France facts and history in brief
Paris
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.
Paris is the capital and largest city of France.
The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is
thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the
north and the smaller Left Bank in the south.
The city proper has about 2 million residents
(1999 census: 2,147,857).
The Greater Paris metropolitan area has about 11
million residents (1999 census: 11,174,743).
History
The historical nucleus of Paris is the Ile de la Cité,
a small island largely occupied by the huge Palais de
Justice and the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
It is connected with the smaller Ile Saint-Louis, occupied
by elegant houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A major characteristic of Paris is its tree-lined quays
along the Seine River, in particular, along the Left
Bank with its open-air bookstalls, the historic bridges
that span the river, and the vast tree-lined boulevards
like the Champs-Élysées.
Paris was occupied by a Gallic tribe until the
Romans arrived in 52 BC.
The invaders referred to the
previous occupants the Parisii, but called their new
city Lutetia, meaning "marshy place".
About fifty years later the city had spread to
the left bank of the Seine, now known as the Latin
Quarter, and had been renamed "Paris".
Roman rule was over by 508, when Clovis the Frank
made the city the capital of the Merovingian
dynasty of the Franks.
Viking invasions during the 800s forced the Parisians
to build a fortress on the Ile de la Cité.
During one invasion Paris was sacked by Viking
raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok,
who collected a huge ransom in exchange
for leaving on March 27, 845.
The first French king, Odo, was chosen in this period.
During the 11th century the city spread
to the Right Bank.
The 12th and 13th centuries, which included
the reign of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223),
are especially notable for the growth of the city.
Main thoroughfares were paved, the first Louvre
was built as a fortress, and several churches,
including the Cathedral of Notre-Dame,
were constructed or begun.
Several schools on the Left Bank were organised into
the Sorbonne, which counts Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas
Aquinas among its early scholars.
In the Middle Ages Paris prospered as a trading
and intellectual centre, interrupted temporarily
when the Black Death struck in the 14th century.
Under the reign of King Louis XIV, the Sun King,
from 1643 to 1715, the royal residence was moved
from Paris to nearby Versailles.
The French Revolution began with the
storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789.
Many of the conflicts in the next few years
were between Paris and the outlying rural areas of France.
In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War ended in a siege
of Paris and the Paris Commune, which
surrendered in 1871 after a winter of
famine and bloodshed.
The Eiffel Tower, the best-known landmark in Paris,
was built in 1889 in a period of prosperity known as
La Belle Époque ("The Age of Beauty).
Administration
The city of Paris is itself a département of
France (Paris, 75), part of the Ile-de-France région.
Paris is subdivided into twenty numerically
organised districts, the arrondissements.
These districts are numbered in a spiral pattern
with the 1er arrondissement at the centre of the city.
Prior to 1964, département 75 was "Seine", which
contained the city and the surrounding suburbs.
The change in boundaries resulted in the creation of
3 new départements forming a ring around Paris,
often called la petite couronne (the little crown):
Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne.
Bertrand Delanoëis Paris Mayor since March 18,
2001.
Former mayors: Jacques Chirac, Jean Tiberi.
Geography
The altitude of Paris varies quite considerably
with several prominent hills :
Montmartre - 130 metres (425 feet) above sea level,
Belleville - 115 metres (375 feet) above sea level,
Menilmontant, Chaumont, Passy, Chaillot, Montagne Ste-Genevieve,
Butte-aux-Cailles, Montparnasse (the hill
there was leveled in the 18th century).
Transport
Paris is served by two principal airports:
Orly Airport, which is south of Paris, and
the international airport Charles De Gaulle
International Airport in Roissy, France.
Paris is densely covered by a metro system, the Métro.
This interconnects with a high-speed regional
network, the RER, and also the train network:
commuter lines, national train lines, and the
TGV (named Thalys or Eurostar for specific destinations).
The city is the hub of France's motorway network,
and is surrounded by a large orbital road,
the Peripherique. On/off ramps of the Peripherique
are called 'Portes', as they correspond to the
city gates. Most of these 'Portes' have parking lot
and a metro station, where non-residents are
advised to leave cars.
