The Seine, from 1977 to the present days Layout in the permanent collections

The Seine holds a special place in the history of the capital as well as in the life and in the fantasies of Parisians. On some 13 kilometers, 37 bridges connect its two banks. The most recent of them, the Simone-de-Beauvoir footbridge, was inaugurated in 2006. If the river shaped Paris, its uses changed and developed which also transformed it. 

The Seine was used as resources, commercial axis, patrimonial space, and, increasingly as a place turned towards leisure activities, all the while remaining a natural site to be protected. In 1991, the banks of the Seine became a Unesco World Heritage Site: from the pont de Sully to the pont d’Iéna, on the right bank and until the pont de Bir-Hakeim on the left bank. 

On this same bank, closed to cars in 2016, a 2.3 kilometers walk was built for pedestrians and cyclists, from the musée d’Orsay to the pont de l’Alma. The focal point of the 2024 Olympic Games, the Seine is, on this occasion, inaugurated by athletes as a place for swimming.

Photography : Corinne Vionnet, #50, 2020 from the series Paris Paris Paris © Corinne Vionnet