Place Masséna

This guide to Place Masséna in Nice traces the century and a half it took engineers to bury the wild, flood-prone Paillon river beneath the square, starting with vaults sealed in 1867 and stretching through more culverting in the 1930s. It follows the project's slow finish into the early 2000s, when the modern promenade above the water was finally completed. You'll also hear about the seven towering figures installed overhead in 2007, when the square was handed back to pedestrians.