“This place has such a peaceful atmosphere, don’t you think?” a woman whispered, her gaze sweeping across the Square Sergent Aurélie Salel. “It’s hard to imagine it was once a gaping hole in the ground. Can you believe this tranquil park we see today at Square Sergent Aurélie Salel was once a bustling quarry?”
The Square Sergent Aurélie Salel, opened in 1938, stands as a testament to Paris’s layered past. Before its transformation into a green haven, this very land was a hive of activity, providing the city with gypsum and plaster from its open-air quarries. You can still find traces of this history in the nearby Rue des Plâtrières, a name that echoes the area’s former life.
The story of Square Sergent Aurélie Salel takes a fascinating turn with the arrival of the Petite Ceinture railway. To accommodate this new mode of transport, the quarry was repurposed. The open pit became a trench, making way for the railway line between the Charonne and Sorbier tunnels. This section, known as the Sorbier trench, stretched for 140 meters. It was eventually covered, merging the two tunnels into a single passage, the impressive 1,300-meter-long Charonne tunnel. If you look closely, you’ll spot six ventilation shafts that were built to connect the tunnel to the surface, a reminder of the engineering feat hidden beneath our feet.
And the name? The Square Sergent Aurélie Salel honors a true Parisian hero, Sergeant Aurélie Salel. She was a firefighter who tragically lost her life in the line of duty in 2015. Her bravery and sacrifice are forever remembered in the heart of this peaceful park.