{"id":2582,"date":"2014-11-23T14:59:35","date_gmt":"2014-11-23T12:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2022-01-26T12:50:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T12:50:04","slug":"the-bievre-the-river-that-disappeared-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/boeken\/the-bievre-the-river-that-disappeared-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bi\u00e8vre: the river that disappeared in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Nobody\u2019s Boy<\/em>, Hector Malot already had his R\u00e9mi walk along its banks. Victor Hugo also described the Bi\u00e8vre in his poetry collection Atumn Leaves<\/em>. These idyllic stories from the 19th<\/sup> century are like echoes of a bygone era.<\/p>\n

\"Cours<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the history of the Bi\u00e8vre goes back much further and starts at the origin of the city, some time around 200 BC. The river of 36 kilometers originates in the wooded Yvelines, the department of the Palace of Versailles. It still leads to the Seine, near the current Gare d\u2019Austerlitz<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the ancient times, the Romans built an aqueduct on its shores to lead the water to the city. Monks of the abbey of Saint-Victor, not far from the Seine, used the water for their grain mills from the 11th<\/sup> century on. Later in the Middle Ages, they even made two channels perpendicular to the Bi\u00e8vre. Finally, the construction of dikes led to the emergence of two river arms. The original stream became the Bi\u00e8vre Morte<\/em> \u00a0(Dead), the second was called the Bi\u00e8vre Vive<\/em> (Alive) Eventually, all this human intervention paved the way for the rise of industrialization.<\/p>\n

The founder of that development was dyer and merchant Jean Gobelin. Mid-15th<\/sup> century, he started a dye-house near the river. Soon other artisans followed: from tanners, shoemakers and\u00a0 weavers to \u00a0laundry workers, butchers and brewers.<\/p>\n

\"54529-7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Late 19th century, tanners working along the Bi\u00e8vre near Rue Saint Nicolas-Hou\u00ebl in the neighbourhood of Jardin des Plantes, 5th arrondissment<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Photo: Charles Marville<\/em>\u00a0(1813-1879)<\/em><\/p>\n

With the explosive growth of industry, activity expanded further along the Bi\u00e8vre in the direction of Saint-Marcel, the current 13th<\/sup> arrondissement. However, the pollution and stench of the river led to increasing health problems. Early 19th<\/sup> century, parts of the river were channeled further and pieces were covered, but this did not cut it, as it turned out.<\/p>\n

During the urban renewal of Haussmann late 19th<\/sup> century, there was a rigorous intervention. By 1912, Bi\u00e8vre had completely disappeared from the cityscape; it was either incorporated into the sewer system or buried under concrete.<\/p>\n

\"Bi\u00e8vre_<\/a>All that remains is copper medallions and plates in the sidewalks of the 5th<\/sup>\u00a0and 13th<\/sup>\u00a0arrondissements, marking the former course. The rue Bi\u00e8vre<\/em> in the 5th<\/sup> follows the course of one of the disappeared channels. Since 2001, the L\u00e9zarts (lizards) de la Bi\u00e8vre, a group of<\/em> artists keeps the memory of the river alive with an open atelier trail each year. For a charming Bi\u00e8vre valley, you have to go outside the city though.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Nobody’s Boy<\/em>, Hector Malot already had his R\u00e9mi walk along its banks. Victor Hugo also described the Bi\u00e8vre in his poetry collection Atumn Leaves <\/em>. These idyllic stories from the 19th century are like echoes of a bygone era. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,35,5,17],"tags":[20,21,44,48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2668,"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions\/2668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parisimpressions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}