Traffic in Paris is notoriously slow and
dangerous to car bodywork.
Notable places in Paris:
The Eiffel Tower.
Arc de Triomphe - monument at the centre of the Place
de l'Etoile, commemorating the victories of France and
honouring those who died in battle.
Les Invalides - burial place of many great
French soldiers, including Napoleon, as well as a museum.
The Conciergerie - ancient prison where many
members of the Ancien Regime stayed before their death.
Palais Garnier - home of the Paris Opera, considered
by Hitler to be the most beautiful building in the world.
Cathedral of Notre Dame on the Ile de la Cité.
The Samaritaine Building - department store
from the start of the 20th century.
The Sorbonne - famous university
founded in medieval times.
Statue of Liberty - a smaller version of the New York
City harbour statue which France gave to the United
States in 1886.
The Pantheon of Paris - beautiful church and
tomb of France's greatest heroes.
Sainte-Chapelle - 13th-century Gothic palace chapel.
Église de la Madeleine.
Place des Vosges - square in the Marais
district laid out by Henry IV.
Museums
The Louvre - a huge museum housing many
works of art, including the Mona Lisa
(La Jaconde)) and the Venus de Milo statue.
The Musée du Montparnasse in the former residence
of artist Marie Vassilieff at 21 Avenue du Maine, details
the history of the great artistic community of Montparnasse.
The Musee d'Orsay - an art museum housed in a
converted 19th century railway station,
containing mainly Impressionist works.
Centre Georges Pompidou - houses the museum of modern art.
The Musee Rodin - a large collection of work's
by France's most famous sculptor.
Suburbs, streets and other areas
Montmartre - historic area on the Butte, home to the
Basilica of the Sacré Coeur and also famous for
the studios and cafés of many great artists.
Champs-Élysées - the most famous street
in the world, a broad boulevard usually clogged with
tourists.
Rue de Rivoli - elegant boutiques for the rich.
Place de la Concorde - at the foot of the Champs-Élysées,
formerly Place de la Revolution, site of the infamous
guillotine and the obelisk.
Place de la Bastille - where the Bastille prison
stood until the Revolution.
Montparnasse - historic area on the Left Bank, famous
for the studios, music-halls, and cafés of the
world's greatest artists who converged on Paris.
Les Halles - shopping precinct, includes
an important metro connection station.
Le Marais - trendy district on the Left
Bank with large gay and Jewish populations.
Night life
Le Lido - cabaret on the Champs-Élysées
famous for its exotic shows and where, as an American
GI on leave with some army friends, Elvis Presley gave
an impromptu concert.
Bal du Moulin Rouge, Le Crazy Horse Saloon, the Paris
Olympia, Les Folies Bergère - famous nightclubs.
In the greater Paris region
Disneyland Resort Paris - amusement park
to the east of the city.
La Défense - major office, theater and shopping
complex and site of the Grande Arche.
Palace of Versailles - the former royal
palace, in the town of Versailles
to the southeast of Paris.
The largest tourist attraction in France.
Saint Denis Basilica - ancient Gothic
Cathedral and burial site for many French
monarchs located north of the city.
Events
July, 1789 - Storming of the Bastille,
Royal familly forced from Versailles back to Paris.
1814 - Paris occupied by the armies of the
Sixth Coalition after the fall of Napoleon.
1815 - Paris is again occupied, this time
by the Seventh Coalition, after the end of the Hundred Days.
1855 - Exposition Universelle.
1856 - Congress of Paris is held.
1867 - Exposition Universelle.
January 28th, 1871 - Paris Commune falls.
1878 - Exposition Universelle.
1889 - Exposition Universelle - Eiffel Tower.
1900 - Exposition Universelle Paris Métro is
opened.
1925 - Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs
et Industriels Modernes.
1931 - French Colonial Exposition.
June 13, 1940 - Nazis enter Paris.
1968 - Student riots in Paris, combined
with a series of strikes by workers
across the country, threaten to
bring down the Gaullist government.
1999 - Opening of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
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This information was correct December 2003.
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