Paris (city, France) - geography.

Paris (city, France) - geography. I INTRODUCTION Paris (city, France), city in north central France, the capital and largest city of the country. It is located in France's Île-de-France region, on the Seine River, 370 km (230 mi) upstream from the river's outlet on the English Channel. Paris is world-famous for its beauty and charm, and for its long history as a center of learning and knowledge. Parisians call their city the 'City of Light.' People from around the world flock to the city to view its impressive array of monuments and museums, savor its cuisine, and relax in its sidewalk cafes and nightclubs. Paris is the political, cultural, and economic center of France as well as one of the most vibrant metropolises in the world. About 15 percent of France's inhabitants live in the Paris metropolitan area. Paris is named after the Parisii, a Celtic people who settled on the city's central island--the Île de la Cité--in the 3rd century BC. The city has since spread north and south of the Seine. The city lies in a depression. The highest elevation is 129 m (423 ft) at the summit of Montmartre in northern Paris. Paris enjoys a temperate climate. Average daily temperatures are 20°C (68°F) in summer and 5°C (41°F) in winter. The city receives about 650 mm (26 in) of precipitation annually, spread evenly over the course of the year. Air pollution is high, caused predominantly by automobile traffic and aggravated by the city's geographic position in a depression. II PARIS AND ITS METROPOLITAN AREA Roughly circular in shape, Paris proper has an area of 105 sq km (41 sq mi). It is bounded by a 35 km- (22 mi-) long ring road called the Boulevard Périphérique. Paris proper constitutes one of eight départements of the Île-de-France region. The Paris metropolitan area stretches over the three adjacent départements, which are known as the inner suburbs (la petite couronne), and extends into the fringes of the four larger, surrounding départements, known as the outer suburbs (la grande couronne). The city is divided into 20 political units called arrondissements. The numbering of the arrondissements spirals outward like a snail shell, starting from the western part of the Île de la Cité, then moving clockwise all the way to the 20th arrondissement in eastern Paris. The Seine enters Paris in the southeast, loops north, and then curves to the southwest before leaving the city. Many of the city's greatest monuments lie on the banks of the Seine, which were designated a World Heritage Site in 1992 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Seine provides the simplest division of the city: The north side of the river is known as the Right Bank (Rive Droite) and the south side as the Left Bank (Rive Gauche). The Right Bank contains 14 arrondissements, while the Left Bank contains 6. In addition to arrondissements, Paris is made up of neighborhoods, or quarters (quartiers), usually of historical, cultural, or monumental origin. These neighborhoods do not always have clearly defined boundaries. A Islands Île de la Cité, in the center of the Seine, is considered the birthplace of Paris. It was the site of the city's earliest settlements and was home to the kings of France from the 5th century to the 14th century. The king's palace, private chapel, parliament, and prison were located on the western side of the island. The medieval palace was largely replaced by the massive 19th-century Palais de Justice, the site of France's main civil and criminal courts. The Palais de Justice was built around the 13th-century Gothic royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, constructed by King Louis IX to be a shrine for relics that were believed to be the crown of thorns of Jesus Christ and pieces of the holy cross. Also within the Palais is the Conciergerie, the prison that housed many central figures in the French Revolution (1789-1799) before they were executed. The Parisian police headquarters is located across the street from the Palais. The eastern part of the Île de la Cité is the spiritual center of France, represented by the Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame (begun in 1163). The cathedral stands on the site of an ancient monument to the Roman god Jupiter. Other churches stood nearby before the 19th century, when the island was remodeled, the cathedral square enlarged, and the city's oldest hospital, l'Hôtel Dieu, moved from its previous location along the river to the northern side of the square. Notre Dame is also the geographic center of Paris. A paving on the cathedral square marks point zéro, the spot from which all distances to Paris are measured. At the eastern tip of the island is a shrine dedicated to the thousands of Parisians deported to German concentration camps during World War II (1939-1945). Four bridges connect the Île de la Cité with either river bank, and a footbridge connects it with the Île Saint-Louis to the east. Île Saint-Louis was formerly two islets, which were joined in the 17th century. French architect Louis Le Vau designed many of the buildings on the island, which became a wealthy residential neighborhood when space in the fast-developing aristocratic Marais neighborhood, on the Right Bank, was becoming scarce. The island is a wealthy and expensive enclave with attractive baroque and neoclassical architecture and elegant boutiques and restaurants. B Right Bank The north side of the Seine is called the Right Bank because it lies on the right-hand side when one is facing downstream. The following description of the Right Bank follows an east-west itinerary along the Seine starting across from the Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis. It then loops back in a west-to-east direction along the major avenues that make up the Grands Boulevards and turns to points north and east. B1 The Marais North of Île Saint-Louis is the neighborhood of the Marais ("marsh"). In the 13th century, this area was the home of the Knights Templar (see Military Religious Orders), who drained the marshy land for agricultural use. The Marais is centered around the Place des Vosges (previously known as the Place Royale), the first public square constructed in Paris, in the early 17th century. This area was the aristocratic neighborhood of Paris before the French Revolution, mainly between the second half of the 14th century, when the king moved his residence here, and the 17th century. A number of 17th-century private townhouses (hôtels particuliers) stand in the Marais, many of which have been turned into museums or other cultural institutions. The Marais is home to one of Paris's larger Jewish neighborhoods, centered on the Rue des Rosiers, just west of the Place des Vosges. Located directly north of the eastern tip of the Île de la Cité, Place de l'Hôtel de Ville is the site of the Parisian city hall. Home to city authorities since the 13th century, the square was called Place de Grève until the end of the 19th century. It was the main place of public executions and Paris's most famous criminals were put to death here. West of the Hôtel de Ville is Place du Châtelet, named after the medieval prison and fortress that stood by the Seine until the early 19th century. In an effort to upgrade this hitherto run-down neighborhood, the ingenious city planner Baron Haussmann built two theaters here in the mid-19th century. These are now known as the Théâtre Musical de Paris and the Théâtre de la Ville. Just north of the Hôtel de Ville is the Pompidou Center, also known as Beaubourg, an arts complex devoted to modern and contemporary art and design. The structure, in steel and glass and featuring brightly colored, exposed pipes and ducts, is the work of Italian architect Renzo Piano and British architect Richard Rogers. Its controversial pop-art design contrasts sharply with the overall gray hue of the city, and was criticized by many following the building's inauguration in 1977. Nevertheless, the complex, and its vibrant public square, frequented by street performers, soon became among the most popular landmarks in the city. West of the Pompidou Center is Les Halles, the site of the central market of Paris from the 12th century until 1969. The market was subsequently replaced by the Forum Les Halles, a multilevel underground complex featuring a shopping mall, museums, the Paris film library (vidéothèque), and a sports center. The street level of Les Halles features a garden, the Jardin des Halles, surrounded by pedestrian-only thoroughfares. The Châtelet-les Halles underground train station, connected to the Forum Les Halles, is a major transportation hub. B2 Louvre and Place de la Concorde The Louvre, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world, is located southwest of Les Halles, on the Seine. Construction of the current building began in 1546, on the site of a much smaller 13th-century fortress and palace. The kings of France lived here intermittently from 1363 to 1682. The structure became a public museum in 1793. The Palace of the Tuileries, begun in 1564, stood to the west of what is now the Louvre until 1871, when it was burned by supporters of the Commune of Paris. The Jardins des Tuileries, the original formal garden of the palace, is now a public park. The Place de la Concorde, located on the west side of the Jardins des Tuileries, is the most spacious square in Paris. It was laid out in the mid-18th century by French architect Jacques Ange Gabriel as a monument to King Louis XV. Originally called Place Louis XV, it was renamed Place de la Révolution during the French Revolution, when a guillotine was set up in