Paris

For other uses, see Paris (disambiguation).

The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world.

Paris is the capital and largest city of France. Located on the river Seine in the country's north, it is a major cultural and political centre of Europe and the world's most visited city.

The area's first inhabitants, a Celtic tribe named the "Parisii" give Paris its name. Its eponym, "the City of Lights" (la Ville Lumière), dates from 1828 when it became the first city in Europe to light its main boulevards with gas street lamps along its Champs-Élysées. The city of Paris is also widely referred to as the "most romantic city in the world."

As a cultural and political centre for Europe since the early Middle Ages, Paris preserves many vestiges of its past. While hosting numerous art galleries, museums and theatres, it has grown into a significant centre of international trade with ever-growing modern business districts, including La Défense, the de facto city centre built for the purpose. In addition to the head offices of nearly half of all France's companies and the offices of many major international firms, Paris hosts the headquarters of many international trade and social organisations, including the OECD and UNESCO.

The city of Paris proper has 2.1 million inhabitants ^[1], but its centre of influence extends to cover a "Greater Paris" metropolitan area that has a population of 11.1 million ^[2], over one sixth of the French population. Paris is the third largest metropolitan area in Europe (after Moscow and London), and approximately the 22nd most populous metropolitan area in the world.

Paris is also the centre of an economic network that, within the limits of its Île-de-France région (of which it is also the capital), with a GDP of nearly €450 billion ^[3], is alone the producer of over one quarter of France's wealth.

Because of its financial, business, political, and tourism activities, Paris today is one of the world's major transport destinations. Along with New York, London and Tokyo, it is often listed as one of the four major global cities.

Name of Paris and its Inhabitants

Paris is pronounced [ˈpʰæɹɪs] (RP) or [ˈpʰæɹəs] in English, and [[Media:Paris1.ogg|[paʀi]]] in French.

The original Latin name of Paris was Lutetia (/lutetja/), or Lutetia Parisiorum, known in French as Lutèce (/lytɛs/). Lutetia was later dropped in favor of only Paris, based on the name of the Gallic Parisi tribe, whose name perhaps comes from the Celtic Gallic word parios, meaning "caldron", but this is not certain.

Traditionally, Paris was known as Paname (/panam/) in French slang, but this vulgar appellation is gradually losing currency. (.)

The inhabitants of Paris are known as Parisians in English, as Parisiens ([[Media:Parisien2.ogg|/paʀizjɛ̃/]]) in French. The pejorative term Parigot ([[Media:Parigot.ogg|/paʀigo/]]) is sometimes used in French slang.

Locally, inhabitants of the Paris suburbs are known as banlieusards ([[Media:Banlieusard0.ogg|/bɑ̃ljøzaʀ/]]). Inhabitants of the whole Paris metropolitan area are known as Franciliens ([[Media:Francilien.ogg|/fʀɑ̃siljɛ̃/]]), i.e. from Île-de-France.

Geography

Paris is located at 48°52′00″N 2°19′59″E (48.866667, 2.333056). The city straddles a north-bending arc of the river Seine. This waterway is dotted with a few islands along its path through the city, and the largest and most central of these, the Île de la Cité, is the Capital's heart and origin.

Area

The city (commune) of Paris proper has an area of 105.398 km² (40.69 mi², or 26,044 acres). Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the actual area of the city is only 86.928 km² (33.56 mi², or 21,480 acres), being in the form of an almost regular oval, with a circumference of 35.5 km (22 miles). This oval extends 9.5 km (6 miles) from north to south, and 11 km (7 miles) from east to west.

Limits of the metropolitan area (aire urbaine) of Paris in 1999, with the city of Paris in red at the center. Population figures are for 2005.

This is not a very large area, and in fact the commune of Paris is only the 113th largest commune of France (out of 36,782 communes). By comparison, Greater London has an area of 1,572 km² (607 mi²), and New York City has an area of 786 km² (303 mi²). This peculiar fact arises because, unlike other large western cities such as New York, London, or Berlin, whose territories were enlarged in the 20th century, the borders of Paris have not been changed since 1860 when Napoleon III and the prefect Haussmann annexed the then suburban communes surrounding Paris, such as Montmartre and Auteuil, more than doubling the the city's area to 78 km² (30.1 mi²), and creating the 20 arrondissements of Paris. Since 1860, the limits of Paris have only marginally changed, reaching the 86.9 km² figure indicated above. In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes were officially incorporated into the city of Paris.

