Quai de la Rapée, Riverfront in 12th arrondissement, France
Quai de la Rapée runs along the Seine River for about 890 meters through the 12th arrondissement as a broad waterfront path. The walkway accommodates both pedestrians and vehicles moving between different neighborhoods along this section of the river.
In the 18th century this riverside path was called "chemin le long de la Rivière" and its use was tolled where it crossed the ditch of the Bastille. A port existed here by 1767, and the Crown expropriated the heirs of Jean-Nicolas Morel to lay out the surroundings of the barrière de la Rapée. Since 1978 the quay has formed a section of the Voie Georges-Pompidou.
The quay's name comes from the fief de la Rapée, held by the Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, which from 1119 sold a pressed-grape wine called vin de râpure at the Halles; the wine reached Paris by the Seine, giving rise to the Port de la Rapée. In 1994 Michel Gastine set his detective novel Quai de la Rapée here, and it won the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres.
The pathway is accessible at any time since it is an open public space along the river. Being near several metro stations makes it easy to reach and continue traveling within the city.
The building at No. 12, erected in 1828 as part of the army's fodder magazine, is now part of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and matches the ministry entrance at 139 rue de Bercy. Nearby, Nos. 28 to 84 occupy the block that held the port-au-Plâtre, where cut stone unloaded by water was stored, and its cemetery, open from 1725 to the Revolution.
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