The aquatic town was built between 1963 and 1965 by French filmmakers who wanted to shoot parts of their movie, L’Enfant et la Sirène (The Child and the Mermaid) on a real underwater film set. The ambitious underwater filming approach was eventually abandoned in favor of an animation studio in Paris. Unfortunately, the film, a musical directed by Sylver Néjad Atzamba, never saw the light of day and the miniature underwater town was forgotten on the seabed and left to the elements.