Built between 1851 and 1852, the basin with a capacity of 12,000 m3 is located 35 meters above sea level, under the Place des Moulins, which is the highest point of the Panier.
On engravings of the XVIIth century, one counts about fifteen windmills. Today, only three of them remain, unfortunately swallowed up by the urban fabric. The use of water as a driving force will gradually force the windmills to cease all activity. In the middle of the 19th century, the city razed the existing buildings to the ground in order to create an architecturally homogeneous square.
This huge reservoir is made up of a structure with small brick vaults resting on 160 pillars made of Cassis stone, 5 meters high and spaced 4 meters apart from axis to axis in one direction and 2 meters in the other. On these vaults (lowered arches) had been placed a layer of topsoil about one meter thick to intercept the action of the sun on the water. Since then, the upper surface has been covered with road materials used for the development of the Place des Moulins.
The construction of this basin, undertaken simultaneously with that of the Longchamp and Bpnaparte-Puget hill basins, allowed the regularization of the city's water supply service. This operation, initiated during the first half of the 19th century, was then limited after the construction of the Sainte-Marthe basin on the derivation of the Longchamp basin. The distribution of water from the latter was carried out by cast iron pipes which, in turn, carried the water by means of secondary pipes connected to the main pipes. The water was previously filtered in the two-level Longchamp reservoir, and from the lower level of the Longchamp basin, the Moulins pipeline was laid.
Several projects for the development of the Moulins cistern are under study: it remains closed because the safety standards for its visit are not yet assured.
This huge reservoir is made up of a structure with small brick vaults resting on 160 pillars made of Cassis stone, 5 meters high and spaced 4 meters apart from axis to axis in one direction and 2 meters in the other. On these vaults (lowered arches) had been placed a layer of topsoil about one meter thick to intercept the action of the sun on the water. Since then, the upper surface has been covered with road materials used for the development of the Place des Moulins.
The construction of this basin, undertaken simultaneously with that of the Longchamp and Bpnaparte-Puget hill basins, allowed the regularization of the city's water supply service. This operation, initiated during the first half of the 19th century, was then limited after the construction of the Sainte-Marthe basin on the derivation of the Longchamp basin. The distribution of water from the latter was carried out by cast iron pipes which, in turn, carried the water by means of secondary pipes connected to the main pipes. The water was previously filtered in the two-level Longchamp reservoir, and from the lower level of the Longchamp basin, the Moulins pipeline was laid.
Several projects for the development of the Moulins cistern are under study: it remains closed because the safety standards for its visit are not yet assured.
Accessibility
Accessibility
Not accessible in a wheelchair
Location
Location
- www.marseille.fr
