Paris ,

the city of my dreams

Pop Bogdan
cls: a X-a C

1 INTRODUCTION
Paris (city, France), city in north central France, capital and largest
city of the country, on the Seine River, about 370 km (about 230 mi) from
its Atlantic Ocean outlet at Le Havre. Paris is situated in a low-lying basin;
the city is mostly flat, although the elevation gradually increases from the
river to the low hills that ring the city's edge. The highest natural feature
within the city proper is the Butte de Montmartre, at 129 m (423 ft) above
sea level. With an estimated population approaching 10 million, the Paris
metropolitan area contains nearly 20 percent of the nation's inhabitants
and dominates the economic, cultural, and political life of France to an
extraordinary degree; the population of Paris proper was 2,152,467 in
1994. The centralizing philosophy of successive governments has
historically favored the city as the site for all decision making, thus
exercising a powerful attraction on virtually all of the nation's activities.
Only since the 1960s have attempts been
made to reduce the inordinate influence of
Paris in French affairs and to strengthen
the role of various regions and secondary
cities.

2 ECONOMY

Paris is the leading industrial

center of France, with about one-quarter of the nation's manufacturing
concentrated in the metropolitan area. Industries engaged in the
manufacture of consumer goods have always been drawn to Paris by the
enormous market of the metropolitan population; and modern, high-
technology industries also have become numerous since World War II
(1939-1945). Principal manufactures are machinery, automobiles and other
vehicles, chemicals, and electrical equipment. The cultural and artistic
preeminence of Paris has attracted a large publishing industry and a wide
range of luxury manufactures, such as high-fashion clothing and jewelry,
for which the city is particularly noted.
Most key service activities of the nation, especially banking and finance,
are concentrated in Paris. The city has made major efforts in recent years
to attract the headquarters of multinational corporations and is now one of
Europe's most important centers of international business and commerce.
An additional advantage enjoyed by Paris is its location at the center of one
of Europe's richest agricultural regions, with nearby districts, such as the
Beauce and Brie, famous for the production of wheat and other crops. This
strong agricultural economy has ensured Paris a reliable food supply
throughout its history and has also created a solid economic base for the
region.
Because the Seine is navigable by barges to points upstream of Paris, the
city is an important port (fourth in France, by tonnage), with major
concentrations of processing, refining, and distribution activities. The city
is the principal focus of the national railroad and highway networks. The
first line of the Paris subway, called the Métro, opened in 1900. Today the
system has 16 principal lines, with frequent service. The Réseau Express
Régional (RER) is an express commuter system serving the suburbs. There
are two international airports, Charles de Gaulle and
Orly, and one main domestic airport, Le Bourget.

3 THE URBAN LANDSCAPE

Roughly circular in shape, Paris is divided by the
Seine, which enters in the southeast and loops to the north
before leaving the city in the southwest. The river contains
two islands: Île de la Cité and the smaller Île Saint Louis.
The original site of Paris was on the Île de la Cité and the
adjacent left (south) bank of the river. The Romans established a regional
capital here in the 1st century AD, naming it Lutetia. With few topographic
constraints on its growth, Paris expanded through the years in a generally
circular form and was enclosed by a successive series of walls for defense.
On becoming obsolete, the walls were demolished, and their sites were
transformed into wide streets and handsome boulevards, creating vital
access routes within the city. Until recent years, building heights within
Paris were limited to 20 m (66 ft), or about six stories; thus, the city,
although densely inhabited, has a low skyline except for outlying new
developments, such as La Défense, an area of high-rise buildings that house
the offices of many international companies.
A temperate marine west coast climate exerts an important influence on
the life of the city. Mild winters (January mean temperature 2.8° C/37° F),
cool summers (July mean 18.9° C/66° F), and well-distributed annual
precipitation make it possible for sidewalk cafés, open-air markets, and
other colorful attributes of the urban scene to be enjoyed throughout the
year.
Among districts of the city that have maintained an individual character
are the Latin Quarter, or Left Bank, near the Seine, noted for educational
and cultural pursuits; the expensive residential and commercial districts of
the Right Bank near the Champs-Élysées, such as Passy, Auteuil, and the
suburb of Neuilly; and the poorer working-class neighborhoods in the
northeastern part of the city, including Belleville and La Chapelle.
Paris has grown steadily, with interruptions caused by war and disease,
since it was chosen as the national capital in the late 10th century. The rate
of migration to the city increased markedly during the 19th century as the
impact of the Industrial Revolution was felt. Migration during this period
was especially stimulated by the construction of railroads, which provided
easy access to the capital. Paris has long been a refuge for those fleeing
persecution and unrest in various parts of Europe. After World War II,
however, and well into the 1970s, the city's population became even more
cosmopolitan with the arrival on a massive scale of immigrant workers
from Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Yugoslavia and of former colonial subjects
from North Africa, Senegal, Vietnam, and elsewhere. This
more recent influx has created a variety of economic and
social tensions in Paris.