the square for many of the subsequent public executions. More than 1,000 people were executed here in the 1790s, notably King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoinette, and revolutionary leaders Georges Jacques Danton and Maximilien de Robespierre. The square received its current name after the revolution. Muhammad Ali, the viceroy of Egypt, gave the Luxor Obelisk that stands in the center of the square to Charles X in 1829. It was erected in 1836. The obelisk, which originally stood in the ancient city of Thebes, dates from the 13th century B3 BC, making it the oldest monument in Paris. Champs-Élysées and Trocadéro The Champs-Élysées (meaning "Elysian Fields") is the most spectacular thoroughfare of Paris, running west from the Place de la Concorde to the Place Charles de Gaulle-Étoile (formerly called the Place de l'Étoile). All major civic celebrations take place along this broad avenue, including the Bastille Day military parade on July 14. Moving west from the Place de la Concorde, elegant gardens line the first few blocks of the Champs-Élysées. The Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, both built for the 1900 Universal Exposition (World's Fair), are located on the south side of the avenue. Both palaces now house art exhibitions. North of the gardens lies the one-time aristocratic Faubourg Saint-Honoré neighborhood. Its most famous building is the Élysée Palace, the residence of the president of France. At the center of Place Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées, stands the 50-m- (164-ft-) tall Arc de Triomphe. Commissioned by French emperor Napoleon I in 1806 to commemorate his military victories, the monument was completed in 1835. Beneath the arch is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in honor of French soldiers killed in World War I (1914-1918). Twelve avenues radiate from the Place Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, giving it the appearance of a giant star (hence its original name, Place de l'Étoile). The layout is the masterpiece of 19th-century urban planner Baron Haussmann. Southwest of the Arc de Triomphe is the Trocadéro, consisting of the semicircular Palais de Chaillot, built for the 1937 World's Fair, and its gardens, called the Jardins du Trocadéro. The Palais de Chaillot now houses the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man), the Musée de la Marine (Maritime Museum), the Théâtre National (National Theater), the Musée du Cinéma (Museum of Cinema), and the Cinemathèque Française, the French national film archives. Also located in the vicinity are the Palais Galliera, which houses a museum of fashion, the Musée Guimet, featuring an Asian art collection, and the Musée d'Art Moderne (Museum of Modern Art). B4 Grands Boulevards The Grands Boulevards run in a huge semicircle from the Place de la Concorde northeast and then southeast to eastern Paris. These once fashionable thoroughfares and promenades were laid out by Louis XIV in the 1670s to replace the old city walls. North from the Place de la Concorde is the church of Sainte Marie Madeleine, commonly known as the Madeleine. Emperor Napoleon I had the church built in the early 19th century in the style of a Greco-Roman temple. Located to the northeast of the Madeleine is the Palais Garnier, better known as the Opéra, Paris's main opera house until 1989. The opera house was designed by French architect Charles Garnier and completed in 1875. The area around the Madeleine and the Opéra is a major commercial area, featuring some of the city's best-known department stores, as well as many banks and travel agents. The Grands Boulevards run east from the Place de l'Opéra through the Place de la République to the Place de la Bastille, southeast of the Marais. The Bastille is a trendy neighborhood, with numerous art galleries, studios, and a busy nightlife. The French Revolution erupted in this area when a mob stormed the Bastille fortress, which stood west of the Place de la Bastille, on July 14, 1789. Across the square is the new Opéra de la Bastille, inaugurated on July 14, 1989, on the occasion of the bicentennial of the French Revolution. B5 Montmartre and Points East Located on the northern edge of Paris, Montmartre is the highest hill in the city. This picturesque neighborhood is popular with tourists. Countless artists lived in Montmartre in the early 20th century and the area prides itself as the birthplace of modern art. The Basilica of Sacré Coeur, at the top of the hill, was built between 1875 and 1919. The neighborhood of La Villette, on the northeastern edge of the city, is centered around the Parc de la Villette, which was built on the site of the city's main slaughterhouse and livestock market. The park is a major cultural and entertainment center, featuring a museum of science and industry as well as the Cité de Musique (City of Music), which houses the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (National Higher Conservatory of Music), the Musée de Musique (Museum of Music), an Imax cinema, an exhibition hall, a pop and jazz music venue, and a theater. In the southeast, the neighborhood of Bercy lies on the Seine. It is home to the French Ministry of Finance, a multipurpose sports facility called the Palais Omnisports, and the Parc de Bercy, built on the site of former wine warehouses. C Left Bank The south side of the Seine is called the Left Bank. The following description of the Left Bank takes an east-west tour along the Seine beginning across from the Île de la Cité and then loops around to the southeast. C1 The Latin Quarter The area south of the Île de la Cité is known as the Quartier Latin, or the Latin Quarter. The University of Paris, the oldest university in Europe, emerged in the neighborhood in the early 13th century. The area is so named because Latin was the official language of learning until 1789. Several colleges belonging to the university--the most famous being the Sorbonne--were located throughout the neighborhood for centuries. The University of Paris was restructured and decentralized in 1968 (see Universities of Paris), and most of its students no longer study in the Latin Quarter. However, the Sorbonne and the Law Faculty are still located there, as is the prestigious École Normale Supérieure, an independent institution of higher education founded in 1794. The oldest university building still standing in the Latin Quarter is the 17th-century chapel of the Sorbonne. Two of Paris's prestigious secondary schools are also in the Latin Quarter: the Lycée Louis le Grand and the Lycée Henri IV, located, respectively, on the site of an old Jesuit college and the Abbey of Saint Geneviève. The Latin Quarter is a vibrant intellectual neighborhood, with numerous bookstores, shops, and movie theaters. Boulevard Saint-Michel is the main thoroughfare of the Latin Quarter. The Panthéon, southeast of the Sorbonne, is the Latin Quarter's largest monument. Once a church, the building is now the secular resting place of some of the nation's heroes, including authors Victor Hugo, Voltaire, and Émile Zola. Originally built for the Queen Mother Marie de Médicis, the Palais du Luxembourg is now the seat of the French Senate. It sits west of the Sorbonne at the north end of the Jardin du Luxembourg, a magnificent park. C2 West from the Latin Quarter to the Eiffel Tower Saint-Germain-des-Prés, west of the Latin Quarter and across the river from the Louvre, is named after the neighborhood's church. Constructed in the 11th century, the church is the only remnant of an ancient abbey. It has been renovated or altered several times. Its church tower is the oldest in the city and one of the oldest in France. In the 20th century, and in particular after World War II, the neighborhood became a mecca for French intellectual life, jazz music, and publishing houses, many of which still exist. Today, Saint-Germain-des-Prés is one of the most elegant and expensive neighborhoods in Paris, lined with boutiques and art galleries. At night it draws crowds to its restaurants, cafés, cinemas, and nightclubs. The Faubourg Saint-Germain, further west, was an aristocratic neighborhood in the 18th century. It is now home to many foreign embassies and government ministries, among them the French prime minister's residence, l'Hôtel Matignon. The Musée d'Orsay, a famous museum of 19th- and early-20th-century art, and the Palais Bourbon, the seat of the French National Assembly, are also located in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. The 17th-century Hôtel des Invalides, built by Louis XIV as a hospice for war veterans, houses the Army Museum. Napoleon's tomb is located in the Church of the Dome, built from 1676 to 1706 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The Invalides Esplanade extends to the Seine and bounds the Faubourg Saint-Germain to the west. The Eiffel Tower and the École Militaire (Military School) face each other on the northern and southern edge of the Champ de Mars gardens, west of the Invalides. