Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The oldest quarry in Paris


This is probably not the nicest view of Paris I posted on PDP, but it's a very unusual one. This, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing less than the oldest quarry in Paris... (not, it's not the catacombs!). It's located in the 13th arrondissement, at Rue Gustave Geffroy near an old river called La Bièvre, that used to run through Paris. It was used to extract stones to build Roman houses when Paris was still called "Lutèce" (around 50 BC). There is not much to see, nor to discover, so now they are going to build a child day care facility on it... More - in French in this video.

11 comments:

  1. What I love about your blog Eric is that you show us all of Paris. The pretty and not so pretty. Plus some history too.

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  2. Wow—serieusement! I'm fascinated by something that dates to 50 BC, right along with 21st-century grafitti. And, en plus, there's that famous perspective.

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  3. I agree with Alexa and Debs; I'm fascinated by something this old, and I love that you show us such things. I hate to see something like this being lost to view! Maybe, as you said, there's not much to see. But there is so much to feel when you allow yourself to do so.

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  4. I agree with Petrea, Alexa and Debs. I'm also fascinated by something this old. I would hope for a wiser use of this site. Something much more creatively responsive to such an historic place. Like Petrea says,"there's not much to see. But there is so much to feel when you allow yourself to do so." When these authentic places of history are developed for contemporary use, they are lost forever. Such a shame.

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  5. Wonderful history, Eric! And as Alexa says, that signature perspective...j'adore! I agree with the four lovely ladies that this is a most interesting site...and that it's a pity that it couldn't explored and put to a more respectful and historically appreciated use.

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  6. Actually about the perspective... This time I did not have much choice, as the place was closed and I only could take the photo from underneath a door!

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  7. I join in with the others; fascinating is the word and thank you for the history lesson.

    I know I keep nagging you about the picnic date, but I'm trying to lobby for a date in june - please, please, please !

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  8. This is SO interesting! Yes, not your most beautiful view of Paris, but I really enjoy knowing about the history of the place. I wonder if anyone ever threw anything into that river...? And now children will play over it.

    PS Love the Tenin Perspective, even if you HAD to use it. Still a good thing.

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  9. Aww...I used to live right around the corner on Rue des Gobelins & Rue Berbier du Mets. So nice to see a little bit of my old neighborhood on here.

    I've been addicted to your blog for years and years--thank you so much for keeping this going all this time.

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  10. This is a great urban planning teaching moment. A site was used long, long ago to make building blocks for a new, growing city. In some ways, it's sad to see a historic site just go away and be forgotten. But it will be used to care for children, and children are the building blocks of the future of Paris. Civilization does not happen by accident...

    (I was going to scold you for jumping the fence, but you escaped that by telling us your camera looked under the gate!)

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