Rue Chanoinesse is located on Ile de la Cite, where Paris was born. The first settlers came to this island on the Seine in 300 BC and it has remained a focus of church and state power through the centuries, with the great cathedral of Notre Dame and the law courts of the Palais de Justice commanding the island. This tiny land mass also has the honour of being the geographical heart of the country - all French distances are measured from Point Zero, just outside Notre Dame. Ile de la Cite stands between two main districts of Paris: the Latin Quarter on the South, and le Marais on the North.