Covering most of the 5th arrondissement, the Latin Quarter encompasses some of the most emblematic monuments of Paris.

An intellectual and artistic centre for centuries, the Latin Quarter is the first urban core of Paris, founded 2000 years ago by the Romans under the name of Lutetia. This is where they installed their
Cardo Maximus, from North to South, and their Decumanus Maximus, from East to West, the two main roads of a Roman city, as well as the famous Lutetian Arena, still visible today. A few centuries later, a second "Latin" forum was founded here, this time in the cultural sense of the term, since the creation of the University of Paris in the 12th century led to the creation of numerous intellectual centres around the mountain of Sainte Geneviève, whose common language was Latin. Even today, the district is teeming with students, attending the Sorbonne, the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, the Lycée Henri IV, or the prestigious Ecole Normale Supérieure.