In the twentieth century, Rue de Rivoli was a bustling commercial street, a thoroughfare steeped in fashion.
But in the nineteenth century—or rather, before Napoleon launched his coup and became First Consul—this street did not exist. It was originally called Rue Saint-Antoine, connecting Grève Square to the city center. The area was a stretch of beach where numerous boats carrying supplies came and went to unload every day. Merchants and residents often came here to buy things, forming a free market.
Not far from Grève Square was Rue de la Boucherie-Saint-Jacques, where many animals were slaughtered every day.
Rue de Rivoli was named to commemorate the battle fought at Rivoli, Italy, in 1797, where Napoleon defeated Austria and achieved a decisive victory in the First Anti-French Coalition.
But the people on the battlefield had not known that the remaining Austrian soldiers had fled into the fortress of Mantua. To rescue this isolated force, the Holy Roman Emperor issued an edict ordering the military to launch a new campaign. Austria accordingly transferred troops from the Rhine River region and called for volunteers at home to join the fighting. To raise morale, the Austrian Empress personally embroidered military banners for Vienna's four volunteer battalions.
After Napoleon became First Consul, he redeveloped the area. First, the market where the unemployed had gathered disappeared, and the unemployed instead congregated outside the city hall at Place de Grève.
Last winter, the Seine flooded and inundated quite a few buildings along its banks, especially affecting people living in basements. The Seine River Administration therefore reinforced the riverside embankments and dredged several areas along the way.
To hold the opening ceremony for the Saint-Martin Canal at Quai d'Orsay, Bonaparte used part of the sand from Grève Beach to pave Quai d'Orsay. To meet the deadline, he was