Paris sewers

Egouts is the French word for sewers and in Paris it denotes the famous underground network of around 2,400 kilometres built by Eugene Belgrand from the 1850s as part of Baron Haussmanns reconstruction of the city. Belgrands walk-through galleries carry the street name above them on small plaques so workers can navigate just like on the surface. The system became literary through Victor Hugos Les Miserables, in which Jean Valjean rescues Marius through the sewers. Since 1889 the Musee des Egouts has opened part of the network near the Pont de lAlma to the public; after years of renovation it reopened in 2021. Visitors walk on gangways above the flowing wastewater and learn how a modern citys hydraulics actually work.