The hottest news in Paris over the weekend was not the news of Youssouf Traoré’s brutal arrest and swollen eye. The black activist took part in a banned demonstration on the subject of police violence and allegedly hit an officer. He is the brother of Adama Traoré, who died in 2016, allegedly from police ill-treatment. The hottest news was the message from Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who named three places on the Seine where bathing will be allowed from 2025.
It had been known for a while that the Seine was to be reopened a hundred years after it was closed due to poor water quality. But now Parisians know exactly where to hop in the river: in Bercy, facing the National Library, opposite Île Saint-Louis and further downstream on Île des Cygnes next to the Eiffel Tower. So far, only “one or two” positions had been mentioned. First in 2024, Olympic swimmers will hold a few competitions in the Seine before the general public is allowed in.
It almost feels like taking a bath. Paris Plages is an attempt to at least compensate for the lack a little.
(Photo: Thomas Kirchner/SZ)
This will be a turning point for Paris. This city has everything in abundance: beauty, culture, joie de vivre. Only with the cooling off in the summers, which are getting hotter and hotter, it has been very difficult so far. There are a few outdoor pools, as well as indoor pools that open the roof in summer, sometimes at insane prices. It has nothing to do with bathing culture like in Germany or anywhere else. For years, Paris Plages has been an attempt to at least compensate for the lack a little. Hundreds of parasols and sun loungers are placed on the banks of the Seine. At first there was sand, but now you’re walking on bare stone again. Almost nowhere in these places is it green, covered with grass, so we longed for the wet all the more.
Paris is thus continuing an age-old practice. The whole city is built around the Seine. Even the Romans bathed in the river in Lutetia, which always had a high practical value for people and animals. From about 1750 onwards, the inhabitants lost themselves again in many parts of the Seine, which at that time were not yet so built up. Then came industrialization and dirt. And the car madness of the post-war period. Traffic has been crowded out a lot recently, especially from Hidalgo. And recently, a lot has been invested in improving the water quality. It’s reportedly okay, although there’s still a lot of debris floating in it, and it’s set to improve even more once two planned large retention ponds are completed.
Parisians are still not entirely convinced of the project. The mayor should jump in first.
(Photo: Thomas Kirchner/SZ)
It’s not without danger in the Seine, where a lot of powerful pleasure boats are on the move. The bathing areas will be delimited and secured, there will be supervisors, showers, changing rooms and so on. Bathing will not be free everywhere, such as in Zurich or Geneva – cities whose popular river pools are the envy of Paris.
Hidalgo’s employees were filmed on Sunday taking a courageous test bath. However, there was still no sign of any imitators. Parisians are still skeptical, which is understandable given the murky and strange-smelling water. “I’ll only go in when Hidalgo has shown it,” said a woman on television.