4 POINTS OF INTEREST
The central sections of Paris, like those of many
European cities, were built up long before any particular
need was felt for open or recreational space. This
circumstance, together with the height restrictions on buildings (which
often made land too expensive for low-revenue public use), has resulted in
an unusually low ratio of "green space" per inhabitant. The largest areas
of open space today are those that were protected from development by
their status as royal preserves. Outstanding among these is the Bois de
Boulogne, a tract of heavily used woods, trails, lakes, and sports grounds,
located on the city's western edge. This park is mirrored just beyond the
eastern city limits by the Bois de Vincennes, which contains a zoo, a floral
garden, and museums. Within the city, important parks include the
Luxembourg Gardens and the Parc Monceau, both originally for royalty,
and the parks of Buttes Chaumont and Montsouris, which were laid out in
the mid-19th century on the sites of old quarries. The botanical garden, the
Tuileries, and Champ de Mars are attractive green areas that are more
formal than the other parks.
Paris's monumental architecture, dating from throughout its long history,
reflects the city's political and cultural status. Among the most important
older constructions are the Cathedral of Notre Dame, on the Île de la Cité,
which was begun in 1163; the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, a magnificent 13th-
century Gothic structure; the Louvre, once a royal palace; the Invalides,
built as a soldiers' home by Louis
XIV and now housing Napoleon's
tomb; and the Place de la
Concorde, laid out in the 18th
century. During the mid-19th
century Paris was redesigned
under the direction of Baron
Georges Haussmann, and several
grandiose projects were
undertaken to emphasize the city's
significance. The Arc de
Triomphe, the Opéra, the Place de
l'Opéra, the Place de l'Étoile (now
Place Charles de Gaulle), and
many of the broad avenues with
their imposing perspectives date
from this time. Among the city's
better known thoroughfares are
the Rue de Rivoli, Rue de la Paix,
Rue de Faubourg-Saint Honoré,
Avenue de l'Opéra, Boulevard des Italiens, Boulevard du Montparnasse,
and the Champs Élysées.
Toward the end of the century, the Eiffel Tower was built for the Paris
World's Fair of 1889; it is now the city's most famous symbol. The Basilica
of Sacré Coeur, on the summit of Montmartre, was completed in 1910.
Other important buildings include the Palais de Chaillot, Palais Royal,
Palais de l'Élysée (now the official residence of the president of France),
Palais Bourbon (the meeting place of the Chamber of Deputies), the Palais
de Justice, and the Pantheon. All of the classic monuments of Paris, and
indeed the entire city, have a surprisingly clean and fresh look, thanks to
the rediscovery and enforcement, in the 1960s, of an old ordinance
requiring all buildings to be cleaned periodically.
Among the more impressive recent additions to the city's skyline is the
cluster of high-rise office
buildings, as well as the Grande
Arche (an enormous picture
frame-like structure with glass
elevators), at La Défense, just
west of the city at Nanterre. Also
of note are the French Finance
Ministry building at Bercy, the
Opéra de la Bastille, and the
controversial high-rise
residential and commercial
complexes at the Montparnasse
railroad station and along the
Seine downstream from the Eiffel
Tower. When the old central markets (Les Halles) were moved out of the
congested inner city, the site was turned into a multilevel underground
shopping mall.

