2-913-607 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Inauguration of the Cascades, in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, by the Emperor and Empress of the French, 1854. 'The Inauguration consisted in the opening by the Emperor [Napoleon III] of the mouth of the conduit, and the loosening of the waters into the empty lake...when the lake was completely full, it presented a really beautiful picture, which bore no sign of having been produced by artificial means...The material employed...consisted of a species of lava...his Majesty went through the ceremony of loosening the waters, which at once fell in great volume over the rocks, forming a very magnificent and beautiful cascade...It now turns out, however, that the Clichy lava is not so impervious as was supposed. The water leaked away as fast as it came in, and now it has been resolved to make a concrete bottom, which will be a long, and an expensive work'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.