"Paris has another Paris under herself; a Paris of sewers; which has its streets, its crossings, its squares, its blind alleys, its arteries, and its circulation, which is slime, minus the human form." - Victor Hugo
This statement, written by Victor Hugo in his world-famous 1862 novel, Les Misérables, is possibly the most famous quote regarding what is possibly the world's most famous sewer.
The Dung Dilemma
It is rare that the humble sewer is shown such pride and respect, but in the late nineteenth century, the Parisian sewer was unrivaled among cities of the time. Steam power and industrialization provided the machinery and materials to create a sewer unlike any created since the fall of Rome. Even the Grand Sewer of Paris had humble beginnings, however: At the turn of the fourteenth century, like most medieval cities, waste was often carted away to nearby fields or simply thrown into the street. A simple trough down the center of the road was used to speed this process along, but unsurprisingly, this method failed to solve the problem, and diseases like the Black Death continued to spread.
As the city grew, the problem worsened, and the first underground sewer was installed in 1370 underneath Rue Montmartre. This early attempt must have had some success, small as it was, and over the next four centuries the sewers were expanded. This expansion did not ultimately solve the problem, however. Once built, the sewers were left to themselves, and many fell into disrepair or collapsed altogether, while other parts of the city were still without sewers at all.
The Emperor's Solution
Napoleon Bonaparte recognized this dilemma, and commissioned Bruneseau to not only repair and clean the entire sewer system, but also dig 182 miles of new sewer. This daunting task was a grand success, and although Bonaparte's battle of Waterloo was a total failure, his improvements to the network that removed the Water from the Loo was an astounding success.
There was still work to be done, however. This vast network of sewers still drained into the Seine River, and most Parisians still got their water from this source, often by the bucket. The monarchs who followed Bonaparte's failed revolution had little interest in making further improvements to this system, which simply spilled the waste directly into the city's drinking water. This was a major factor in spreading diseases like Typhoid, which claimed three of Louis Pasteur's children. Yet, improvements were coming. During the same time that Louis Pasteur was refining his Germ theory (Pasteur discovered the use of vaccines in preventing disease, and invented the pasteurization process – Pasteur-ized milk, anyone?), others were working to solve the Paris poo problem.
Belgrand's Fountains
Baron Haussmann, the then prefect of the Seine, commissioned Eugene Belgrand to design a modern solution. Large aqueducts were built. Iron pipes were installed to separate drinking water from waste water, and the Industrial Revolution provided the power to dig more sewers at a much faster rate than ever before. The massive undertaking began in 1850, and by 1878, the entire system was three-hundred and sixty miles long.
By 1880, focus turned on linking homes in Paris to the new fresh-water system, and by the early twentieth century, many homes in Paris had running water, while the entire city had access to fresh water from neighborhood fountaines. It is no wonder that the Parisian sewers are such a key part of Victor Hugo's novel, Les Misérables, as he witnessed the vast improvements and renovations made to them during his lifetime.
The fictional events of Les Misérables are set in the first half of the nineteenth century, before the massive renovations undertaken by Haussmann, Belgrand, and the many other workers who were necessary to the success of the project. Hugo therefore presents the sewers in what seems to be a very negative light. Hugo complains not only about the villains who use the sewers as a means of escaping justice, but also as an absolute waste of resources: “Paris throws five millions a year into the sea. And this without metaphor. How, and in what manner? day and night. With what object? without any object. With what thought? without thinking of it. For what return? for nothing... A sewer is a mistake.” This quote from Les Misérables, book II seems to clearly display Hugo's opinion of the Parisian sewer. The question remains, however, whether Hugo truly held this opinion or not. It is possible that he, like many other well-educated men, disagreed with the conclusions of Louis Pasteur, and considered the massive expense of sewer renovations as wasted money. It is equally possible that Hugo, whose brilliant literary mind is undeniable, simply saw the sewers as the perfect metaphor for society at large. The themes of Les Misérables often show the thin veneer of 'proper' society, which covers – and produces – so much filth and decay. Whatever Hugo's views on the sewers themselves, it is evident that even before the mid-century renovations, the sewers were a source of pride for many Parisians, though no self-respecting Parisian would have ventured into them before 1850, without some desperate reason. None, that is, except the vast number of workmen who kept the sewers working and free of debris.
The Rise of Popularity
The renovations which started in 1850 not only expanded the sewers, but made them more appealing and available to the average citizen, as well as the social elite. Raised sides were installed for ease of walking, and the new piping kept the smells down, which had plagued earlier versions. Tours started soon after, first on hand-pushed carts and later on more refined mechanical cars set into grooves, designed exclusively for tours. By the 1860's, the sewers were a popular tourist attraction, and even Paris' upper class found enjoyment in taking tea in the underground tunnels, clothed in their finest, and sitting on the rolling platforms. By 1893, when my novel Grayscale is set, the original clunky platforms were replaced by sleek cars in what resembled nothing so much as an underground roller-coaster, lit by lanterns at first, and eventually by electric lighting. Like Victor Hugo's character, Jean Valjean, Marcia Kenway must also escape the police by a journey into the sewers, but her escape in Grayscale is far more pleasant than Jean Valjean's escape in Les Misérables.
Belgrand's designs worked so well that the renovations of the 1850's saw a significant decrease of pathogen-born illnesses, mostly due to the installation of iron pipes and aqueducts to keep the drinking water separate from the drainage lines into the Seine. But health benefits are not the only improvements which Belgrand inspired. Running water and flush-able toilets both became possible due to the water system Belgrand engineered. Though they did not become widespread until the twentieth century, early versions of the modern toilet could be found in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century. Another modern luxury which has its roots in the sewers is the Subway rail system. The mechanical cars used exclusively for touring were eventually replaced with enclosed cable-cars. The benefit of a fully underground system of transport was quickly realized and adopted, not only in Paris, but other cities as well – most notably, New York.
A City Under a City
The Parisian sewers make up only a part of the vast network of tunnels under Paris. Another famous attraction is the catacombs. There are links between the sewers and the catacombs, as well as abandoned mines. This dizzying network has not been fully mapped, even today, and a wayward tourist becoming lost in the Parisian underground is not an unheard of occurrence, despite most areas being off-limits to unauthorized personnel. Those with a sense of adventure or with nowhere else to go still explore these tunnels, and even expand them, creating new passages and rooms. The result is a truly massive underground city.
It is certain that part of the mesmerizing appeal Paris holds on people of all cultures is due in part to the vast mystery below her. The sewers are as fascinating today as they were for Victor Hugo and the countless men and women who toured the sewers in the nineteenth century. The three-hundred and sixty miles which existed in 1880 have now expanded to over thirteen hundred miles of sewers.
The sewers of Paris are as popular now as they were a hundred and fifty years ago. TheMusée des Égouts de Paris (Museum of the Sewers of Paris) is still a popular attraction, and yes, they still give tours. Not everyone finds appeal in visiting a sewer, but we must still be grateful for the countless men and women who maintain them, and especially for those who laid the groundwork necessary to make a home without a flushing toilet the exception, rather than the norm.
For more information on the Paris Sewers or my novel, Grayscale, check out these links:
Paris Sewer Museum - Atlas Obscura
On (and in) the sewers (and sewage) that transformed Paris - blog article by Stephan Halliday
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