The Bièvre River flows through a hidden concrete pipe buried beneath the streets of the thirteenth arrondissement. While other Parisian waterways remain wide and open, this stream was completely entombed by nineteen twelve to stop the spread of disease and industrial filth. Tanners and dyers once lined its banks, staining the water deep shades of blue and scarlet with their waste. Today, it exists as a phantom, marked only by blue paving stones set into the asphalt that trace its vanished, winding path.
Bièvre (river)
natural