The Paris Commune, an insurrectionary episode that took place between March and May 1871, saw the capital briefly ruled by a revolutionary government opposed to the official authorities in Versailles. During these weeks of revolt, the Prefecture of Police was set on fire, and the forces of law and order found themselves without a headquarters. It was against this tense backdrop that the authorities relocated the police to a barracks on rue de la Cité, built on the site of a former poultry market. It's only a short step from there to thinking that this is how their nickname of "poulets" ("chickens") originated... a step that some people take with malice.
What traces of the Paris Commune remain in the streets of the capital?
More than 150 years after the events of the Paris Commune, what traces and remnants of the Paris uprising remain in the streets of the capital? Follow the guide! [Read more]
According to several sources, the Préfecture de Police in Paris was destroyed during the Commune. Jules Ferry, then head of the city, is said to have temporarily installed the police in a barracks built over an old poultry market. From there, the semantic transition would have been rapid: "they work where there were chickens, they are chickens".
This is not a historical certainty, but a plausible story, reinforced by the mention of the Interior and cultural sites evoking this origin. It's possible that the anecdote has been embellished over time, amplifying the comical image of police officers nestled in a former chicken trading place. This old poultry market was located in the rue de la Cité, just off the 36 quai des Orfèvres. This now legendary building originally housed the Sûreté, before becoming the judicial symbol of Paris in the 1900s.
This page may contain AI-assisted elements, more information here.
What traces of the Paris Commune remain in the streets of the capital?
