New ‘underground cathedral’ in Paris ahead of Olympics
The Austerlitz rainwater storage basin, which is intended to make the Seine swimmable during the Olympics.
It has no spire, stained glass windows or nave but the cavernous underground stormwater facility inaugurated on Thursday in the French capital ahead of the Paris Olympics has been compared to the Notre Dame Cathedral.
The giant new structure, burrowed 30m under the ground next to a train station, is a key part of eorts to clean up the river Seine, which is set to host swimming events during the Paris Games in July and August.
“It’s a real cathedral. It’s something exceptional,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Thursday as she walked on the bottom of the vast cylindershaped construction that has taken more than three years to complete. Deputy Paris mayor Antoine Guillou has compared the project in western Paris, near the Austerlitz transport hub, to Notre Dame, which is under reconstruction after a devastating re in 2019.
Notre Dame will not be ready in time for the Paris Games, as promised by President Emmanuel Macron immediately after the inferno that tore through the 850-year-old masterpiece.
Fortunately for Olympic open-water swimmers, the stormwater facility is set to enter service in June after tests later this month. Its role will be to store rainwater in the event of a heavy downpour, reducing the chances of the capital’s sewerage system needing to discharge its pathogen-rich contents directly into the Seine. Paris’s sanitation system is under immense scrutiny following pledges from Olympic organisers to use the Seine for the marathon swimming and triathlon during the Games, which begin on July 26.