Bathed in myth and memory, the Seine is the lifeblood of Paris, the city that sprang up on its banks. Along this “main street,” as Napoleon once called it, photogenic Parisian landmarks are on proud display, exuding grandeur and majesty. The Seine is so central to the city’s existence that building numbers are linked to the river: those on perpendicular streets begin their numbering closest to the Seine, while on parallel streets, building numbers ascend in the direction of the current.
“For Parisians, there’s a strong historical and visceral attachment to the river,” says Pierre Rabadan, the deputy mayor in charge of sport, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the Seine.
The Genesis of Paris
From its source in Burgundy, the Seine flows 483 miles to reach the sea at Le Havre, with the French capital sitting nearly in the middle. The river’s Parisian cartography has changed over time, its course altered by incessant floods, its branches and channels ultimately merging into the serpentine riverbed we know today. The city’s Latin motto, “Fluctuat nec mergitur—Tossed by the waves but does not sink,” evokes these historical floods and Paris’s resilience in dealing with them. The city’s coat of arms depicts a ship under full sail.
It was near the Seine’s banks at Bercy that evidence of the city’s first human settlement was discovered. There have been older archaeological finds in Paris, namely the Mesolithic site unearthed in 2008 in the 15th arrondissement that yielded flint arrowheads and bone fragments from a Seine-side hunting camp set up by nomadic hunter-gatherers. However, the earliest fixed settlement was the Neolithic site excavated at the Bercy archaeological dig from 1991 to 1992.
“Situated on an arm, or canal, of the Seine, the village had been well preserved under layers of sediment left by floods,” says Sylvie Robin, head curator for archaeology at the Carnavalet Museum. “We found traces of a palisade, a bridge, a hunter’s bow that’s one of the most beautifully preserved in Europe, and dugout canoes which had been placed on the riverbanks.”
The dugout canoe, measuring more than 16 feet today, was carved from a single trunk of oak—a feat requiring significant effort, starting with sourcing the tree, which did not grow in the immediate vicinity. Robin says such a canoe was “a pearl”—a valuable asset designed to last for a generation.
Of Boats and Mariners
From any riverside vantage point—a pop-up bar, a bridge, or the floating Joséphine Baker swimming pool—it’s easy to be mesmerized by the boat traffic on the Seine. The passing vessels may include a freight barge, a touristic open-top Bateaux Mouche, or a high-powered speedboat carrying the Brigade Fluviale, or river police, who patrol the Seine with evident joie de vivre.
Boats have plied these waters from time immemorial. It’s not surprising that one of the city’s oldest monuments is linked to the river’s mariners. Found during excavations under Notre Dame’s nave in 1711, the Pillar of the Boatmen formed the base of a statue offered to Emperor Tiberius by a guild of boatmen in the first century A.D.
“This rare, sculpted monument makes it possible to connect the Greco-Roman pantheon and the Celtic gods such as Cernunnos,” says Séverine Lepape, director of the Cluny Museum-National Museum of the Middle Ages, where the pillar is housed. “It’s the symbol of an interesting syncretism of two types of pantheons united in one.”
The same powerful boatmen’s guild is thought to have financed part of the construction of the Gallo-Roman baths that form the museum’s pièce de résistance. Under a vaulted ceiling soaring nearly 50 feet high, the frigidarium (cold room), part of the city’s sizable thermal baths, is one of the best-preserved Gallo-Roman sites north of the Loire.
Beauty and Industry
The city’s beloved stone quays were built over the centuries as much for the city’s beautification as for its economy and defense. The earliest quays, Conti and Grands-Augustins, date from 1313. Like stone fortifications, the quays also served to channel the river and attempt to curb flooding. As the mighty river fueled industry and empire, dams, locks, bridges, and later factories forever altered its fluvial patterns.
In the early 18th century, the Seine became so clogged with commercial boat traffic that Napoleon initiated a canal project, resulting in the Canal de l’Ourcq, Canal Saint-Martin, and Canal Saint-Denis. The network of canals not only alleviated the maritime congestion, deviating traffic from central Paris, but also brought fresh drinking water to the capital, since water from the sewage-saturated Seine—unfit for consumption—had caused epidemics.
Over time, engineers sought to control the Seine’s water flow: Baron Haussmann’s urban renewal project included a Seine transformation. Yet despite human intervention, the Seine is still known to flood. Parisians traditionally look to the statue of Zouave on the Pont de l’Alma as an unofficial means of measuring water levels. Standing sentry over the Seine’s currents, the colonial army soldier dips his toe in the river in times of flood.
The Seine and Modern Paris
Today, the Seine continues to shape the life of Paris. It provides a scenic backdrop for leisure activities, cultural events, and daily commutes. The riverbanks, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, are a testament to the historical and ongoing significance of the Seine in the life of the city. The effort to clean up the Seine for the 2024 Olympics highlights the enduring relationship between Parisians and their river, a bond that has been centuries in the making and continues to evolve.
From its ancient role as a lifeline for early settlers to its modern-day status as a symbol of Parisian beauty and resilience, the Seine remains an integral part of the city’s fabric, influencing its culture, economy, and identity.
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