5 EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL

INSTITUTIONS
With the exception of regional folklore,
Paris has defined French culture to the world.
Moreover, the international importance of the
French language, and of French thought and
action, has lent even greater significance to the
expanded role of the capital. In both educational
and cultural terms, the contrast between Paris
and the provinces has been extremely sharp.
Only very recently and very slowly has the
dominance of Paris over the intellectual life of
the nation been weakened. The most prestigious
educational institutions of France are still
concentrated in the city. Most prominent is the
Sorbonne, which was founded about 1257 and
evolved into the University of Paris. Beginning
in 1968, in a major reform, the university was decentralized into 13
separate components. Other institutions of higher education include the
Collège de France (1530), École Polytechnique (1794), Catholic Institute of
Paris (1875), École du Louvre (1882), as well as medical, law, and
technological schools.
The city is the centralized control point of most national radio and
television broadcasting, place of publication of the most prestigious
newspapers (Le Monde, Le Figaro) and trendsetting magazines, and an
international book publishing center. The main public library, the
Bibliothèque Nationale, which has more than 9 million volumes, originated
in a small collection of books donated by Louis XI. A new library complex
was completed in 1996, and the Bibliothèque Nationale is now split between
two sites in Paris. The old library on Rue Richelieu will house part of the
collection while the new four-building, high-rise complex in the Tolbiac
section of Paris will accommodate all printed and audiovisual material as
well as expanded research facilities. The famous French Academy (founded
1635) meets in Paris, which is also the home of most of the nation's major
musical and theatrical companies. Among the principal theaters are the
Opéra de la Bastille, Théâtre de la Comédie Française, Opéra Comique,
Palais Garnier, and the Odeón. With more than 100 museums, Paris has
truly one of the greatest concentrations of art treasures in the world. The
Louvre, opened as a museum in 1793 and now boasting 225 galleries and
some 400,000 catalog entries, is one of the largest museums in the world. In
1983 France commissioned I.M. Pei, a Chinese-American architect, to
restore and partly transform the Louvre. Among his changes is a striking
glass pyramid entrance to the museum. The Centre National d'Art et de
Culture Georges Pompidou (also called Beaubourg), designed by architects
Renzo Piano of Italy and Richard Rogers of the United Kingdom, has
become a major attraction since its opening in 1977. In 1985 the Picasso
Museum opened in the restored 17th-century Hôtel Sale. It houses the
world's largest collections of the work of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, plus
his private art collection. Other major museums are the Musée d'Art
Moderne; the Musée d'Orsay; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs; the Cite des
Sciences et de Industrie; the Musée Rodin, housing the works of French
sculptor Auguste Rodin; the Musée de Cluny, with artworks from the
Middle Ages; Musée de l'Orangerie, with a collection of paintings by well-
known Impressionist artists; and the museum at the Institut du Monde
Arabe.

6 HISTORY
About the middle of the 3rd century BC the Parisii, a tribe of Celtic
peoples, fortified the Île de la Cité, calling the site Lutetia. In 52 BC the
Parisii burned their island fort and abandoned Lutetia to the Romans, who
extended the town to the left bank of the Seine, where they built baths, a
forum, and laid the grid for many Parisian streets. In Roman Gaul,
Lutetia, which became known as Civitas Parisiorum, or Paris, remained a
relatively unimportant city. According to a medieval tradition, Christianity
was introduced by Saint Denis, the city's first bishop, about the middle of
the 3rd century AD. Another legend says that Saint Geneviève, the patron
saint of Paris, inspired the city's defense against the Huns in AD 451.

