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Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city of France. Straddling the river
Seine in the country's north, it is a major global cultural and
political centre in addition to being the world's most visited city.
Nicknamed "the City of Light" (la Ville Lumière) since lighting its main
boulevards with gas street lamps in 1828, the city of Paris also has a
reputation as a "romantic" city and the "heart of Europe". The most
recognisable symbol of Paris is the 324 metre (1,063 ft) brown metal
Eiffel Tower located on the banks of the Seine. Paris is also
internationally renowned for its defining neoclassical architecture and
its influence in fashion and the arts.
As one of the main cultural and political centers in Europe since the
early Middle Ages, Paris contains many vestiges from its past including
numerous art galleries, museums and theatres. More recently, it has
grown into a significant centre of international trade with ever-growing
modern business districts, including La Défense, which forms a secondary
city centre. Paris hosts the headquarters of many international trade
and social organisations, including the OECD and UNESCO in addition to
the head offices of nearly half of all French companies and offices of
many major international firms.
The population of Paris city proper was estimated at 2,144,700
inhabitants in 2004, but during the last century the city has grown well
beyond its administrative boundaries. According to the INSEE, the body
issuing official statistics in France, the population of Paris urban
area (the contiguous built-up area) was estimated at 10.1 million people
in 2005. The population of Paris metropolitan area (also including
satellite cities) was estimated at 11.6 million people in 2005. The
Île-de-France région, of which Paris is the capital, produces over a
quarter of France's wealth, with a GDP of nearly €450 billion.
Today Paris is one of the world's major transport destinations, because
of its financial, cultural, political, and tourism activities. It is
often listed as one of the four major global cities along with New York,
London and Tokyo.
History - Origins
The region around Paris was settled from about 250 BC, by the Celtic
Parisii who were known as boatmen and traders. They established a
settlement by the River Seine to control river commerce. There is
dispute about the exact location of the settlement, traditionally
assumed to be on the Île de la Cité, but now placed by many historians
near Gare d'Austerlitz. Rome conquered the region in 52 BC and built the
city of Lutetia on the Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill as this area was
protected from river floods. Lutetia expanded and prospered during the
ensuing period of peaceful Gallo-Roman cohabitation, but third-century
Germanic invasions caused a period of decline. By 400 AD Lutetia had
been reduced to a garrison town entrenched in the hastily fortified
central island. The city reclaimed its original name of Paris towards
the end of the Roman occupation.
From AD 512, Paris was the capital of the Frankish king Clovis I, who
commissioned the first cathedral and abbey. On the death of Clovis, the
Frankish kingdom was divided with Paris as the capital of a much smaller
kingdom. By the time of the Carolingian dynasty (9th century), it was
little more than a feudal county stronghold.
History - Middle Ages
During the Carolingian dynasty, the counts of Paris rose to prominence,
eventually wielding greater power than the Kings of France. Odo, Count
of Paris defended Paris during the siege of 885-886 by the Vikings
Siegfried and Rollo. Odo was elected king after the deposition of the
incumbent Charles the Fat. Paris became the city of French kings when
Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected King of France in 987, founding
the Capetian dynasty whose rulers would raise Paris to become France's
capital. The Counts of Paris gained fame by defending France against
Viking attack in the ninth century, but the Vikings irreparably damaged
the old Roman city on the Left Bank. Nearby marshlands were drained to
allow Paris to grow on the Right Bank.
From 1190, King Philip Augustus enclosed Paris on both banks with a wall
that had the Louvre as its western fortress; and in 1200 chartered the
University of Paris which brought the city fame and visitors from across
Europe. During this period the city's modern spatial distribution of
activities appeared: the central island housed government and
ecclesiastical institutions, the Left Bank became a scholastic centre
with the University of Paris and colleges, while the Right Bank
developed as the centre of commerce and trade around the central Les
Halles marketplace.
Paris was occupied during the Hundred Years' War by the Burgundians,
allies of the English. Although Joan of Arc failed to reconquer the city
in 1429, a successful reconquest took place in 1437. However, the Kings
of France abandoned Paris in favour of the Loire Valley. During the
French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic party,
culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572). King Henry IV
re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594 after he captured the
city from the Catholic party. During the Fronde, Parisians rose in
rebellion and the royal family fled the city (1648). King Louis XIV then
moved the royal court permanently to Versailles in 1682.
During the French Revolution, Paris was the centre stage of French
history, with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the overthrow of
the monarchy in 1792.
History - Nineteenth century
The Industrial Revolution, the French Second Empire, and the Belle
Époque brought Paris the greatest development in its history. From the
1840s, rail transport and train stations spilled an unprecedented flow
of immigration into Paris. A majority of migrants found employment in
the new industries appearing in the suburbs. The city itself underwent a
massive renovation under Napoleon III and his préfet Haussmann, who, in
levelling entire districts of narrow-winding medieval streets, created
the network of wide avenues and neo-classical facades that make much of
modern Paris.