Thus, the Brooklyn, Greenwich, or Charlottenburg of Paris are still outside the city of Paris proper, and it can be more accurately compared to the borough of Manhattan (59.5 km²/23 mi²) or to Inner London (319 km²/123 mi²). Even the largest business and financial district of Paris, known as La Défense, is outside the city boundary.

The urban area (unité urbaine) of Paris, i.e. the contiguous built-up area, extends past the administrative city limits to cover 2,723 km² (1,051.4 mi²) (INSEE 1999), or an area about 26 times larger than the city itself. The metropolitan area (aire urbaine) of Paris, i.e. the built-up area plus the commuter belt, reaches in part beyond the surrounding Île-de-France administative région to cover 14,518 km² (5,605.5 mi²) (INSEE 1999), or an area 138 times larger than the city of Paris.

Montmartre seen from the centre Georges Pompidou

Altitude

Main article: Topography of Paris

The altitude of Paris varies, with several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130m about sea level. The highest elevation in the urban area of Paris is in the Forest of Montmorency (Val-d'Oise département), 19.5 km. (12 miles) north-northwest of the center of Paris as the crow flies, at 195 metres (640 ft) above sea-level.

Temperatures

The lowest temperature recorded in central Paris (since 1873) was –23.9 °C (–11.0 °F) and –25.6 °C (–14.1 °F) in the southeastern suburb of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés on December 10, 1879 .

The highest temperature was recorded on July 28, 1947 when the temperature in central Paris (Parc Montsouris) reached 40.4 °C (104.7 °F). During the European heat wave of 2003, which caused the death of many elderly people in France, the temperature in central Paris reached 38.1 °C (100.6 °F) (Parc Montsouris) and 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) at Le Bourget Airport in the northern suburbs. A record high night-time minimum of 25.5 °C (77.9 °F) in Parc Montsouris was set on August 11 and August 12, 2003.

History

Main article: History of Paris

File:Plan paris 1223 detail.jpg

Paris' limits during the reign of Philippe-Auguste

It is because of its Île de la Cité that Paris lays where it does today. The Seine river wes a formidable barrier to the region’s first travellers, and the easiest means of crossing it was where it was at its narrowest: to each side of its largest island. This crossing eventually became a beaten path, and later river traffic would make the Parisian basin into a much-travelled crossroads. The island was settled from around 250 BC with the “oppodium” of the Celtic “Parisii”; these people, known as boatmen and traders, used their island location to control commerce all along the river even from their settlements' early years.

The Roman invasion of 52 B.C. chased the Parisii from their lands, but then began an era of new prosperity for the region. Named “Lutetia” (later Gallicised “Lutèce”), the Roman settlement outgrew the island to occupy the Left Bank with a forum, baths, a theatre, an arena and, to the south of the city, a vast cemetery. Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline from the end of the 3rd century, and by 400 AD Lutèce was but a garrison town entrenched into its fortified central island. It was in the last years of Roman occupation, in an effort to garner the morale of largely Gallic troops, that the town reclaimed its original name of “Paris”.

The conquering German, Clovis, king of the Franks, declared Paris as capital of “Francia” from 512, and commissioned the city’s first Saint-Etienne cathedral and Sainte-Geneviève Abbey. Paris from his death became capital of a kingdom one fourth its former size, and by the end of Carolingian dynasty, had become little more than a feudal county stronghold.

Paris' rise towards the Capital it is today began towards the end of the 9th century. During this feudal era, France's Counts mayors of the Palace held more political might than the crown. Already powerful, Paris' Count Odo (or "Eudes") rose to fame in 885 for his defense of Paris (and all territories upriver) against the river attacks of invading Viking Norsemen: he would be elected King as a "Robertien" hiccup in the last years of dying Carolingian dynasty. It was one of his descendants, Hugh Capet, also Count of Paris, who in 987 would be elected King as founder of the Capetien dynasty. Under the influence of its new rulers, Paris would rise above its rival Orléans to become France's capital from the early 12th century.

Philippe Auguste’s 13th century reign was a period most important for Paris’ development, as it was he who created Paris’ first mainland fortifications and Louvre stronghold from 1200, and, from the same year, created the Paris University that would bring the city fame and immigration from all of Europe. Most of Paris’ commerce, habitations and industry grew on its Right Bank from then, and University and religious institutions to its Left Bank. Paris would eventually outgrow its walls to both shores, but wouldn’t be enclosed again completely until a 1784 "Fermiers-Généraux" tax wall (marked by today’s metro lines 9 and 6) that would later become the city limits from 1791.

