). On this postcard from the beginning of the twentieth century the southern end of the basin where it becomes the
Canal Saint-Martin can be seen. Over the opening to the canal is a kiosk for the General Omnibus Company which was a part of the
tramway and the
bus system of Paris. Above it is the viaduct built for the
Paris Métro Line 2, then operated by the
Compagnie du chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris (CMP).
The First Basin The first Bassin de la Villette is 699 metres long and 70 metres wide. It has served several functions. Its original function was to serve as a reserve of drinking water for Parisians. Its secondary function, in association with the second basin, was to provide water for navigation on the canals of
Saint-Denis and
Saint-Martin. At the beginning of the 19th century the first basin was surrounded by gardens where Parisians came to spend pleasant interludes (walking in summer, skating in winter). But the industrial era of the 1850s saw the disappearance of this aspect of recreation. Goods depots were built on the banks. In 1832 Paris was hit by a great epidemic of
cholera. Parisians using water from the Bassin de la Villette were less severely affected than those using water from the
Seine (the Javel and Samaritaine steam pumps) because of waste waters being discharged into the river by the city - especially the waste of the
Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, where there were many sick, which spanned the small arm of the river between the
Ile de la Cité and the left bank. In the late 19th century, commercial activities developed at the basin. In the same period the Moselle footbridge (13 metres high and a span of 85 metres) was built by Armand Moisant. It was decorated with a clock 3 metres in diameter. This bridge was replaced in 1966.
The Second basin The
Lifting bridge of the Rue de Crimée or
Pont de Flandre, a lifting bridge weighing 85 tons built in 1885, separates the two basins. It allows traffic on the
Rue de Crimée to cross the canal and connects the ''Quai de l'Oise
on the north-west side to the Quai de la Marne'' on the south-east side. When the bridge is raised pedestrian traffic can still continue on a fixed elevated walkway. At the time of its construction it was the third largest lifting bridge to be built in France. It is now the last one in Paris and is registered as an historical monument. The second basin measures 30 m wide and 730 m long. This basin, which is often prematurely named the ''Canal de l'Ourcq'', originally ran along the back of the old village of La Villette. At its northern end is the "roundabout of canals" where the Bassin de la Villette converges with the
Canal de l'Ourcq (which brings water for more than 100 km from the river
Ourcq) and the Saint-Denis canal which, with a length of 6,647.50 m and a slope of 28.45 m, joins the Seine at Saint-Denis, as well as the small
Darse du fond de Rouvray canal (a port for the canal ferry boats). ==Warehouses==