A) The Medieval Period

Invading Germanic tribes ended Rome's control of Paris, and in 508
the city welcomed the rule of the Frankish king Clovis I. Clovis's successors
did not reside in Paris, but after the Viking raids of the 9th century the
Capetian kings made Paris the capital of France and rebuilt the city. Notre
Dame (1163), Sainte-Chapelle (1248), and a royal palace (1301) were built
on the Cité, making this island the true heart of France. King Philip II
Augustus erected a wall around the right bank in 1190 and a rampart
enclosing the left bank in 1210. Philip's charter for the University of Paris
identified the three parts of medieval Paris: the Cité, the town (ville) on the
right bank, and the university on the left bank. A royal provost, ensconced
in the Châtelet, ruled Paris for the king; a provost of merchants, residing in
the Hôtel de Ville, ruled the markets for the guilds. To protect Paris from
the English, Charles V rebuilt the left bank wall and in 1370 built a new
wall (now traced by the Grands Boulevards) on the right bank. This wall
extended Paris to the west beyond the Louvre and defended its eastern
flank with a fortress known as the Bastille. During the turmoil of the
Hundred Years' War with England, the Parisians repeatedly rebelled
against royal authority, and the English controlled the city from 1422 to
1439. Peace and prosperity were restored in the second half of the 15th
century.

B) The Emergence of Modern Paris

In the 16th century Francis I ushered in the Renaissance by building
the new Hôtel de Ville and erecting the original sections of the present-day
Louvre. Religious strife between Roman Catholics and Protestants
(Huguenots) halted this urban renaissance. Paris was a Roman Catholic
stronghold; thousands of Huguenots were killed in the city during the Saint
Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572). Not until 1594, when the new
Bourbon king, Henry IV, entered Paris, did peace return. The Bourbon
kings imposed classical architecture and absolutist rule on Paris. Squares
such as the Place des Vosges, new bridges such as the Pont Neuf, and the
Luxembourg Palace signaled the Bourbon dynasty's commitment to make
Paris the new Rome. Louis XIV improved city services by illuminating
Paris at night, increasing the water supply, and building the Invalides and
Salpêtrière hospitals; his successor, Louis XV, laid out the magnificent
Place de la Concorde.
The people of Paris rebelled against Henry III (1588) and Louis XIV
(1648). When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, they led the way in
overthrowing the monarchy and establishing the first French Republic.
During the Revolution and under Napoleon the domination of Paris over
the rest of the country increased. The city remained politically turbulent
during the 19th century. For defensive purposes a new wall (now the
Boulevard Périphérique) was built in 1844. Starting in 1852, Emperor
Napoleon III, aided by his prefect of the Seine, Georges Eugène
Haussmann, radically transformed Paris. New parks at Boulogne and
Vincennes graced the western and eastern edges of the city, and wide new
boulevards afforded access to central Paris. The Opéra and the École des
Beaux-Arts epitomized the style of this period. The Franco-Prussian War
(1870-1871) and the revolt of the Paris Commune interrupted this
rebuilding of the city. The Prussians inflicted minor damage, but the
Communards burned much of central Paris; 20,000 Parisians died in 1871
defending the city against the troops of the Third Republic (see Commune
of Paris, 1871). To atone for the Commune's revolt the Church of Sacré
Coeur was built on a hill in Montmartre. Between 1871 and 1914 Paris
gloried in the belle époque style that is evident today in the Gare de Lyon,
the Pont Alexandre III, and a few stations of the Métro subway.

C) The
Modern
City
World
War I (1914-
1918) marked
the beginning of
a period of urban
decay for Paris.
A burgeoning
population
depleted city
services. Housing
never kept pace
with demand, and the political strikes of the 1930s weakened the Third
Republic's pledge to improve conditions. Under the German occupation of
World War II (1939-1945), Paris endured scarcity but little damage. In the
postwar period the Fourth and Fifth republics have failed to check Parisian
growth or to provide enough housing, despite massive developments
around the periphery of the city and in the suburbs. Social tensions have
developed in subsidized housing projects that were built in the 1960s.
Urban renewal projects in the 1980s included the refurbishing of the
Louvre and the construction of a modern opera house at the Place de la
Bastille.