"Haussmann"-style avenue and architecture

Most of the Paris we see today has its origins in the mid-19th century. Train travel came to the city with a first “embarcadaire” from 1834, and with it a flow of immigration that would explode Paris' numbers. Well into its suburbs, Paris had new fortification defenses from 1845, and these indirectly served to channel suburban growth between Paris' surrounding "commune" towns. Paris' poorer (many of them immigrant factory workers) were even chased to the suburbs by Napoleon III’s expropriation and destruction of Paris’ older quarters from 1848; his architect Haussmann replaced entire districts of centuries-ancient half-timber apartment buildings with the wide avenues and uniform neo-classical stone facades that make much of modern Paris. During the same second Empire era, Paris annexed everything within its fortifications to itself, making a new city limits similar to those we know today.

Paris’ Universal Exposition years were also its first of widespread tourism and as an attractive centre for international trade shows, and an 1889 and 1900 apogee that gave the city its Eiffel Tower, petit Palais and grand Palais. Paris’ fame continued unabated until the First World War, to which it lost much of its young masculine population. After a brief lull began a new influx of culture and immigration, this time international, with “les années folles” that were the 1920’s, followed by another period of decline with the depression, the onset of the Second World War and the ensuing Nazi occupation.

The post-WWII period was very prosperous for Paris and its industry, and from the 1950's the government even promoted an immigration of manual labour from France’s (former) North African colonies. Since then the economical situation has changed drastically: Paris and its immediate suburbs are in industrial decline, and the suburban “ville dortoirs” (dormitory cities) built for the immigrant labour force have become oasises of unemployment and unrest. This situation has in fact been left to ferment since the 1970’s, and only this year, after civil unrest, has any real effort been made towards correcting the social imbalance present between Paris and its suburbs.

Demographics

Paris from space, April 2002. The River Seine winds its way through the center of the image. The gray regions are the urban areas. The surrounding patchwork of green, brown and tan is farmland.

Main article: Demographics of Paris

Density

At the 1999 French census the population density in the city of Paris was 20,164 inh. per km² (52,225 inh. per sq. mile). Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the density in the city was actually 24,448 inh. per km² (63,321 inh. per sq. mile). As a matter of comparison, the density in Manhattan at the 2000 US census was 25,846 inh. per km² (66,940 inh. per sq. mile), and the density in Inner London at the 2001 UK census was 8,663 inh. per km² (22,438 inh. per sq. mile).

The population density in the city of Paris is very high compared to those of most western cities, which are rarely as crowded as Paris (except for Manhattan). The density in Paris is comparable to the densities met within Asian cities. In many western cities, people have left the city center in the 20th century to relocate to the distant suburbs, leaving the city center as a business district dead at night. Although the city of Paris has also experienced a decline in population since the 1920s, it has nonetheless seen fewer inhabitants relocating to the suburbs than has occurred in other western cities.

More precisely, people relocating to the suburbs were for the most part replaced by new people attracted to an urban lifestyle, and buildings were not converted into offices as systematically as has happened elsewhere, such as in London where the inhabitants have left the city center since the Second World War, and the density of Inner London is now much lower than that of Paris. This is most striking in the medieval heart of both metropolises: the City of London and the four first arrondissements of Paris were the medieval heart of each metropolis, with densities reaching 75,000 to 100,000 inh. per km² before the Industrial Revolution. Today, the City of London is almost empty, with a population density of only 2,478 inh. per km² (6,417 inh. per sq. mile) in 2001, whereas the four first arrondissements of Paris still have a density of 18,139 inh. per km² (46,979 inh. per sq. mile) in 1999, seven times more dense than in the City of London.

Today, the most crowded arrondissement in the city of Paris is the 11th arrondissement, with a density reaching 40,672 inh. per km² (105,339 inh. per sq. mile) in 1999. Some neighborhoods in the east of this arrondissement are known to have densities of almost 100,000 inh. per km² (260,000 inh. per sq. mile).

Population Growth

At the 1999 census, the population of the city of Paris (excluding suburbs) was 2,125,246. The population of the metropolitan area of Paris was 11,174,743.

Historically, the population of the city of Paris peaked in 1921, when it reached 2.9 million. However, there has been since then a movement toward living in suburbs, as well as the gentrification of many areas of inner Paris, and the use of available space for offices rather than dwellings, although this phenomenon was not as massive as happened in London or in American cities. These tendencies are controversial, and the current city administration is trying to reverse them.

