Paris’s Largest Construction Site Since Haussmann!
You certainly already know the Eiffel Tower, the Invalides and the Latin Quarter. But did you know that architectural gems of a very different style dot the “other Left Bank” of the Seine? The 13th arrondissement, less touristy than the neighboring 5th arrondissement, is an old working-class district, generally associated with its dynamic Asian district or the picturesque charm of the Butte aux Cailles. But it is also the cradle of a completely different kind of city! In the East, since the 1990’s, a new city has emerged in the Parisian landscape: far from the tourists, and dominated by the François Mitterrand National Library, the Left Bank abounds in artistic, unusual and surprising places!
Originally an industrial and railway wasteland, this area is the largest urban construction site in Paris since Haussmann. Started in 1991, this new district has since developed around one symbolic building and its four towers in the shape of open books: the National Library of France by Dominique Perrault, inaugurated in 1995 under the presidency of François Mitterrand. On the border with Ivry-sur-Seine and Paris, this lively district is an original representation of the Parisian diversity, with restaurants, chain stores, offices and art galleries, mixing old industrial buildings and ultramodern buildings.
In this permanent urban laboratory, you will find a train station turned into the largest start-up incubator in the world, a former refrigerated warehouse of the French national railway now rehabilitated as a place of creation and production, a discreet building by famous architect Le Corbusier, a construction site transformed into a stage for street artists, both known and unknown, and a whole range of modern towers of varying sizes, signed by the greatest contemporary architects.
Follow us through these unusual and astonishing places away from the historical Paris and its cobblestone streets full of tourists! TheWaysBeyond will lead you through this surprising “other” Left Bank, a model for living in the 21st century between realistic utopia, building of the city on the city, and starchitecture!
Highlights of this guided tour:
– Enjoy an unknown face of Paris, far from the tourist crowds
– Discover contemporary architecture and its most illustrious representatives;
– Admire works of Street Art in a district in perpetual renewal;
– Uncover the secrets of the largest Parisian construction site since Haussmann!
Price
200€ from 1 to 10 pax
250€ from 11 to 15 pax
TheWaysBeyond is a signatory to the Caring Attitude charter of the Paris Tourist Office.
In this sense, this guided walking tour complies with current health and safety instructions, with the guide wearing a face mask and respecting physical distancing practices and other government-recommended preventive measures.Participants are asked to please wear a mask and respect physical distancing practices when walking together on the tour.