Stroll through the leafy, picturesque lanes of the Butte-aux-Cailles, ‘Little Alsace’, the Cité Florale ... There are many bits of history tucked away inside the 13th arrondissement. This walk along the long-dried-up course of the Bièvre, a river that once flowed through this area, takes you through picturesque lanes and former manufactories in a part of Paris that still retains a village feel. Originally an industrial suburb, the 13th arrondissement has undergone a sea change since it was annexed by Paris in 1860. Woods, fields and mills once stood where today there are streets and buildings. In the 14th century, the area became Paris’s manufacturing hub because of the presence of water from the Bièvre river, which then ran through the southern part of the capital. Shoemakers, laundry workers, tanners, weavers and dyers modified the river’s course to develop their activities, and contributed to Paris’s industrial progress.