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Universal Exposition. The École Militaire was built in the 18th century under Louis XV as a military academy. The Champ de Mars served as the school's training and parading grounds, and later as racetracks. Universal Expositions were held here in 1855, 1878, 1889, and 1900. C3 Montparnasse and the Southeast Montparnasse, to the south of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, is a commercial neighborhood centered around a major railway station and the tallest high-rise in Paris, the Tour Montparnasse (Montparnasse Tower). In the first half of the 20th century, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, Montparnasse was the cultural and artistic center of Paris. Artists from all corners of the world congregated in Montparnasse, in particular in the cafés near Carrefour Vavin (later renamed Place Pablo Picasso). The Bibliothèque Nationale de France-François Mitterrand, located southeast of the Latin Quarter, across the river from Bercy, is the main location of the French national library. It was inaugurated in 1996, and was the last in a series of public building projects undertaken during the 14-year presidency of François Mitterrand. D Suburbs La Défense lies west of central Paris, on the axis of the Champs-Élysées. It is a high-rise development of office buildings, apartments, shops, and restaurants, and features the monumental Grande Arche de la Défense, completed in 1989. To the southwest is Versailles, home to the 17th-century Palace of Versailles of Louis XIV. Saint-Denis, to the north, houses the 12th-century Abbey Church of Saint-Denis, where many of France's kings and queens are entombed. East of Paris is Marne-laVallée, one of several villes nouvelles ("new towns") outside of Paris, and home to the Disneyland Paris theme park. Other villes nouvelles include Cergy-Pontoise in the northwest, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in the southwest, Évry in the south, and Sénart in the southeast. III POPULATION The population of Paris proper is 2,125,246 (1999), while approximately 9.6 million (1996) people--15 percent of the population of France--live in the Paris metropolitan area. About half of this total live in the inner suburbs. Lower housing costs and better living conditions in the suburbs have led to a continuous population shift from Paris proper to the suburbs, particularly to the outer suburbs. Wealthier neighborhoods are concentrated in central Paris and in the western suburbs; lower-income areas lie to the north and east. Immigrants and other foreign residents make up about 16 percent of the city's total population. The largest group are North Africans, the majority from Algeria. They are followed by Portuguese, West Africans, and Southeast Asians. Most Parisians are Roman Catholics. Muslims make up the next largest religious group and Jews the third. There are smaller numbers of Protestants and Buddhists. IV CULTURE AND EDUCATION For centuries, Paris was the cultural and intellectual center of the Western world, a magnet drawing representatives of the international intellectual and artistic communities. The city has been the birthplace of new ideas, such as the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment; of new artistic movements, such as impressionism, fauvism, cubism, and surrealism; and of new art forms, such as photography and film. A Culture Parisians place a high value on the arts. Theaters, concert halls, repertoire cinemas (those devoted to nonmainstream films), museums, art galleries, and annual festivals enjoy large attendance and substantial funding from both the civic and national governments. A1 Museums Paris contains around 150 museums (musées), ranging from the Louvre--one of the largest and most famous museums in the world--to the very small Musée Zadkine, located in the onetime home and studio of cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine, by the Jardin du Luxembourg. The Louvre houses an exceptional collection of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities, and great paintings of the French, Italian, Dutch, and Flemish schools. The Mona Lisa (1503-1506) of Leonardo da Vinci and the ancient Greek statues Venus de Milo (150-100 BC) and Victory of Samothrace (about 200 BC) are among its world- renowned treasures. The museum was remodeled and enlarged in the 1980s, and its entrance is now located under a large glass pyramid designed by Chinese American architect I. M. Pei. The Musée d'Orsay, located in a converted railway station, is devoted to French painting, sculpture, photography, and other works of art created between 1848 and 1914. It is best known for its impressionist collection, the largest in France. The Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne (National Museum of Modern Art) is located in the Pompidou Center, near Les Halles. Devoted to 20th-century and contemporary art, the museum contains significant fauvist, cubist, and surrealist collections, among others. The neighborhood of La Villette, located on the northeastern edge of the city, is a major cultural hub for the city. The Parc de la Villette is the site of the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry) and the Cité de la Musique (City of Music), which houses both the Musée de Musique (Museum of Music) and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (National Higher Conservatory of Music). Medium- and small-sized museums are scattered all over the city, with an exceptional concentration located in palatial former townhouses in the Marais neighborhood of east central Paris. Le Musée de l'Histoire de Paris (Museum of the History of Paris) in the Hôtel Carnavalet and the Musée Picasso in the Hôtel Salé are the most popular museums in the Marais. The Musée de l'Histoire du Judaïsme (Jewish History Museum) is located in the Hôtel Saint-Aignan. The Marais is also home to various cultural institutions and libraries. Many artists' and writers' homes have been turned into museums, notably the Musée Rodin near the Invalides, the Musée Victor Hugo in the Marais, the Musée Delacroix in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Musée Zadkine and Musée Bourdelle in Montparnasse, and the Musée Balzac near the Trocadéro in western Paris. There are several other museums in the Trocadéro area, notably the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man), which features anthropological and ethnographical exhibits, and the Musée Guimet, with its collections of East Asian art. Also nearby is the Musée Marmottan where 80 paintings by Claude Monet are housed, including Impression, Sunrise (1872-1873), which gave the impressionist movement its name. Major temporary exhibitions are held at the Grand Palais by the Champs-Élysées, while the artworks donated to the city are housed at the neighboring Petit Palais. Temporary exhibitions of contemporary art are shown at the Musée du Jeu de Paume, on the western edge of the Jardins des Tuileries. The neighboring Musée de l'Orangerie houses French art from 1880 to 1930, including Monet's Nymphéas (1916-1926). In the Latin Quarter, the Musee National du Moyen Age (National Museum of the Middle Ages, also known as the Cluny Museum), houses a series of world-renowned tapestries known as La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady with the Unicorn, 1484-1500). The museum is located in the Hôtel de Cluny, a 15th-century mansion. A2 Theater and Film There are well over 100 theaters (théâtres) in Paris. Most are privately owned and they vary in size and fame, from the well-established to the experimental. The oldest and best known is the state-run Comédie Française, founded by Louis XIV, located at the Palais-Royal by the Louvre. The Théâtre de l'Odéon on the Left Bank (opened in 1782 as the new home of the Comédie Française) and the Théâtre National at the Palais de Chaillot are also run by the French government. Parisians are keen filmgoers. In addition to the many multiscreen commercial cinemas, there are scores of repertoire cinemas in Paris, predominantly on the Left Bank, where quality films from around the world are screened. A3 Opera and Music The French national opera company performs large-scale operas at the Opéra de la Bastille, inaugurated in 1989, and stages chamber operas and ballets at the Palais Garnier, formerly the main opera house, at Place de l'Opéra. Operas are also produced at the Opéra-Comique and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, both privately owned. The Théâtre Musical de Paris also performs operas, and the Théâtre de la Ville specializes in ballet and chamber music. Both are located at Place du Châtelet, and are run by the city. The Salle Pleyel, northeast of the Arc de Triomphe, is home to the Paris Orchestra. Concerts are also held at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Louvre Auditorium, at the Musée d'Orsay, and in many churches and auditoriums. The Musée de Musique and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique are located in the Cité de la Musique at the Parc de la Villette. Jazz and pop music concerts are also held at La Villette, as well as a variety of other entertainment. A4 Annual Cultural Events The most popular annual events are the military parade along the Champs-Élysées on Bastille Day (July 14) and the Fête de la Musique on June 21, when free concerts of every kind of music are held in different areas. There are several other important annual cultural festivals, notably the Paris Quartier d'Eté ("Summer Quarter"), a series of neighborhood music and dance performances; and the Festival d'Automne ("Autumn Festival"), during which numerous theatrical productions, including many premieres, are staged. Sacred music performances are held in churches around Christmas and Easter. An annual jazz festival, called Banlieue Bleue (literally "blue suburbs") is held in the suburbs of northeastern Paris in February and March, and the Festival Internationale de Dance (International Dance Festival) is held in the city every fall. B Education The Universities of Paris are the nation's main institutions of higher learning. Founded in the early 13th century as the University of Paris, it was reorganized into 