Repairing Cobblestone Streets

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Many streets in Paris are still paved with actual cobblestones—little cubes of rock neatly arranged in sand—just as they were centuries ago. This is one such street, actually a small intersection along the quai de la Tournelle, near the Latin Quarter. These workmen were rebuilding the cobblestone pavement by hand. After trimming each stone to fit, and using string guides to maintain alignment, they carefully set them into place in the sand, one stone at a time. This is considerably harder than one might think; getting the stones properly aligned, level, and smooth is not for the inexperienced.

This process has not changed in a very long time. There are pictures taken by Eugène Atget in Paris in 1899 that show almost this identical scene!

Cobblestones are a real pain; they vibrate your car when you are driving, they dislocate your joints when you are trying to ride a bike (assuming you don‘t slip and kill yourself on them), and they give you blisters and twist your ankles when you try to walk over them (especially if you are a woman in high heels). Not only that, it‘s extremely expensive to set cobblestones back in place by hand after the pavement has been torn up for construction work. So why are so many Parisian streets still paved with them? Because they are so pretty, of course, and cobblestone streets are just one of the things that make Paris such a beautiful city overall. Actually … cobblestones have excellent wear characteristics and they are easy to remove and put back in place, with minimal waste (compared to tearing up concrete or asphalt and repaving)—although it's rather labor-intensive. I have to keep reminding myself of these advantages when I‘m driving or cycling or walking over them, however.

I have a picture of the finished cobblestone paving, if you are interested.

Photographed on July 21, 2000.