declaration of love, a free choice. The ambiguity is part of the work.
Can you see the baths without entering the museum?
Partly: the frigidarium wall is visible from boulevard Saint-Michel and boulevard Saint-Germain. The vaulted room itself requires a ticket.