À Vélo
Paris is today considered one of the cycling capitals of the world. In 2024, according to a study by the Paris Region Institute, 11.2% of trips are made by bicycle in the capital, compared to 4.3% by car. This situation is the culmination of a long history in Greater Paris, with a significant acceleration in the use of bicycles in recent years.
The exhibition À Vélo, Paris Métropole 1818-2030 traces the evolution of cycling practices and the resulting social and urban impacts.
Over the centuries, the uses of the bicycle have continued to evolve.
From the world's first demonstration of a balance bike carried out in 1818 in Paris to a more widespread bourgeois pleasure from the middle of the 19th century, the use of the bicycle became popular during the interwar period, before becoming, from the years 1970, a symbol of political ecology. For nearly 20 years, the deployment of public actions, driven by a structured associative movement, has accompanied an increasingly visible growth in bicycle use in Paris. If the issues and imaginations linked to cycling are reinvented in each period, the study of cycling practices of the past makes it possible to identify common points which run through its history, as well as the singularities of each era.
Through a rich selection of historic bicycle models, original maps, posters, films and photographs, the exhibition travels through more than two centuries of history to explore cycling practices of yesterday and today and offer perspectives.
Recent successive crises are giving new meaning to cycling, which embodies one of the solutions to environmental, economic and health challenges. The long history of cycling in Paris continues to build a more ecological, practical and friendly city model.