Stepping into George Stobbart’s Shoes: A Templar Hunt on the Parisian Cobbles

Paris, The Autumnal Muse

Broken Sword: The Shadows of the Templars isn’t just a successful video game—it’s an enduring masterpiece that achieves on all fronts. One of its standout accomplishments is its masterful depiction of Paris. This isn’t your picture-postcard Paris; instead, Revolution Software gives us an imaginative yet profoundly melancholic portrayal of the French capital, cloaked in the subtle hues of fall. This rendition was so impactful that Paris continued to play a starring role in all the sequels, becoming almost a co-protagonist alongside our American hero, George Stobbart.

However, one can’t help but wonder: Can we navigate the actual streets of Paris and follow in the footsteps of our American in Paris? Has the City of Lights indeed been touched by the legacy of the Templars? Is there a real Rue Jarry? Join me as I endeavor to unravel these mysteries in what feels like an exclusive expedition into the heart of Broken Sword’s Paris.

Paris, really?

Paris in the fall, the last months of the year, and the end of a millennium…

Let’s get this out of the way. If you’re hoping to stroll through the streets of Paris searching for the exact locations that were almost identically reproduced in the original game Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars by Revolution Software, you’re bound to be disappointed.

If we purely look at the sites our protagonists, George and Nico, visit within the City of Lights in the original release of the first Broken Sword game, no precise location can be directly pinpointed on a Parisian map. Places bearing enchanting monikers like “Le Café de la Chandelle Verte,” the “Crune Museum,” or the Hagenmeyer clinic are fictional, having never held a spot in the city’s rich tapestry – except perhaps for Montfaucon, but we’ll circle back to that.

The truth can sting. Unlike for The Da Vinci Code, Amélie Poulain, or even the more recent Emily In Paris, we cannot present you with a themed, site-specific tour of Paris. To create the Paris of the renowned Revolution Software game, it appears the developers chose a path of unbounded creativity, occasionally nudging historical accuracy with a wink and a nudge.

So, what does this leave us with? Can we earnestly plan a trip around the Paris of Broken Sword? It’s unlikely. But, with a sprinkle of imagination and a readiness to decode the subtle cues, there are intriguing nuggets to be found. Let’s venture site by site, examining what may echo in the heart of the real Paris, either faintly or distinctly.

The Café de la Chandelle Verte

I regret to inform you that the Café de la Chandelle Verte is a figment of digital imagination – no such place can be found, neither close by nor far-flung. Apologies for the letdown. However, Paris is teeming with quaint corners where one can enjoy a cup of coffee on a terrace, the iconic silhouette of the Eiffel Tower painting the backdrop. In this context, Café de la Chandelle Verte doesn’t stray far from the truth, embodying a facet of Parisian culture I personally hold dear: the classic bistro.

Let’s turn to the game map for guidance. According to it, the Café de la Chandelle Verte would be located at the top of Boulevard des Invalides, near Square d’Ajaccio. A garden, that is. And, more importantly, no café in sight. Unless you consider the Café de la Chandelle Verte could be its neighboring café, the “Café du Musée,” nestled at 17 boulevard des Invalides. With a healthy dose of imagination and mental imagery, one might say this is precisely where George, the unsuspecting tourist, sets foot before his life takes an unexpected twist. To add to the illusion, all it takes is a short stroll of a few dozen meters to behold the Eiffel Tower in all its splendid glory from just the right angle.

Rue Jarry and Nico’s apartment:

The name “Jarry” indeed graces a street in Paris. However, there’s no number 361 to be found (the street is quite petite), and if we follow the game’s map, it’s nowhere near the accurate location!

So, why this specific choice? It’s clearly a tip of the hat to the poet and playwright Alfred Jarry, famed for his creation, Ubu Roi, among other works. Ubu? Keep that name in your memory banks. However, it’s uncertain whether the game developers took the pains to cross-reference the existence of the street or its precise locale…

Nevertheless, if we adhere strictly to the game’s mapping, we find ourselves at the crossroads of rue de la Convention and rue Olivier de Serres. A quaint, residential neighborhood frequented by locals, it’s an entirely believable place for a journalist of Nico’s caliber to set up her abode. Now all we need is to locate a palm-reading florist, and we’re in business!

La Risée du Monde

Nico is adamant: “It’s a costume shop near the Gare Saint-Lazare.” Indeed, if we rely on the pin placed on the game’s map, it would point us to the approximate address of 96 Boulevard Haussman. Which, as a matter of fact, is located near Saint-Lazare. But the reality is clear, there’s no such shop in the neighborhood, not even a toy store run by a depressed joker who’d hand you a joy buzzer… nothing like that! Unless…

With a bit of indulgence, and twenty minutes on foot later, you’ll find at 29 Passage Jouffroy, just behind the Musée Grévin, a toy shop with definite charm, where old and antique items coexist in an ambiance that has retained its retro allure. Additionally, the shop in the game seems to be located in a passageway, just like the “Pain d’Épices” store. From this point, it’s only a small leap to imagine that Mr. Merlin visited this shop to purchase some makeup and a clown nose!