13 autonomous faculties in the wake of student uprisings in 1968. These faculties are spread throughout the greater Paris region. The most famous unit is the Sorbonne, located in the Latin Quarter. The Sorbonne was founded in about 1257 as a college, and up until 1968 it was home to the schools of arts and science. Today, the Sorbonne and other nearby buildings house six faculties of the Universities of Paris system. Paris also has a number of grandes écoles, or highly selective schools. The most prestigious are the École Normale Supérieure and the École Polytechnique, both founded in 1794, during the French Revolution, to train teachers and civil and military administrators, respectively. The École Polytechnique is now a school of engineering, mathematics, and science. The École Nationale d'Administration was founded in 1945 to provide the nation with high-ranking civil servants. Most of the high-ranking executives in French government and industry are alumni of the grandes écoles. Admission to the grandes écoles is granted only after difficult, competitive examinations. Advanced education in the fine arts is provided by the École des Beaux Arts, and in music by the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. Paris is also the location of the Institut de France, which comprises five academies, or learned societies. The best-known academy is the Académie Française, founded in 1635 by royal decree to set the standards of French language. Its members, who are elected for life, are in charge of updating the dictionary of the French language and awarding prestigious literary prizes. In addition, located near the Sorbonne is the Collège de France, an independent research and teaching institute founded in 1530. It provides free scholarly lectures to the public. Paris has a number of major libraries. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France (French National Library), containing 9 million books as well as numerous priceless manuscripts, moved its main collection to new premises in southeast Paris in 1996. The Fine Arts department remained at the library's old location in central Paris. The national archives are stored in the 18th-century Hôtel de Soubise, in the Marais. The Bibliothèque Mazarine is part of the Institut de France and has valuable collections of 17th- and 18th-century works. The Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève is a university library and caters to Latin Quarter students. The Pompidou Center houses one of the largest public libraries in the city. The Videothèque de Paris, in the Forum des Halles is a comprehensive video archive of all the films ever made in or about Paris. The city's public libraries are well used by children and adults alike. V RECREATION Paris boasts more than 140 parks (parcs) and gardens (jardins), and two large wooded areas (bois). In all, these green spaces cover 22 sq km (8 sq mi), or about 20 percent of the city's total area. Three of the city's central gardens were laid out in the 17th century by royalty: the Jardins des Tuileries west of the Louvre, and the Left Bank's Jardin du Luxembourg and Jardin des Plantes. The latter also houses a small zoo. The Bois de Boulogne, on the western outskirts of the city, and the Bois de Vincennes, on the east, were once royal hunting domains. The 18th-century Parc Monceau in northwest Paris was remodeled in the second half of the 19th century. Two new parks were designed at that time, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in eastern Paris and the Parc Montsouris on its southern edge. A growing awareness of environmental issues, especially since the 1980s, has led to extensive greening projects in the historically congested city. In some cases, parks have replaced derelict industrial sites. Parc de La Villette in northeast Paris and Parc Georges Brassens on its southern edge were built on the sites of the Paris and the Vaugirard slaughterhouses. Parc André Citroën, southwest of the Eiffel Tower along the Seine, was formerly the Citroën automobile factory. The wine warehouses were razed to make way for Parc de Bercy, located along the right bank of the Seine in eastern Paris. Gardens have been designed with great ingenuity on the roofings of railroad lines, notably the Jardin Atlantique above the high-speed rail tracks of the Montparnasse railway station. The Promenade Plantée, a 4.5-km- (2.8-mi-) long strip of gardens between the Bastille and the Bois de Vincennes, has replaced a disused railroad track. The Disneyland Paris theme park is spread over almost 20 sq km (8 sq mi) of land in Marne-la-Vallée, a suburb east of Paris. Parc Asterix, another theme park, is located north of Paris and brings to life the adventures of Albert Uderzo's comic strips about ancient Gaul. The Stade de France, France's largest stadium, is located in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. Built for the 1998 World Cup of soccer, the stadium serves as the home field for both the national soccer and rugby teams. The Parc des Princes, on the western edge of the city, is home to Paris's soccer team, Paris St. Germain. Also on the western edge of the city is the Roland Garros tennis complex, where the French Open--one of the four grand slam tournaments in professional tennis--is held in June. The Paris Tennis Open is held in November at the Palais Omnisport in Bercy. VI ECONOMY The Paris metropolitan area is the economic hub of France, where many of the nation's financial establishments, business headquarters, and industrial concerns are concentrated. The city's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is significantly higher than in the rest of France, and its overall workforce is the largest among cities in the European Union. The Île-de-France region is also the most dynamic area in terms of international trade--30 percent of the country's imports and 20 percent of its exports are handled in the region. A Industry Although the Paris metropolitan area lacks natural resources, the city's political position attracted both heavy and light industries from the early days of industrialization in the late 18th century. In the 19th century raw materials were shipped to Paris from north and northeast France on the newly opened Ourcq and Saint-Denis canals. This prompted the development of chemical and mechanical industries at La Villette, where the two canals converged, and along the Seine in the southeast and southwest. Following the development of the railway in the 19th century, machine shops were set up in the northwest as well. In the late 20th century most heavy industries moved out of Paris, resulting in a better economic equilibrium between the capital and the provinces and a healthier environment for the city. Only small-scale light industries have remained in inner Paris. First and foremost among Parisian light industries are fashion-related luxury goods, for which Paris is internationally renowned. Many high-fashion houses and jewelers are located west of the Louvre, where they started out in the 19th century as purveyors to the court at the Palace of the Tuileries. Mass-produced clothing is manufactured predominantly in the Sentier neighborhood in central Paris. In the late 20th century newer industries--such as electrical, mechanical, automobile, aircraft, and pharmaceutical works--developed in Paris's suburbs. Most of these plants are located in the valley of the Seine west and north of Paris. High-tech industries tend to be located southwest of Paris. B Services Service industries employ about 75 percent of the workforce of the Paris metropolitan area and generate about 75 percent of the French gross national product (GNP). Almost one-fourth of France's service industries are located in the Paris area. The development of the business neighborhood of La Défense, west of Paris, and the construction of five villes nouvelles ("new towns") around the city aided this trend in the late 20th century. Three-quarters of jobs in the villes nouvelles are in service industries. B1 Finance Paris is home to the Banque de France (the French central bank) and to headquarters of all major international and national banks. The Right Bank area north of the Louvre became the traditional financial neighborhood because of its proximity to the royal court. In the early 17th century bankers carried out their transactions at the Place Dauphine on the western side of the Île de la Cité. The Bourse (the Paris stock exchange) stands north of the Louvre, and the French mint lies to the south, directly across the Seine on the Left Bank. In the 1980s the Ministry of Finance moved its headquarters from one of the wings of the Louvre to Bercy in southeastern Paris, in hopes of transforming the opposite section of the Left Bank into a new financial center. B2 Tourism Paris is the most visited city in the world, with more than 30 million visitors per year. About 55 percent of visiting tourists come from foreign countries, mainly Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre are the most visited sites in Paris. Paris is also a very popular site for international conferences and trade shows. The city has several convention centers, the major one being the Palais des Congrès at Porte Maillot, northwest of the Arc de Triomphe. B3 Transportation Paris is the main junction of national and international railways, which terminate in six major stations (gares). The Gare de Lyon, in the southeast, is the city's largest station. The Gare du Nord, in the north, is the terminal for the Eurostar, which connects central Paris and central London by way of the Channel Tunnel. Paris is also the main hub of France's national highway network. Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, northeast of the city, is the nation's main airport and is the second largest European airport. The smaller Orly Airport is located south of the city. Paris-le-Bourget Airport, north of the city, is Paris's oldest airport and is now used only by private planes. Public transportation within Paris consists of a network of bus lines and an extensive subway system known as the Métro. A high-speed commuter train network known as RER (Réseau Exprèss Régional) links inner and outer Paris. The hub of Paris's subway system is at the Châtelet-les Halles station, where several Métro lines and the east-west and north-south RER lines meet. Millions of people use the Métro or RER every day. In an effort to ease the flow of automobile traffic within Paris, the city built several underpasses in congested areas, expressways on either side of the river, many underground parking lots, and a 35-km- (22-mi-) long ring road, the Boulevard Périphérique, along the city's boundary. None of these measures has had much success in reducing traffic congestion or the air pollution it brings. The Seine was the main regional commercial route in the area until the construction of the railway in the 19th century. The river is still used for freight by barges and the Paris port is one of the nation's largest. The river also carries a dense traffic of pleasure boats. A network of 33 bridges (ponts) connects the two riverbanks in inner Paris. The oldest bridge is the Pont Neuf (1607) at the western tip of Île de la Cité. The Pont au Double and the Pont d'Arcole, on either side of the island, were built on the sites of the city's earliest bridges. VII GOVERNMENT For the purposes of administration, the city of Paris is both a département--one of 96 such administrative units in the country--and a commune, a designation given to every French village, town, and city. The city is divided into 20 arrondissements, or districts. French governments have systematically tried to hold Paris's political power in check because of the city's political and economic preeminence in France. This was especially acute after the civil war of 1871, in which the Commune of Paris was defeated after attempting to gain autonomy from the rest of France. For more than 100 years, Paris was governed directly by a state-appointed prefect and was virtually deprived of autonomy and political power. A second prefect, also appointed by the state, controlled the Paris police force. In 1975 Paris became a separate département but was still controlled directly by the prefect. Legislation passed in the mid-1970s permitted Paris administrative powers again. In 1977 Parisian voters elected their mayor for the first time since 1871. The mayor of Paris serves as the city's primary executive officer. The mayor controls the civic budget and is responsible for administering the city's schools and public transport systems. The mayor is assisted by a municipal council whose 163 members are also directly elected. A state-appointed prefect runs the département of Paris and is responsible for the infrastructures and logistics that come under state administration. The prefect of the police, in charge of the police forces, works side by side with both the mayor and the prefect of Paris. Since 1982 each of the city's arrondissements has directly elected its own local mayor and council. In 1970 the Paris metropolitan area was reorganized into a new region, Île-de-France. It is made up of eight départements: inner Paris (Seine), Hauts-de-Seine, SeineSaint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne, and Val-d'Oise. Île-de-France is headed by a regional prefect and administered by a 164-member regional council. VIII SOCIAL WELFARE Unemployment in Paris and the Île-de-France region tends to be lower than the national average, though some lower-income areas, such as the Département de SeineSaint-Denis north of Paris, have higher rates. In some of the Île-de-France suburbs, exacerbated racial tension periodically leads to spurts of violent confrontations with police. Appalling living conditions in many of the suburbs' derelict housing projects and chronic absenteeism from school encourage widespread drug trafficking, often involving children. In some of the housing projects, the drug trade has become the major source of income. A similar pattern is prevalent in the poor housing projects of inner Paris, notably in the north, northeast, and south. Crime is on the increase in inner Paris as well, on the streets and even more drastically on the Métro. Unemployment, racial tensions, illegal immigration, and a lack of successful civic measures to tackle the issues account for this rise in crime. IX HISTORY Three ancient canoes discovered in Bercy point to human presence in the Paris area some 3,000 years ago. The earliest known settlement in the area, however, dates to the 3rd century A BC, when the Parisii, a Celtic tribe, settled on the Île de la Cité after navigating down the Seine from the east. Roman City The first recorded reference to the city is found in Roman general Julius Caesar's commentary on the Gallic Wars, De Bello Gallico, written in probably 51 or 50 BC. The work describes Caesar's conquest of the city in 52. In the early years of Roman occupation, the settlement, which the Romans named Lutetia, was contained on the Île de la Cité. Its population traded up and down the Seine and coined its own gold currency. A monument to the Roman god Jupiter, erected by a corporation of water merchants in the 1st century AD, stood at the site of the present cathedral of Notre Dame. The monument, called Le Pillier des Nautes, is now on display at the National Museum of the Middle Ages at the Hôtel de Cluny. The city grew quickly over the course of the 1st century AD, spreading to what is now the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank. It became a substantial Roman city, with a forum, two amphitheaters, an aqueduct, and baths. Some of these Roman structures still stand in the Left Bank, including baths, notably the Thermes de Cluny, and the remains of the Arènes de Lutèce, one of the amphitheaters. In addition, the Left Bank's grid of straight roads--characteristic of Roman city planning--remains, including the ancient city's cardo (main north-south road), which is now Rue Saint-Jacques. Lutetia reached its peak in the middle of the 2nd century, but by the end of the century a series of barbarian invasions began. One such invasion destroyed the Left Bank in the middle of the 3rd century. The city was reduced, once again, to the Île de la Cité, around which the inhabitants built a wall. Christianity filtered into the region around this period, and Saint Denis was named the city's first bishop in about 250. B Medieval and Renaissance Paris The city was renamed Paris in the early 4th century. In 360 Roman commander Julian the Apostate was proclaimed emperor of Paris and set up his residence on the site of the present-day Palais de Justice. In 451 the Huns under Attila invaded what is now France with a 700,000-strong army and appeared to be preparing to sack Paris. Geneviève, a young Christian girl, preached to frightened Parisians that God would intervene on the city's behalf. The city was spared when the Huns, at the gates of Paris, altered their course. Geneviève later became the patron saint of Paris. At the end of the 5th century the Franks conquered Paris. Clovis I, the Frankish king and the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, established Paris as his capital in 508. Clovis became a Christian under the influence of his wife, Clotilda, and Saint Geneviève. Clovis was the first to unite France, as a Christian kingdom, and with Paris as its capital. The Merovingian royal court moved its capital to another part of France in the late 6th century and Paris's prominence declined. The Carolingian dynasty (founded by Pepin the Short in 751) left Paris mainly to the control of vassals, counts subject to the king. After marauding Vikings destroyed the Left Bank in the 9th century, Carolingian rulers undertook an effort to strengthen the city's defenses. B1 Development under the Capetians In 987 Hugh Capet, the count of Paris, became king of France and founded the Capetian Dynasty. Hugh Capet declared Paris his capital, and under his centralizing rule the city became a prestigious metropolis once more. In the early 13th century the University of Paris was formally recognized. Peter Abelard was the university's most noted early scholar. With his help, it became Europe's most prestigious university and attracted students from far and wide. During the reign of Louis VII's son Philip Augustus (Philip II, 1180-1223), Paris developed into the most important city in Europe. Philip Augustus constructed new city walls enclosing the Right and Left banks, a fortress on the site of what would become the Louvre, and the central market of Les Halles. He also expanded the University of Paris and made it autonomous of the cathedral. Under Philip Augustus, Paris was divided into three sections: the commercial Right Bank, which was called La Ville; the academic Left Bank, which was called L'Université; and the central island, the seat of power, which was called La Cité. By the end of the 13th century several communities had developed on the periphery of the city, often gravitating around abbeys. These included Saint-Germain, SainteGeneviève, and Saint-Victor on the Left Bank, and Saint-Antoine and Montmartre on the Right Bank. The community of Saint-Martin-des-Champs and members of the Knights Templars drained the marshy Marais and settled there. The Knights Templars' fortified stronghold, l'Enclos du Temple, was built on the northeastern edge of the Marais. B2 War and Instability In 1357, during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) between France and England, French king John II was captured and imprisoned by the English. His 18-year-old son, the future Charles V, took over as regent. Taking advantage of the confused political situation, Étienne Marcel, the leader of the Parisian merchants' guild and head of the municipality, ignited a revolt against the royal authorities in an attempt to establish an autonomous government in Paris. The revolt quickly lost popularity with Paris's citizens when Marcel attempted to ally the city with the English, and Marcel was murdered by one of the city's aldermen in 1358. Although the city now firmly allied itself with Charles against the English, the cautious regent decided to move his residence to the less conspicuous Marais area of Paris. The royal family would reside in the Marais for the next 200 years, first at the Hôtel Saint-Pol and later at the Hôtel des Tournelles. 