Les Égouts de Paris 

In the 19th century Paris faced severe sanitation issues: rainwater flooded polluted streets, waste and sewers spread cholera outbreaks and awful odors. The existing sewer system couldn’t handle the growing population.

Eventually a massive project was launched: Les Égouts de Paris, the underground sewer network now spanning over two thousand kilometers, which removes both sewage and rainwater daily. There is even a Musée des Égouts where visitors can take guided tours through tunnels and view historical artifacts.

Sometimes they walk through reconstructed sewer sections and see how the city reinvented itself. The experience sheds new light on Paris’s surface beauty. Visitors realize that a healthy city starts beneath the surface. Would one dare to walk underground beneath such a historic city?