TheIle de la Cité and the Ile Saint-Louis sit enthroned on the Seine in the heart of Paris, two beautiful islands where life is good. But did you know that in the Middle Ages , there was another island right next to them, which has since joined the riverbank? It's called Île Louviers, a piece of wasteland used for grazing before being ceded to Nicolas Louviers in the 15th century, provost of the merchants of Paris, from whom it takes its name, also nicknamed Île aux Javiaux in reference to the "javeau", a pile of sand and silt.
A practice area for crossbowmen, then a fort where King Henry II attended siege and naval combat shows, the island was acquired by the City of Paris in 1700 and leased to timber merchants, who stored firewood and other items there. Although it could be built on, it remained a utilitarian space, an open-air warehouse. It was only in the XIXᵉ century that its destiny changed: between 1841 and 1847, engineers decided to fill in the arm of the Seine that separated it from the right bank. Île Louviers was thus attached to the mainland.
Today, it corresponds to the esplanade that runs alongside today's Boulevard Morland and the entrance to the Port de l'Arsenal. It's hard to imagine walking along the basin on a former Seine island, even if you can see it from the air. Yet this vanished piece of land reminds us that Paris has long been a shifting mosaic of islets, as the Seine's branches and urban development have changed.
Moreover, the Île de la Cité itself was not a coherent whole, but surrounded by small, unstable islets, including theÎle aux Juifs to the west, infamous for its public executions, notably that of Jacques de Molay; theÎle à la Gourdaine to the north, home to a mill, merged in 1607 to shape the Place Dauphine under the reign of Henri IV; and theislet of Passeur-aux-Vaches at the downstream end.