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, up to the Louvre, and defended its eastern flank with the new fortress of the Bastille. At the same time, the Louvre fortress was turned into a royal residence, though Charles V never made it his permanent home. Paris experienced political instability again in the early 15th century under the rule of the insane king Charles VI (1380-1422). Two rival aristocratic factions, the Armagnacs and the Burgundians, sought to dominate the weak-minded king, and their clashes verged on civil war. The English king Henry V, taking advantage of the dissension, invaded and defeated French forces at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. The Burgundians subsequently allied themselves to the English, who occupied Paris in 1420. English officer John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, became the regent of Paris and took up residence in the royal palace. Charles VI's son, the future Charles VII, received backing in his claim as the rightful king from Joan of Arc, who rallied military support behind him. The English occupation of Paris ended in 1436, when the victorious Charles VII entered the city. Much of Paris remained in ruins for several decades, and only after 1480 were new mansions and churches built. B3 Renaissance In 1515 Francis I, a patron of the arts, acceded to the French throne and promoted the new cultural and intellectual ideals of the Renaissance. In order to boost the economic prosperity of Paris, the king supported the city's bourgeoisie (middle-class people, mainly merchants and artisans) and the municipal authorities. In this period, the Marais became the seat of the upper classes, as aristocrats bought up land and built grand mansions. The only mansion that remains is the Hôtel Carnavalet, which was decorated by Jean Goujon, the king's sculptor. In 1528 Francis set out to transform the medieval Louvre into a Renaissance palace, a gigantic task that would only be completed by Henry IV at the end of the century. The medieval tower was demolished and Francis's architect, Pierre Lescot, built a new western wing around the courtyard of the old Louvre. Francis established the Louvre's collection of paintings, the nucleus of the future museum, composed of the works of the Italian masters, notably Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (1503-1506). He also founded the Collège du Roi, next to the Sorbonne, for the promotion of classical studies. The Collège du Roi was the predecessor of the present-day Collège de France, still standing on the same site. The reign of Francis's son Henry II (1547-1559) saw the ascendancy of Catherine de Médicis, Henry's queen. Catherine wielded a great deal of power during Henry's reign and the successive reigns of three of their sons: Francis II (1559-1560), Charles IX (1560-1574), and Henry III (1574-1589). Catherine had the Hôtel des Tournelles demolished following Henry II's death in a tournament, and moved the royal residence to the Louvre. She commissioned architect Philibert Delorme to design the Palace of the Tuileries, west of the Louvre; the palace was completed in the early 17th century. B4 Wars of Religion In the second half of the 16th century, religious strife between Roman Catholics and French Protestants (known as Huguenots) halted the city's urban renaissance. Political rivalry between the two sides culminated in the 1572 Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day, in which thousands of Huguenots were slain. A Catholic, Catherine de Médicis likely instigated the massacre because she feared the growing power of the Huguenots. The strife continued throughout the reign of Henry III. In 1584 the childless king designated his Protestant brother-in-law Henry, the king of Navarre (see Henry IV), as his successor. This decision prompted a popular Catholic revolt in 1588 led by Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre conspirator Henri I de Lorraine, 3rd Duc de Guise. Guise secured control of the city, but in the subsequent upheaval both Guise and the king were assassinated. Upon the king's death in 1589, Henry of Navarre nominally succeeded to the French throne. However, the largely Catholic population of Paris resisted the idea of a Protestant king. In order to appease the city, he converted to Catholicism in 1593 with the famous words "Paris vaut bien une messe" ("Paris is well worth a mass"). In 1594, after a five-year siege, he captured Paris and the throne. He also reached out to the Protestant population, issuing the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which gave partial religious freedom to the Huguenots. C Development and Decay under the Bourbons With the accession of Henry IV, the founder of the Bourbon dynasty, France entered two centuries of great expansion and glory and Paris once again became the greatest metropolis in Europe. His builders extended the Louvre west along the Seine and joined it to the Palace of the Tuileries. He built a new stone bridge, the Pont Neuf, which became the city's central artery, and the Place Royale (now the Place des Vosges), the city's first public square. Henry also provided a second hospital for Paris, Hôpital Saint-Louis, which was built outside the city walls in order to quarantine plague-ridden patients. Henry's assassination in 1610 forced the cancellation of the king's most spectacular urban project, the Place de France. As planned, the square would have been the city's new eastern gateway, complete with radiating wide arteries and a canal. Some of the present-day streets in the Marais are remnants of this aborted project. Henry's son Louis XIII (1610-1643) undertook a significant expansion of Paris and extended the walls farther to the northwest. During his reign, the Queen Mother Marie de Médicis, Henry IV's widow, built the Palais du Luxembourg on the Left Bank and opened the Cours-la-Reine promenade along the Right Bank of the Seine, west of the Palace of the Tuileries. Louis XIII laid out the Jardin des Plantes, east of the Latin Quarter, as a garden for medicinal herbs. Louis XIII's influential minister, Cardinal Richelieu, built the Palais-Cardinal (now the Palais-Royal) north of the Louvre, which triggered the full-scale development of the neighborhood. In the mid-17th century the two islets east of the Île de la Cité were joined to form the Île Saint-Louis, and the new island was quickly built up. C1 Construction and Expansion Louis XIV was four years old when he came to the throne in 1643. While he was a minor, the government was largely in the hands of the chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, whose palace, the Hôtel Mazarin, was located north of the Palais-Royal. From 1648 to 1653, during the early years of Louis XIV's rule, the French nobility led a series of revolts against the monarchy. The rebellion, known as the Fronde, took place in the streets of Paris and drove the royal family out of the city to its residence in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris. During Louis XIV's long reign (1643-1715) he constructed many new buildings and monuments, and made several significant improvements to the city's infrastructure. When the Fronde revolt was quashed, Louis XIV settled in the Louvre, which he embellished further during his residence. A notable addition was the massive colonnade (designed by architect Claude Perrault) along the east facade of the structure. At the same time, Louis XIV undertook the construction of the extravagant Palace of Versailles west of Paris, where he moved in 1682. French landscape architect André Le Nôtre designed the Jardins des Tuileries (Tuileries Gardens) for Louis XIV, and also laid out the lower part of the Champs-Élysées. In 1670 Louis XIV decided to demolish the city walls and make Paris an open city for the first time in its history. The Grands Boulevards, a semicircular tree-lined promenade between the present-day Place de la Madeleine and Place de la République, replaced the walls on the Right Bank. Two triumphal arches, commemorating Louis XIV's military victories, were erected along the Grands Boulevards: Porte Saint-Denis and Porte Saint-Martin. Louis XIV also built two colossal institutions on the Left Bank. West of the old city walls, the Hôtel des Invalides, a hospice for war veterans, was designed by French architect Libéral Bruant and completed by French architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. To the east, the Salpêtrière, designed