page_title: History of parks and gardens of Paris
section_title: Promenade plantée (1993)
hierarchical_section_title: History of parks and gardens of Paris / Parks of the Mitterrand era (1981–1995) / Promenade plantée (1993)
caption_attribution_description: A view of the Promenade Plantée in Paris, looking west towards the Opera Bastille (although the Opera is not visible in the photo). Photographer: Anthony Atkielski (Agateller)
context_page_description: Paris today has more than 421 municipal parks and gardens, covering more than three thousand hectares and containing more than 250,000 trees. Two of Paris's oldest and most famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden, created in 1564 for the Tuileries Palace, and redone by André Le Nôtre in 1664; and the Luxembourg Garden, belonging to a château built for Marie de' Medici in 1612, which today houses the French Senate. The Jardin des Plantes was the first botanical garden in Paris, created in 1626 by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the cultivation of medicinal plants. Between 1853 and 1870, the Emperor Napoleon III and the city's first director of parks and gardens, Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand, created the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois de Vincennes, Parc Montsouris and the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, located at the four points of the compass around the city, as well as many smaller parks, squares and gardens in the neighborhoods of the city. One hundred sixty-six new parks have been created since 1977, most notably the Parc de la Villette and Parc André Citroën.
context_section_description: The Promenade plantée, in the 12th arrondissement, is the most original of Paris parks. The creation of landscape architect Jacques Vergely and architect Philippe Mathieux, it was built ten meters above the street on the abandoned viaduct of the Vincennes railway, which had been built under Napoleon III in 1859. The park extends 4.7 kilometers, from the site of the former Bastille station of the railroad line, close to Place de la Bastille, to Verneuil-l'Étang, at the peripheric highway at the outer edge of the city. The park offers a variety of different landscapes, from bamboo forest to picturesque flower garden, as well as fine views of the city. It is accessed by a number of stairways along its route, and is sometimes enclosed. Preference is given to people strolling, though joggers are allowed, if they do not impede the promenaders. Because of the narrow width of the promenade, bicycles are not permitted.
  The Promenade plantée has inspired similar parks in other cities; the High Line in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, opened in 2009, and the three-mile Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago.
caption: The Promenade plantée, built on an abandoned railway viaduct ten meters above the city, stretches 4.7 kilometers from Place de la Bastille to the edge of the city.
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