Steep paths, a lake, and a temple perched on a rocky island give Buttes-Chaumont the feel of a countryside landscape inside Paris. That scenery was engineered on the site of a gypsum quarry, making the park’s natural-looking forms a feat of urban design.
Quick facts
The park was inaugurated on 1 April 1867 for the Paris Universal Exposition, on the site of former gypsum and millstone quarries.
The City of Paris restoration dossier says the quarries employed up to 800 workers before the gypsum resource was exhausted around 1860.
As of 6 November 2026, the City of Paris lists the park’s central area, including the island and Temple de la Sibylle, as closed during renovation work.
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Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, in Paris’s 19th arrondissement, asks you to read a landscape twice: first as a dramatic natural scene, then as a feat of engineering. Its cliffs, grotto, lake and steep paths were composed on ground already hollowed by extraction. The park opened to the public on 1 April 1867, during the Paris Universal Exposition, on the site of former gypsum and millstone quarries.
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