by Louis Le Vau (and with a chapel by Bruant), was built as a general hospital for the poor and a shelter for the homeless. Homelessness was a major social concern at the time, affecting an estimated 40,000 Parisians--a full 10 percent of the population. The construction of the Pont Royal in 1689 linked the Palace of the Tuileries to the Left Bank and boosted the development of the Faubourg Saint-Germain neighborhood. The Faubourg Saint-Germain and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, by the Tuileries, became fashionable aristocratic residential areas in the 18th century. The expansion of the city continued during the reign of Louis XV (1715-1774). On the Right Bank, he built Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde) and extended the Champs-Élysées. On the Left Bank, the École Militaire and its training grounds, the Champ de Mars, were constructed. Louis XV also constructed the Panthéon and laid out the semicircular Boulevards du Midi on the Left Bank to mirror the Right Bank's Grands Boulevards. During the reign of Louis XVI (1774-1792), a new wall marked the boundaries of the growing city. The wall was built between 1784 and 1787, in order to ease the collection of taxes on goods imported into the city. C2 Revolutionary Paris Most of the events of the French Revolution, in which the French monarchy was overthrown in favor of a French republic, took place in Paris, and the event catapulted Paris into the modern age. The revolution officially began with the storming of the Bastille fortress on July 14, 1789. Louis XVI and his queen, Marie-Antoinette, were guillotined at Place de la Révolution (now Place de la Concorde) on January 21 and October 23, 1793, respectively. A representative assembly known as the National Convention met in the Palace of the Tuileries from 1792 to 1795 to work on building a French republic. Early on the convention's agenda was the need to rebuild decrepit neighborhoods of Paris and to improve the city's infrastructure and public sanitation. However, it would be decades before the modernization of Paris was accomplished. The demolition of the medieval Bastille fortress was a first step in this direction, and supplied the stones for the building of the Pont de la Concorde. In 1795 the city was divided into arrondissements. Otherwise, much of Paris was in shambles, its mansions having been deserted by the nobility, its churches confiscated by the state, and its streets delivered to the lower classes. D 19th-Century Reconstruction and Growth Reconstruction and modernization of Paris began under Napoleon I, the French military commander who seized power in 1799 and declared himself emperor in 1804. Napoleon envisioned the city as the glorious capital of his expanding empire. Many of his projects were completed after his downfall in 1814-1815. D1 Napoleon's Paris Napoleon rid the city of two of its medieval landmarks: the Grand Châtelet prison, which was replaced by a square and a fountain, and the prison tower of the Templar stronghold in the Marais, where the royal family had been imprisoned during the Revolution. The city's new monuments were built in the neoclassical style, echoing the edifices of the Roman Empire. Notable examples of these monuments include the Arc de Triomphe, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (at the entrance to the Palace of the Tuileries), the Madeleine church, the Bourse (stock exchange), and the new north facade of the Palais Bourbon (now the seat of the National Assembly). Napoleon enlarged the square of Notre Dame for his coronation in 1804 and also opened several broad avenues, such as Rue de Rivoli, Boulevard Malesherbes, and Avenue de l'Observatoire. The new Canal de l'Ourcq, later to be followed by Canal Saint-Martin, increased water supply to Paris, where shortage had always been endemic, and also allowed the creation of several new fountains. New cemeteries away from the city center, including Père Lachaise, Montparnasse, and Montmartre, improved sanitation in the inner city. Napoleon also built three new bridges (including the Pont des Arts), paved the riverbanks, lit many streets with gaslights, built new markets, and numbered houses. D2 Restoration Paris's population grew by about 120,000 inhabitants during Napoleon's rule, and it grew by just as many during the Restoration, the subsequent return to power of the Bourbon dynasty with the accession of Louis XVIII (1814-1815; 1815-1824). The population growth led to the expansion of the city and the construction of several new neighborhoods. The fashionable arcades of central Paris were also built in this period. However, the growth also led to further poverty, squalor, and social discontent, and street riots became common. In July 1830 a crackdown on civil rights sparked the July Revolution in the streets of Paris, in which Charles X was overthrown in favor of Louis Philippe of the house of Orléans. Louis Philippe's reign, known as the July Monarchy, was marked by intensive industrialization in Paris and the spectacular increase of the population to over 1 million. Most Parisians lived in appalling conditions and were subjected to recurring, deadly cholera epidemics. Intending to improve the quality of life in Paris, Count Rambuteau, the prefect of the Seine, laid out more than 100 new streets and improved and embellished existing squares. The erection of the Luxor Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde and the completion of the Arc de Triomphe date from Louis Philippe's reign. The first railroad tracks were installed in 1837, and starting in 1841 a new fortification wall was built around the inner suburbs. As with Charles X, the combination of extreme poverty and repression of freedom of expression brought about the downfall of the July Monarchy. The Revolution of 1848 overthrew Louis Philippe and established the Second Republic. The Second Republic became the Second Empire in 1852, when the elected president, Louis Napoleon (nephew to Napoleon I), declared himself Emperor Napoleon III. D3 Haussmann Redesigns Paris Baron Haussmann, Napoleon III's prefect of the Seine, continued in the footsteps of his predecessor Rambuteau, but on a much larger scale. Haussmann swept away and rebuilt large areas of medieval Paris, notably many inner-city slums, and widened numerous avenues. One of the reasons for widening the city's streets was not for aesthetics, but for crowd control: During Paris's all too frequent spates of civil unrest, protestors easily barricaded the city's narrower streets. Most of central Paris as seen today, with its characteristic broad avenues and six-story buildings, is Haussmann's legacy. Above all, the present aspect of Île de la Cité is largely due to Haussmann, who cleared most of its old streets, demolishing even mansions and churches. Haussmann laid out the city's main north-south axis (Boulevards Sébastopol and Saint-Michel) and west-east axis (Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint-Antoine). His other major achievements were the star-shaped Place de l'Etoile around the Arc de Triomphe with its twelve radiating avenues, the new opera house of the Palais Garnier (completed in 1875); and the Avenue de l'Opéra, which connected the Palais Garnier to the Palace of the Tuileries. Several new parks and gardens were created, and the wooded areas of the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes were redesigned. Haussmann also planted thousands of trees along the city's avenues and built or rebuilt several markets, notably Les Halles. He provided Parisian homes with a sewer system and running water, and improved transportation with the construction of six new railway stations. By 1870 Paris was a metropolis with almost 2 million inhabitants, and was arguably the most beautiful city in Europe. The city hosted Universal Expositions (World's Fairs) in 1855 and 1867. However, the city never adequately addressed the problem of poverty. Haussmann cleared the slums of central Paris and relocated their inhabitants to the suburbs, but these suburbs were engulfed by the city again in 1860 when they were annexed as the 13th to 20th arrondissements. These low-income areas were then subject to the city's taxes, a burden that proved unbearable to most of their inhabitants. D4 Commune of Paris The Second Empire crumbled in the wake of the swift military debacle that was the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). On September 2, 1870, Napoleon III surrendered to the German army after the Battle of Sedan, in northern France. When the news reached Paris, its citizens revolted, overthrew the regime, and established a provisional government. German armies surrounded Paris and besieged the city for four months, until finally, on January 28, 1871, famine and exhaustion forced the city to capitulate. However, after a brief occupation by the German forces, Parisians rebelled against the provisional national government of Adolphe Thiers at Versailles. The Parisian revolutionaries established the Commune of Paris, which ruled the city for 72 days, from March to May. Thiers's government sent troops to assault Paris on May 21, unleashing a week of unspeakable violence remembered as the Bloody Week (La Semaine Sanglante). In the course of resisting the invasion, the supporters of the Commune (called Communards or Fédérés) set fire to much of central Paris, including the Palace of the Tuileries and the Hôtel de Ville. More than 20,000 Communards, among them women and children, were massacred. The final fighting took place at the Père Lachaise cemetery in eastern Paris, where the last Communards