As a matter of fact, as of February 2004 estimates, the population of the city reached 2,142,800 inhabitants, increasing for the first time since 1954. As for the metropolitan area, it reached approximately 11.5 million inhabitants in 2004, growing twice as fast in the 2000s as it did in the 1990s. The metropolitan area of Paris has been in continuous expansion since the end of the French Wars of Religion at the end of the 16th century (with only brief setbacks during the French Revolution and World War II).

As can be seen from the figures, only 18.5% of the inhabitants of the metropolitan area of Paris live inside the city of Paris, while 81.5% live in the suburbs. Visitors to Paris, who mostly stay inside the city, are usually not aware that 81.5% of "Parisians" actually live outside of the city itself, in its very extended suburbs. A majority of Parisians also work outside of the city proper: at the 1999 census, there were 5,089,179 jobs in the metropolitan area of Paris, 32.5% of which were located in the city of Paris proper, while 67.5% were located outside of the city. These peculiar facts are due to the conservativeness of French administrative limits (see Geography section above).

For comparisons, in the metropolitan area of London, approximately 60% of people live inside Greater London proper (2001 census), while in the New York-Newark-Bridgeport metropolitan area, 37.8% of people live inside New York City (2000 census). Even in the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County metropolitan area, 22.6% of people live inside the city of Los Angeles proper. Paris can be more rightly compared to the San Francisco Bay Area, where only 11% of inhabitants live inside the city of San Francisco proper. However, unlike in the San Francisco Bay Area, there is no city inside the metropolitan area of Paris that rivals Paris, the largest city (commune) after Paris being Boulogne-Billancourt, with only 108,300 inhabitants in 2004.

See also: Historical population tables

Muséification

As a result, a so-called "muséification" (museumification) of the city of Paris is feared. Already, all airports, the largest financial and business district (La Défense), the main food wholesale market (Rungis), major renowned schools (École Polytechnique, HEC, ESSEC, INSEAD, etc.), research laboratories (in Saclay or Évry), the largest sport stadium (Stade de France), and even some ministries (Ministry of Transportation) are now located outside of the city of Paris. Similarly, the National Archives of France are due to relocate to the northern suburbs before 2010.

It is feared that the city of Paris is turning into a museum for tourists and Amélie nostalgists, while the real economic activity and 21st century development take place elsewhere in the metropolitan area. With some of the most stringent protection laws in the world, it is virtually impossible to build new buildings inside the city. Recent proposals by Paris' new mayor, Bertrand Delanoë to gather renowned architects to build skyscrapers on the outskirts of the city center, have been met with strong opposition on all sides. Delanoë wished to scrap the building height limit dating back to Haussmann in the 19th century, and build upwards to compensate for the lack of space on the ground, as was done in Manhattan. The project also aimed to revitalise Paris in the 21st century, rivaling world cities like Shanghai, or even London where city planners have started building aesthetically acclaimed skyscrapers inside the City. The probable failure of the project may be seen as another sign of the "muséification" of the city of Paris.

Immigration

The metropolitan area of Paris is one of the most multi-cultural in Europe. At the 1999 census, 19.4% of the total population of the metropolitan area were born outside of metropolitan France.

As a comparison: at the 2001 UK census, 19.5% of the total population of the metropolitan area of London was born outside of the (metropolitan) United Kingdom, while at the 2000 US census 27.5% of the total population of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport metropolitan area was born outside of the United States (50 states), and 31.9% of the total population of the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County metropolitan area was born outside of the United States (50 states).

Still at the 1999 French census, 4.2% of the total population of the metropolitan area of Paris were recent migrants (i.e. people who were not living in France in 1990). The most recent immigrants to Paris come essentially from mainland China and from Africa.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Paris

. See main article for references concerning the figures cited here.

Size

File:La Défense3.jpg

Paris as an engine of the global economy: La Défense (in the background), one of the the largest business districts of Europe.

The metropolitan area of Paris is one of the engines of the global economy. In 2003 the GDP of the metropolitan area of Paris as calculated by INSEE and Eurostat was €448,933 million, or US$506.7 billion (at real exchange rates, not at PPP). If it were a country, the metropolitan area of Paris would be the 15th largest economy in the world (as of 2003), above Brazil (US$492.3 billion) and Russia (US$432.9 billion).