Hotel Ubu

Let’s once again refer to the game’s map. The upscale Hotel Ubu is said to be located around Bercy Square, somewhere between the station, not too far from the Seine. Indeed, this part of the city that could be described as purely functional has its fair share of hotels, but nothing with the flavor or style of the Hotel Ubu, which we know well as players of Broken Sword. Indeed, the neighborhood only offers quite functional hotels for travelers passing through the nearby Gare de Lyon. However, if you’re in the area and have a taste for fine things and good food, don’t miss Le Train Bleu restaurant, located inside the station itself.

So, no trace of Hotel Ubu in Paris? Perhaps there is. It seems to me that the iconic Ritz Hotel, located at Place Vendôme, has echoes of the Ubu, especially in its staircase. The entrance, quite welcoming and lively, also lends credence to the belief that Charles Cecil and the Revolution Software team may have drawn inspiration from it.

Regarding the storefront, it seemed to me that that of the Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador Hotel, located at 16 Boulevard Haussmann, echoed that of the game, particularly with its flags from around the world adorning its pediment.

Jacques de Molay Memorial (Île de la Cité)

This place is not, strictly speaking, a location where George goes to conduct his investigation. But it is the precise and exact location that is depicted in the engraving illustrating Nico’s story about the rise, the peak, and the fall of the Templars.

It’s a central place in Paris that is very easy to get to. Cross the Pont Neuf, right in front of the large La Samaritaine department store, and you’ll come face-to-face with a resplendent statue of Henry IV. Take the small staircase on the right and you will arrive at the exact spot where Jacques de Molay was sent to the stake. Just like the Montfaucon site, it is now a peaceful place where it is pleasant to stroll.

Hagenmeyer Clinic

The Hagenmeyer Clinic is a pure invention, a somewhat surreal place that seems to want to mock the caricatural image we have of private clinics. However, it’s hearing George’s comment as he arrives in the courtyard, “The old building managed to retain some of its original grandeur. But the modern additions looked like a baseball cap on the statue of a medieval Saint.” that one can’t help but think of the painful treatment the legendary Saint-Louis Hospital had to undergo.

The hospital certainly does not date back to the Middle Ages, but from the century of the Sun King Louis XIV, yet one need only visit it to witness the painful forced marriage between the noble period constructions and the modern buildings which we can safely call… functional.

Interestingly, Saint-Louis Hospital is just a stone’s throw away from the site of the Montfaucon Gallows. So it’s not at all where the game places its hospital on its map of Paris, which would rather be located where… the Ritz Hotel is?

Montfaucon

Montfaucon is a key location for the Parisian sequences of Broken Sword and appears in several scenes. The square, the church, the underground gallery, Nico’s story… Except, from the gallows of Montfaucon, there is nothing left… It has literally been obliterated by French history and therefore, everything you see in the game relating to this location is entirely fictional.

However, it is indeed the only place in the entire game that refers to a specific, existing site, and whose pin on the map shows its exact location in real life. On this point, the developers were adamant that historical truth should be respected. Respected? Let’s not go that far. For once again, everything presented to your eyes in the game about Montfaucon is pure fiction.

To prove it, here’s what you’ll see if you go to the two accessible places that will bring you closest to where the dreadful gallows once stood, namely 12 to 22 rue Boy-Zelenski and 53 to 55 rue de la Grange-aux-Belles.

Modern, flowered, pleasant apartment blocks, a park for children, sports facilities… No trace of a building dating from another millennium.

As for the church, there is indeed one a few streets from the site, Saint-Georges de la Villette Church. But it is highly unlikely, given its recent construction (1880), that you will find any connection there with the Gallows of Montfaucon or the Templars.

As for the underground gallery where the pseudo-Templars meet to hatch plans for world domination, it’s again a simple and pure fiction.

The Police Station

The police station of Sergeant Moue and Inspector Augustin Rosso doesn’t correspond to anything tangible in the real Paris, as it is unusually pretty. It’s very hard to imagine a police station in this style, which, incidentally, looks more like a mini train station hall than a police office.

So what does the map say? The address would be at 225 Rue Raymond Losserand, on the very outskirts of Paris. No police station in sight.

The Musée Crune

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say about this little museum other than that it is pure invention. There is also no such museum dedicated to History of such a small size in Paris, so one might imagine it’s a mix between the Gustave Moreau Museum (14 Rue Catherine de la Rochefoucauld), the Delacroix Museum (6 Rue de Furstemberg), with a few pieces imported from the Cluny Museum (28 Rue du Sommerard) for the medieval aspect (and the Louvre Museum, notably for the sarcophagus in which George hides, with admittedly, little respect for the relics of ancient times.

The site of Baphomet

This is a pure invention once again. The site would be somewhere on Avenue Kléber, around number 85, not far from the Eiffel Tower district and the esplanade of Trocadéro. It’s hard to imagine such a place for this excavation site, which looks more like a quiet, chic suburb.

To console you, be aware that Paris does house a Baphomet, a real one apparently. You will find it on the pediment of the Saint-Merri Church in the city center, not far from the Marais district. So, how did a Baphomet end up on the pediment of a church? I’ll let you carry out the investigation yourself!

Bonus: Rue Lobineau!