were lined up and shot against a wall. The wall, since known as Federates' Wall (Mur des Fédéraux), is now a shrine in their honor. Thiers's administration, which became known as the Third Republic, remained at Versailles until 1879 out of fear of the Parisian masses. D5 Third Republic During the Third Republic, city planners sought to continue Haussmann's objectives and continued to widen Parisian streets and build new houses for the growing population. Numerous new monuments were constructed or altered. Notably, the burnt skeleton of the Palace of the Tuileries, long the seat of the monarchy and empire, was torn down, while the Hôtel de Ville, the seat of the bourgeoisie, was rebuilt. In 1885, on the death of beloved French author Victor Hugo, the church of the Panthéon was officially redesignated a secular burial place for distinguished French citizens, and Hugo was interred there. The Basilica of Sacré Coeur was built on top of the hill of Montmartre to atone for the sins committed by the people of Paris during the Commune of Paris. The Place du Château-d'Eau was renamed Place de la République and enhanced by a statue depicting the Republic, inaugurated on Bastille Day in 1884. Paris's recovery and renewed prosperity were marked by the 1878 and 1889 Universal Expositions. The latter celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution as well as France's technical and scientific achievements, symbolized by the Eiffel Tower and a Gallery of Machines. Another exposition, in 1900, highlighted further scientific and technical feats, including motion pictures, the telephone, the gramophone, and above all, electricity. Paris's first Métro line opened in 1900 and the first bus route in 1905. Political unrest persisted, however, punctuated by spates of violence caused by anarchists or triggered by the Dreyfus Affair, a controversy involving a Jewish officer in the French army who was wrongly convicted of treason in 1894. E 20th Century Despite these convulsions, in the years leading up to World War I (1914-1918) Paris enjoyed what was called the belle époque ("beautiful epoch"), an exhilarating period of economic prosperity and progress. During this era, Paris became renowned as the world's scintillating center of entertainment. E1 Paris During the World Wars The outbreak of World War I in 1914 put an end to the carefree atmosphere of the belle époque. The city's population decreased by a third, dropping to less than 2 million. Parisian streets were empty during the war, as most automobiles had been requisitioned for military use. (The city's automobile industry was given a boost, however, and also diversified into arms manufacturing.) Paris experienced harsh winters, in particular that of 1917, when bitter cold and shortages of food and medicine combined to stimulate the spread of epidemics. Repeated bombings caused damage and casualties, especially in 1918 with the development of German long-range siege artillery. In their final offensive campaigns of the war, German armies came within 130 km (80 mi) of Paris, but never reached the city. In 1919, after the end of the war, Paris's fortification wall was demolished and it became an open city once again. Low-income housing estates were built in place of the wall and around the city's periphery to deal with acute housing shortages. After the war, unemployment, food and transportation shortages, the high cost of living, and the influence of the Bolshevik Russian Revolutions of 1917 fueled social discontent among the working class of Paris once more. At the same time, the middle and upper classes were reveling in the Roaring Twenties, known in France as les années folles ("the crazy years"). Into the 1930s, music halls, cafés, and cinemas were packed with fun-seekers while working-class demonstrations and strikes often ended in violent clashes between radicals and the extreme right. The violence came to a head in February 1934 when a bloody demonstration triggered by the extreme right provoked the resignation of the French cabinet. During World War II (1939-1945) German forces occupied Paris from June 16, 1940, until August 25, 1944. The oppressive occupation brought about nightly curfews, food rationing, and persecution of the city's Jewish population. In July 1942 the police force rounded up 13,000 Jews and sent them to their deaths in German concentration camps. The Germans fled the city on August 25, 1944, and General Charles de Gaulle, leader of Free French, entered Paris the following day. E2 Postwar Troubles Paris suffered less than many European cities from World War II bombing, yet postwar reconstruction proved slow. The city's chronic housing shortage worsened in the postwar years due to a sharp rise in birthrates and the arrival of large numbers of migrant workers. In 1954 the population reached 2,850,000, 135,000 of whom were foreigners. North Africans, mainly Algerians, were the largest group and worked predominantly in factories. Many of the city's Italians went into building construction, and many of the Spaniards into domestic service. Recurrent racial tension between native French and Algerians was exacerbated further in the early 1960s during the Algerian War of Independence. On February 6, 1962, dozens of Algerians were killed during a demonstration at the Charonne Métro station in eastern Paris. The alarming housing situation was Paris's main preoccupation throughout the 1950s. In 1954, 80 percent of homes lacked bathrooms and many people lived in slums. The worst slums were clustered close to railway stations or sprawled along the city's periphery. To remedy this, city planners launched the large-scale construction of low-income housing projects, often in the suburbs. In the same period, most heavy industry moved out of the city. The subsequent demographic shift lowered the population of the inner city to just over 2 million E3 Recovery and Development The city's full recovery took place in the 1960s as the economy improved. Civic leaders cleared many of the slums and passed a law requiring the cleaning of the exteriors of all of the city's buildings, which had been blackened by decades of pollution. Paris subsequently regained its characteristic light-colored allure. New and taller structures began to modify the previously horizontal skyline of Paris. Notable new high-rises included the business center at La Défense, on the western edge of Paris; Le Front de Seine, west of the Eiffel Tower; and the development near Porte d'Italie in the south. The Montparnasse Tower was built in 1969 and in the same year, the central market at Les Halles was moved outside the city and replaced by a modern shopping center. The new RER express trains linked the inner city to the suburbs, putting an end to the age-old separation between them. A student uprising in 1968 caused havoc in Paris. Largely a protest movement against conservatism in the French education system, it also expressed anxiety about a rapidly changing world. The protest began at the University of Nanterre, in the northwestern suburbs, but soon moved to the Latin Quarter, where street riots took place in May. The uprising led to long-overdue educational reforms, including the splitting of the University of Paris into several autonomous faculties. Most of these faculties were shifted to other parts of Paris and its suburbs, partly to handle the growing student population, but also to remove the threat of political dissidence from the Latin Quarter. In the late 1970s shortage of land in western Paris triggered the development of eastern Paris, where cheap property was plentiful. Construction of the Parc de La Villette cultural and entertainment complex on the site of the old slaughterhouse was begun in the early 1980s. The development of eastern Paris increased during the decade, notably in the 12th arrondissement, at Bercy. Bercy's old wine warehouses were razed and replaced by the Parc de Bercy, and the French Ministry of Finance also moved into the neighborhood. The presidency of François Mitterrand (1981-1995), who undertook many monumental projects, was the most architecturally creative period in Paris since Haussmann. Its legacy includes the Opéra de la Bastille, the Institut du Monde Arabe, the renovated Louvre, the Grande Arche de la Défense, the Cité de la Musique (City of Music), and the new Bibliothèque Nationale de France-François Mitterrand. The development of eastern Paris has helped to reduce the imbalance between the poorer east and the richer west. Development in southern Paris has likewise helped diminish the endemic gap between the commercially-oriented Right Bank and the more culture-oriented Left Bank. F 21st Century Decades of poverty and racial tension in the suburbs of Paris boiled over in late October 2005. After two boys were accidentally killed while fleeing police in one of the suburban towns, riots broke out, instigated mostly by French residents of African descent who live in the poorer areas. Gangs of young men took to the streets, setting thousands of cars on fire and attacking police and other residents. At least one person was killed and thousands more injured. The violence sparked similar incidents around the country and lasted nearly three weeks, marking the worst civil unrest in the Paris metropolitan area since the student uprisings of 1968. The French government declared a state of emergency to help control the rioting, while at the same time announcing new employment programs and economic assistance in an attempt to address the root causes of the problem. Contributed By: Thirza Vallois Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.