Rue Saint-Denis is so named because it is the road that leads directly from the Pont au Change to the town of Saint-Denis, where the necropolis of the kings of France was located. In the Middle Ages, it was by rue Saint-Denis that kings and queens solemnly entered Paris. Rue des Lombards takes its name from the Lombard money changers who settled there in the 13th century. this street is one of the oldest and liveliest in Paris.