Les Origines de Paris

The route follows the right bank on the Voie Georges Pompidou, from Pont Louis‑Philippe to Pont Neuf, covering about 1.2 km.

In a small group (maximum 15 people), you walk for nearly an hour: at each stop, the guide distributes a virtual reality headset which brings back a 360-degree scene from the past right where you stand.

More than fifteen scenes punctuate the walk, from the original marshlands to 19th-century workshops and the great 1910 flood, each built from maps, engravings, and archives validated by a scientific committee.

One hour walk, one headset, and two overlapped Parises. The principle is simple. For one hour, a guide leads a small group, no more than fifteen people, along the right bank on the Voie Georges Pompidou.

Departures are at fixed times. The walk covers about 1.2 km, from Pont Louis-Philippe to Pont Neuf, with several stops.

At each stop, the guide gives out a virtual reality headset: today’s quays fade away, and the same place reappears as it was at a given time, reconstructed in 3D. Between stops, audio commentary and the guide ensure the transition.

The Origins of Paris, an immersive route on the banks of the Seine, 1.2 km guided walk from Pont Louis-Philippe to Pont Neuf. The whole device’s interest lies in this overlay: you remain physically on the contemporary bank while the vanished city rises around you. The tour is standing and hands-free, so it's advisable to come without a stroller.

It is aimed at a wide audience, from 8 years old: the experience is not open to younger children. The commentary is available in French, English, and Spanish.

No room or showcase: History is presented in the open air, on the banks of the Seine. FirstNameLastName

From Lutetia to the 1910 flood, twenty centuries in 360 degrees. The route spans about twenty centuries, from the city’s earliest ages to the early 20th century. Three examples set the tone.

Before Paris, the marsh: one scene shows the site still wild, a simple wetland by the river. Elsewhere, the Viking siege of 885-887, when the Normans sailed up the Seine and besieged the city for over a year.

Elsewhere still, the Notre-Dame construction site, reconstructed over nearly two centuries from the Île de la Cité. 2000 years of Parisian history, from the origins to the early 20th century. Other significant eras include: Gallo-Roman Lutetia, the Black Death in the Middle Ages, then the Revolution and Marie-Antoinette’s end, the Eiffel Tower built for the 1889 World Expo, or the great 1910 flood which submerged part of the city.

Each scene is set in its original location: the quay you walk on becomes, during the immersion, the setting for a siege, an epidemic, or a flood. Each sequence lasts about two minutes and is viewed in 360 degrees: sometimes the viewpoint flies over rooftops, sometimes it dives into now-disappeared alleys.

More than fifteen scenes in all, built era by era from plans, old land registers, engravings, and archives, notably those of the National Library of France. The Seine and its quays seen from a bridge, 3D virtual reality reconstruction. The scene is viewed from under a bridge, whose stone arch frames the Seine.

Along the quay stand tall old houses, while flat-bottom boats rest on calm water in a golden, misty light. At 360 degrees, the headset restores the river as it shaped Parisian life: a traffic and trade axis, lined with inhabited banks and crossed by bridges.

The reconstruction is based on maps, old land registers, engravings, and archives, under the scientific direction of historian Géraud Létang, to provide a faithful state of knowledge.

From the studio to the VR kiosks to the Seine walk. Behind the experience is the Timescope studio, founded in 2015 by Adrien Sadaka and Basile Segalen. For about ten years, it has installed virtual reality kiosks in public spaces that show a location as it was in the past.

The very first, Place de la Bastille, already showed the square in the Middle Ages and during the Revolution. Today, there are several dozen across France, in museums, castles, and cities.

The award-winning studio has long worked with public institutions. The Origins of Paris takes the idea further: no longer a fixed kiosk, but an entire walk.

The historical content was established under the direction of historian Géraud Létang, scientific coordinator of the Mission for the 80 Years of Liberation, aided by a scientific committee; the entire chain, from 3D artists to sound engineers, is part of the French immersive sector. The studio’s declared ambition is History for a broad audience, showing it in the city itself rather than in a museum room.