Paris suffered greatly from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and the
Siege of Paris by Prussian troops, which brought famine and destruction
to the city. The ensuing Commune of Paris events (1871) brought scenes
of civil war and devastation into the very heart of the city.
Despite grim predictions on the future of the city, Paris recovered
rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of
the late 19th century. Built for the French Revolution centennial 1889
Universal Exposition as a "temporary" display of architectural
engineering prowess, the Eiffel Tower remained the world's tallest
building until 1930, and today is the city's best-known landmark. The
first line of the Paris Métro opened for the 1900 Universal Exposition
and was an attraction in itself for visitors from the world over.
Paris's World's Fair years also consecrated its position in the tourist
industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and
trade shows.
History - World Wars' Years
During World War I, Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having
been spared a German invasion by the French and English victory at the
First Battle of the Marne in 1914. In 1918-1919, it was the scene of
Allied victory parades and peace negotiations.
In the Inter-war period Paris was famed for its cultural and artistic
communities, as well as its nightlife. From Russian exiled artists (such
as composer Igor Stravinsky), to Spanish painters (such as Picasso or
Dalí), to US writers (such as Hemingway), Paris became a melting pot of
artists from all around the world.
In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the German attack on France,
a partially-evacuated Paris fell to German occupation forces, who
remained there until Free French troops of General Leclerc liberated the
city in late August 1944. It was one of few European cities that
suffered almost no war damage at all thanks in part to the refusal of
the German military commander, General von Choltitz, to carry out
Hitler's direct order to destroy all monuments before evacuating the
city.
History - Modern Era
In the post-WWII era, Paris experienced its largest development since
the end of the Belle Époque in 1914. The suburbs around the city of
Paris proper began to expand considerably, with the construction of
large social estates known as cités and the beginning of the business
district La Défense. A comprehensive express subway network, the RER,
was built to complement the Métro and serve the distant suburbs, while a
network of freeways was developed in the suburbs, centered on the
Périphérique, the expressway circling around the city of Paris proper.
Many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the eastern ones) have been in a
period of de-industrialisation since the 1970s, and the once-thriving
cités have gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of
unemployment. The widening social gap between these disadvantaged
suburbs on the one hand and the wealthier suburbs (especially the
western ones) and the rich city of Paris on the other hand have led to
periodic unrest since the mid-1980s, sometimes degenerating into riots
such as during the 2005 riots.
Monuments and Landmarks
The three most famous landmarks of Paris are almost certainly the Eiffel
Tower, originally a "temporary" construction for the 1889 Universal
Exposition, the Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and
the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, a 12th-century ecclesiastical
masterpiece. Other than the Eiffel Tower, the lone skyscraper Tour
Montparnasse and Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on the hill Montmartre are
easily visible from many locations around the city, while the
window-shaped Grande Arche in La Défense marks the west.
Museums
The Louvre is one of the largest and most famous museums, housing many
works of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo
statue. Works by Pablo Picasso and Rodin are found in Musée Picasso and
Musée Rodin respectively, while the artistic community of Montparnasse
is chronicled at the Musée du Montparnasse. Starkly apparent with its
service-pipe exterior, the Centre Georges Pompidou, also known as
Beaubourg, houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne. Lastly, art and
artifacts from the Middle Ages and Impressionist eras are kept in Musée
Cluny and Musée d'Orsay respectively, the former with the prized
tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn.
Historical Centres
- Montmartre - historic area on the Butte, home to the Basilica of the
Sacré Coeur and also famous for the studios and cafés of many great
artists.
- Champs-Élysées - a 17th-century garden promenade turned Avenue
connection between the Concorde and Arc de Triomphe.
- Place de la Concorde - at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, built as the
"Place Louis XV" site of the infamous guillotine. The Egyptian obelisk
it holds today can be considered Paris's "oldest monument".
- Place de la Bastille - Former eastern stronghold and gate of Paris.
- Montparnasse - historic area on the Left Bank, famous for the its
artists studios, music-halls, and café life.
- Quartier Latin - Paris's scholastic center from the 12th century,
formerly stretching between the Left Bank's place Maubert and the
Sorbonne university.
Cemeteries
Many of Paris's illustrious historical figures have found rest in Père
Lachaise Cemetery. Other notable cemeteries include Cimetière de
Montmartre, Cimetière du Montparnasse, Cimetière de Passy and the
Catacombs of Paris
Parks and gardens
Two of Paris's most famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden on the banks
of the Seine next to the Louvre and the centrally-located Luxembourg
Garden, which used to belong to a château built for the Marie de'
Medici. During the Second Empire, Napoleon III created three vast
gardens on the outskirts of Paris: Montsouris, Buttes Chaumont in the
northeast, and Parc Monceau, formerly known as the folie de Chartres, in
the northwest. On the western and eastern perimeters respectively are
the two "forests", the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes.
Usefull links:
Paris airport official website
Paris CDG Airport
Paris Airport shuttle
Metro and RER in Paris
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