Rue de l'Abbaye, a street in the 6th arrondissement of Paris named after the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, is the subject of this albumen silver print made by Eugène Atget in 1898. The view looks down the cobblestone street from a centered vantage point, with the imposing multi-story stone facade of the former abbot's palace occupying the right foreground and a mature leafy tree anchoring the left. Atget referred to his photographs as "documents," making architectural and urban views that he sold to painters as studies.

On the right, commercial signage partially legible on the building facade advertises furniture ("Meubles"), while a smaller placard near a doorway announces an entry ("Entrée") and a wine merchant's sign reading "Au Vin de Chinon" is visible on the left side of the street midground. The cobblestones recede sharply toward a cluster of taller Haussmann-era apartment buildings in the background, and furniture pieces are displayed on the pavement before the ground-floor shopfronts at right, suggesting active commerce within a historic residential block.

Atget carried a large-format view camera through the streets of Paris, usually photographing around dawn, and many of the areas he documented were demolished soon afterward to make way for rapid urbanization. The oldest and most prominent buildings on the street are the abbey's side entrance and former abbot's residence, built in 1586, the very structure dominating the right edge of this composition. By 1898, Atget was selling his photographs of Paris to state-run organizations including the Musée de Sculpture Comparé and the Musée Carnavalet.

A version of this image is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, as part of the Abbott-Levy Collection (accession no. 1.1969.4931), and a second example is held at the J. Paul Getty Museum.