Parc départemental Jean Moulin-les-Guilands

The ground you are standing on has a history that is far more rugged than its current peaceful lawns might suggest. For over two centuries, this site was an industrial landscape, carved deep into the earth to extract high-quality gypse for the plaster used in the construction of Haussmann-style buildings across Paris. By the early twentieth century, the site was a massive, cratered quarry operated by hundreds of workers. Its transformation from a source of industrial material to a green space was not a straight line, but a series of dramatic shifts in purpose.