Viaduc des Arts

The Viaduc des Arts consists of a long row of red brick arches supporting a raised promenade, with glass-fronted workshops tucked inside each bay. This structure originally carried the Bastille railway line, which connected Paris to the suburbs starting in eighteen fifty-nine. When the trains stopped running in nineteen sixty-nine, the abandoned stone vaults became an eyesore. City planners eventually renovated the arches, turning them into studios for cabinetmakers, stained-glass artists, and furniture restorers who work in full view of passersby.