Photos of the Paris sewers

The light barely flickers through the dark gray walls, and the ceiling above looks like it’s about to collapse. In such places, it is very difficult for researchers to make their way further, because all surfaces are slippery and before stepping further, you need to carefully examine everything. The air is damp and nasty, drops of water are falling loudly somewhere — all these are not natural caves, these are intricate and ancient underground sewers of Paris.

Staircase leading out of the sewer tunnels

The sewers of Paris do not look like charming and romantic places, but they are a vital part of any large modern city. The tunnel system of Paris was created from 1370. Currently, it is the largest in the world, its length is 2.100 km.

Oddly enough, but such places always attract people. Tourist excursions in the Parisian sewers began around 1867. Today you can visit the sewers through the underground Paris Sewer Museum.

Tourists aren’t the only ones interested in Paris’s underground sewer system. These places are mentioned by Victor Hugo, in Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera, and later in Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. Even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles visited the sewer in a few episodes of their 1987 series!

Collectors are a collection point for more than just waste and odors. From 1348 to 1349, the plague literally “mowed down” the Parisians, 800 people a day. The unsanitary conditions in the city helped to spread this deadly disease to all corners.