The Menilmontant brook is an old and small river in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

The brook

Originally, the brook originated from several small creeks descending from the hills of

Ménilmontant Ménilmontant () is a neighbourhood of Paris, situated in the city's 20th arrondissement. It is roughly defined as the area north of the Père Lachaise Cemetery, south of Parc de Belleville, and between ''Avenue Jean-Aicard'' on the west an ...

, Belleville,

Montmartre Montmartre ( , , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement of Paris, 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Rive Droite, Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for its a ...

, Pre-Saint-Gervais. It was bypassing the hill of Ménilmontant before sending itself into the Seine River at the level of the present

Bassin de l'Arsenal The Bassin de l'Arsenal (; also known as the Port de l'Arsenal ) is a boat basin in Paris. It links the Canal Saint-Martin, which begins at the Place de la Bastille, to the Seine, at the Quai de la Rapée. A component of the ''Réseau des Can ...

, upstream Paris. This brook is mentioned for the first time in a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

given by the king of France

Dagobert I Dagobert I (; 603/605 – 19 January 639) was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the ...

, in 629, for the establishment of a

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

The Great Sewer

With the increase of the population of Paris, the evacuation of the waste water takes more and more importance. In the 16th century, the brook was channeled and transformed into sewer: the ''Grand Égout'' (Great Sewer). Its course was modified and lengthened, forming a large loop around the city limits. It began at the site of the present

Place de la Republique Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Oft ...

, and then moved westward by the

rue du Château-d'Eau ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of the genus ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Mediterranean. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for it ...

, the

rue des Petites-Écuries ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of the genus ''Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Mediterranean. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for it ...

, the rue Richer, the

Rue de Provence The Rue de Provence is a street in the 8th and 9th arrondissements of Paris. It begins at the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre and ends at the Rue de Rome. Only the short part of the street between the Rue du Havre and the Rue de Rome is in the 8th ar ...

, the

rue Roquépine The Rue Roquépine is a street in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built in 1774 on land formerly owned by Louis d'Astorg d'Aubarède, Marquess of Roquépine. Since 2019, the Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christi ...

, the rue de Penthièvre, the rue du Colisée and the

rue Marbeuf The Rue Marbeuf is a street in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It starts at no. 20 Avenue George V and ends at no. 39 Avenue des Champs-Élysées. It is 460 m long and 16 m wide. The original Berluti Berluti is a French leather ...

and finally the

Seine river The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres p ...

where it ended, between the

pont de l'Alma Pont, meaning "bridge" in French, may refer to: Places France * Pont, Côte-d'Or, in the Côte-d'Or ''département'' * Pont-Bellanger, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-d'Ouilly, in the Calvados ''département'' * Pont-Farcy, in the Cal ...

and the

Place du Trocadéro Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Oft ...

. In the 1760s,

Jean-Joseph de Laborde Jean Joseph de Laborde, Marquis of Laborde (29 January 1724 – 18 April 1794) was a French businessman, slave trader, ''fermier général'' and banker to the king, who turned politician. A liberal, he was guillotined in the French Revolution. ...

covered the Great Sewer for reasons of public health. It is notably the

with an East-West route that covers the Great Sewer and makes disappear the small ''pont d'Arcans'' (Arcans bridge). This bridge allowed to cross the Grand Sewer at approximate level of the

rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin The Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin () is a street in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It runs north-northwest from the Boulevard des Italiens to the Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, Église de la Sainte-Trinité. History In the 17th century, ...

today. On the other hand, Jean-Joseph de Laborde obtained the right to subdivide and sell the land he owned on

rue de Provence The Rue de Provence is a street in the 8th and 9th arrondissements of Paris. It begins at the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre and ends at the Rue de Rome. Only the short part of the street between the Rue du Havre and the Rue de Rome is in the 8th ar ...

and rue d'Artois, now rue Laffitte. Totally filled during the extension of the city, the Menilmontant brook finally disappeared completely. It is found, however, in the name of the street '' Passage du Ruisseau-de-Ménilmontant'' which means 'passage of the Menilmontant brook', located in the

20th arrondissement of Paris The 20th arrondissement of Paris (known in French as the ''XXe arrondissement de Paris'' or simply as "''le vingtième''") is the last of the consecutively numbered arrondissements of the capital city of France. Also known as Ménilmontant () af ...

Notes

Other pages

Bièvre (river) The Bièvre () is a long river of the Île-de-France that flows into the Seine (left bank) in Paris. Name The name is often thought to derive from the archaic French word ' meaning "beaver". However, there is no evidence of beavers having inh ...

External links

* ''Histoire de Paris rue par rue, maison par maison'', Charles Lefeuve, 1875 (https://web.archive.org/web/20081216125300/http://www.paris-pittoresque.com/rues/288.htm) Rivers of France Rivers of Paris Subterranean rivers Rivers of Île-de-France {{France-river-stub