One of the most interesting museums of the French capital, which is underground and is not associated with the most fragrant theme, is dedicated to the sewerage of Paris . Despite its specific themes, the collection of this museum can naturally return you to the past - to walk through the tunnels and drains that were laid centuries ago and since then practically did not change . Imagine yourself by that same perfumer or stolen and hidden under thousands of tons of land by the princess . Finally, just by surprise the power of human thought capable of thinking of such a large-scale project to clean up the city in a couple of years .

Before plunging into the bowels of the capital of France, one should at least learn about the history of the Parisian canalization. It turns out that the Romans were the first to think about purity in the city. Until now, even preserved about 18 m of sewer pipes of those truly ancient times, which are under the ruins of Roman baths in the cheerful and full students of the Latin Quarter. Alas, when you visit the Museum of Sewerage, you will not see the legacy of the Romulus children, but you can get acquainted with them in the waters of Cluny.

But Rome fell, and Paris resisted and began to grow, drink wine and have fun, therefore they forgot about cleanliness and hygiene here, and the era of the Middle Ages, the "city of love" has turned into a stinking breeding ground for infection and infections. For several centuries as a sewer in Paris, overflowing ditches flowed into which liquid wastes flowed in.

At the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, Philip Augustus gives the order to pave the streets of the city with paving stones, and in the middle of each bridge make a ditch . Alas, this effect does not have much effect. was received . And in 1370 g . prefect Obrio, who served under Charles V, decided to erect in Paris the first sewage system - a tunnel under Montmartre Street, which would go to Ménilmontanou . But time passed, the capital grew, and the sewerage for she could not keep up with the . By 1636 . @ the Paris sewage system It was necessary to serve already almost 415 thousand . inhabitants, and its length was no more than 23 km . 150 years passed and it lasted only 3 km .

Fortunately, Baron Osman arrived in Paris, not only significantly rebuilt the capital, but finally ordered to deal with the dirt in the city and the sewage in the Seine. The ingenious engineer Belgran, who for some 10 years, from 1850 to 1860, designed a practically flawless system of tunnels, including the existing courses found during the study of the "underworld".

Thanks to this free labor, Belgran was able to realize his project by virtue of: creating sewers where water was defended and cleared, to think over the wastewater treatment systems, to build new tunnels, removing waste and mud far beyond Paris. These moves became, in fact, doubles of the city's land streets, and even received plaques with names and house numbers. By 1878, the sewage system of the French capital was already 600 km!

The new reconstruction of the Parisian dungeons began in 1991 when the government allocated 330 million USD, thanks to which automatic cleaning equipment with a computer monitoring system appeared.

What will the tourist see who is not afraid to descend into the depths of Paris? Mass interesting: and trace the history of the development of the sewerage system of the French capital, and look at the drainage system, and walk along the collector, and get acquainted with the methods of water treatment, and even see all kinds of old and modern appliances and machines working for the benefit of pure and fragrant Paris . In more detail, from the Sewer Museum you can see the collector of Bosque avenue, the cabling of Cognac-Zhe street, the flood protection system in Resistan area, as well as the departure of the southern outlet that drains waste water to a purifier station in Asher .

Coordinates

Address: Front of House 91 in Quai d'Orsay (7th arrondissement of Paris). How to get there: nearest metro and train stations RER - Pont de l'Alma and Alma-Marceau.

Working hours: Sat-Wed May-September 11.00-17.00; October-April 11.00-16.00, Thurs-Fri - days off.

The cost of the visit is 4, 50 EUR.