The Paris river I didn't know about

The Seine ain't the only game in town

Anyone who knows about Paris knows the main river that runs through it is the Seine.

But did you know there was another river that ran through Paris for centuries?

photo source: BnF Gallica/Eugène Atget

It’s called the Bièvre, and I discovered it by accident.

One day in 2022, I was walking in my neighborhood in the 5th arrondisement. I lived on rue Mouffetard, so I left my apartment, turned right and went down the hill in a northerly direction. After crossing a roundabout and then an intersection, I continued on to Avenue des Gobelins.

As I was walking, I noticed a brass-colored plaque in the ground with the words “la Bièvre”. I was curious. So when I got home, I looked it up.

sign indicating the old riverbed of the Bièvre

Turns out, the Bièvre was a river that flowed from the west of Paris to the Jardin des Plantes in the 5th arrondisement, where it joined up with the Seine. It was once an open-air river that was less than 3 meters (about 10 feet) wide - until it was covered up by authorities. (More on that later.)

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Human populations tend to flock to water sources, and the Bièvre was no exception. It became a place that attracted artisans and industrialists alike during the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, a part of the river was diverted onto the land owned by the Saint Victor Abbey.

old map from the Saint Victor Abbey

The monks from the abbey wanted to use the source to irrigate their gardens and provide energy for a mill used to grind wheat.

Suddenly, all the monasteries wanted mills, and before long the place was covered with them. Altogether, there were about 120 along the Bièvre.

From the 14th to the 19th centuries, all kinds of business set up shop along the Bièvre. Laundries, dye factories, cotton and wool mills, breweries, paper makers, tanneries - you name it. Dyers loved the river because it was uncalcified, which made for ideal conditions. Of course, with the burgeoning trades came disputes. For example, the dyers were angry with the laundry workers over the runoff of soap into the river.

the Bièvre being covered in the 18th century. Photo: Musée Carnavalet

I suppose the next logical question is: if it was such a great source of commerce for Parisians, why did the Bièvre get covered up?

The answer is simple: it was filthy. All kinds of things polluted the beloved river, and it became something of a nasty little petri dish of bacteria. Tanners used it to clean animal skins and the launderesses dumped soap into it. It was so gross, a report by a professor described how the unsanitary Bièvre put residents at risk of disease.

So, Paris authorities decided to cover it up. The project lasted from the 19th century until 1912. It took a while because the river stretched for 36 kilometers/22 miles. After it was covered, the Bièvre became part of Paris’ sewer system.

Today, if you walk around the 5th arrondisement of Paris, I suggest a little treasure hunt to search for the little bronze signs on the ground that indicate where the Bièvre once flowed freely.

Happy hunting!

Sources:

History of the Bièvre

La Bièvre est une rivière au passé historique particulièrement riche. (bievres.fr)

Paris Resurfaces Buried Bièvre River to Fight Climate Change | TIME