Guinguette de la Dhuys Garden

The Jardin Guinguette de la Dhuys sits atop a surprising piece of hidden infrastructure. Beneath your feet runs an aqueduct built in eighteen sixty-five by the engineer Eugene Belgrand. This underground passage was designed to carry water over one hundred and thirty kilometers from the Dhuys River to the reservoir at Menilmontant in Paris. In eighteen ninety-five, the city of Paris granted Bagnolet the right to turn the land directly above this buried aqueduct into a public promenade. This strip of land quickly transformed into a popular destination for weekend relaxation. Numerous guinguettes, which were traditional open-air taverns known for their dancing and inexpensive wine, lined the path to serve the crowds of Parisians who visited to escape the city. Today, this site serves as a community-managed garden that revives the spirit of those historic weekend gatherings. It features a shared space for gardening, a vineyard, and a collective table designed to bring neighbors together for food and conversation. The project intentionally honors the area's legacy as a nineteenth-century leisure destination by recreating the convivial atmosphere that once defined the Dhuys promenade.