page_title: Bassin de la Villette
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bassin de la Villette / History
caption_attribution_description: carte postale ancienne éditée par EV N° 294Paris XIXe arrondissement&#160;: Le métro au rond-point de la Villette (aujourd'hui&#160;: Place de la Bataille-de-StalingradOn distingue, de bas en haut&#160;: l'écluse située à l'extrémité du Bassin de la Villette qui se transforme en Canal Saint-Martin. Sur l'embouchure du canal se trouve un kiosque de la Compagnie générale des omnibus, qui était une des compagnies de tramways et de bus de Paris. Au dessus se trouve le viaduc de la ligne 2 du métro de Paris alors exploitée par la CMP
context_page_description: The Bassin de la Villette is the largest artificial lake in Paris. It was filled with water on 2 December 1808. Located in the 19th arrondissement of the capital, it links the Canal de l'Ourcq to the Canal Saint-Martin, and it represents one of the elements of the Réseau des Canaux Parisiens, a public-works authority operated by the city. The other components of the network are the Canal de l'Ourcq, the Canal Saint-Denis, the Canal Saint-Martin, and the Bassin de l'Arsenal. Together, these canals and basins extend roughly 130 kilometres.
  Rectangular, eight hundred metres in length and seventy metres in width, it begins at the Rue de Crimée lifting bridge, the last bridge in Paris that can be raised and lowered hydraulically to permit the passage of ship and barge traffic beneath it, and it ends at the Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad near the Rotunda de la Villette. River cruise boats tie-up here and the shores of the basin are also the location of the MK2 Quai de Loire and MK2 Quai de Seine theatre complexes which are the most modern in France. A small electric passenger ferry, the Zéro de conduite, is available for transporting people from one side of the basin to the other.
caption: The end of the basin at the Rotonde de la Villette (Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad). 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).
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