Grande halle de la Villette

The Grande Halle de la Villette stands as a vast iron and glass cathedral of commerce, though it was designed for a much grittier purpose. When it opened in 1867, it served as the heart of a colossal slaughterhouse complex known as the Grande Halle aux Boeufs. Baron Haussmann specifically commissioned this site to centralize the city's meat trade on the outskirts of Paris, handling thousands of cattle every week to feed a rapidly growing population. It became so central to the city's industrial bloodline that the entire neighborhood earned the grim nickname of the City of Blood.