Paris Notre Dame Archeology Underground Cave

About

In 1963, plans to build an underground parking garage beneath the square in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral spark preventive excavations that run from 1965 to 1972. The dig uncovers a dense tangle of remains from successive eras: the quay of the ancient port of Lutetia, a Gallo-Roman public bath, an early 4th-century defensive wall, the basement of the former Hôtel-Dieu chapel, medieval remains of the Rue Neuve Notre-Dame, the foundations of the Enfants-Trouvés hospice, and Haussmann-era sewer lines. In 1969, France's Ministry of Culture selects architects André Hermant and Jean-Pierre Jouve to protect the site and design a space to present it. The result, France's first archaeological crypt, opens to the public in 1980. It remains the largest archaeological crypt in Europe, layering more than two millennia of the Île de la Cité's history within a single underground space.