The Engineered River

The Seine that flows through Paris today is as much a work of engineering as nature. Baron Haussmann's 19th-century transformation of Paris included major modifications to the river—new embankments, regulated water levels, and the grand quais that became both flood protection and public promenades.

The locks at Suresnes and Bougival tamed the river's flow, making navigation reliable year-round. The great flood of 1910, which submerged much of Paris and became the stuff of legend (postcards showed Parisians rowing down the Champs-Élysées), led to even more ambitious flood control measures.

These engineering feats were achieved through the labor of thousands of workers, many of them immigrants. Italian stonemasons shaped the quai walls, Polish laborers dug the channels, workers from the French colonies in Africa and Indochina hauled materials. Their names are forgotten, but their work endures every time the Seine stays within its banks during spring floods.