Year in, year out, the metropolitan area of Paris accounts for about 29% of the total GDP of metropolitan France, although its population is only 18.7% of the total population of metropolitan France (as of 2004). In 2002, according to Eurostat, the GDP of the metropolitan area of Paris accounted alone for 4.5% of the total GDP of the European Union (of 25 members), although its population is only 2.45% of the total population of the EU25.

Although in terms of population the Paris metropolitan area is only approximately the 20th largest metropolitan area in the world, its GDP is the fifth largest in the world after the metropolitan areas of Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, and Osaka, and is on par with the metropolitan area of London.

At the 1999 census there were 5,089,170 persons employed in the metropolitan area of Paris, 31.5% of whom worked inside the city of Paris proper and 16% in the Hauts-de-Seine (92) département, home of the new La Défense business district, to the west of the city proper, while the remaining 52.5% worked in the suburbs.

Economic sectors

The economy of Paris is extremely diverse and has not yet adopted a specialization inside the global economy (unlike Los Angeles with the entertainment industry, or London with financial services). The tourism industry, for instance, employs only 3.6% of the total workforce of the metropolitan area (as of 1999) and is by no means a major component of the economy. The Paris economy is essentially a service economy. Its manufacturing base is still important, the Paris metropolitan area remaining one of the manufacturing powerhouses of Europe, but it is declining, while there is a clear shift of the Paris economy towards high value-added services, in particular business services.

Reflecting the diversity of the Paris economy, at the 1999 census 16.5% of the 5,089,170 persons employed in the metropolitan area worked in business services, 13.0% in commerce (retail and wholesale trade), 12.3% in manufacturing, 10.0% in public administrations and defense, 8.7% in health services, 8.2% in transportation and communications, 6.6% in education, and the remaining 24.7% in many other economic sectors.

Among the manufacturing sector, the largest employers were the electronic and electrical industry (17.9% of the total manufacturing workforce in 1999) and the publishing and printing industry (14.0% of the total manufacturing workforce), the remaining 68.1% of the manufacturing workforce being distributed among many other industries.

Administration

The arrondissments of Paris

Administratively speaking, the city of Paris is a French commune (municipality). It is divided into twenty municipal arrondissements (see: Arrondissements of Paris), numbered in a clockwise spiral outwards from the Ier arrondissement at the center of the city. Two parks on the edge of the city proper, Bois de Boulogne on the west and Bois de Vincennes on the east, belong to the 16th and 12th arrondissements respectively.

Citizens of each arrondissement elect a local council (conseil d'arrondissement), which in turn elects the mayor of the arrondissement. A selection of members from each arrondissement council form the Council of Paris (Conseil de Paris). The Council of Paris elects the mayor of Paris.

File:Dmonniaux DSC00052 Paris City hall by the Seine.jpg

The Paris City hall behind the river Seine

File:Bertrand Delanoe ABr112901.jpeg

The Socialist Bertrand Delanoë has been the Mayor of Paris since March 18, 2001

It must be noted that modern Paris had no mayor before 1977. Paris in fact has yet to completely emerge from the centralized administrative system created by Napoleon in 1800: public order is still in the hands of the State appointed prefect of Police (as is the Paris Fire Brigade) and Paris has no municipal police force, although it does have its own traffic wardens.

As well as being a single commune, the city of Paris is also a département (official number: 75), which is a unique status in France solely introduced for the capital city. The Council of Paris, presided by the Mayor of Paris, is the single council for both authorities, meeting either as municipal council (conseil municipal) or as departmental council (conseil général) depending on the issue to be debated. The State appointed prefect of Paris, not to be confused with the above mentioned prefect of Police, is the representative of the French State in the Paris département, in charge of the control of legality, as is the case in other French départements. The prefect of Paris is at the same time regional prefect of Île-de-France, in charge of some economic development and urban planning issues for the whole région of Île-de-France, which encompasses Paris and all its suburbs.

City of Paris proper and the three départements of the petite couronne ("small ring").

Number 75 was once the official number of the Seine département, which encompassed the city of Paris and its nearest suburbs. In 1968, Seine was split into four new départements: the city of Paris proper (which retained the number 75) and three départements (Hauts-de-Seine (92), Seine-Saint-Denis (93) and Val-de-Marne (94)) forming a ring around Paris often called petite couronne (i.e. "small ring"), as opposed to the grande couronne (i.e. "large ring") of the more distant suburbs of Paris. The Prefecture of Police jurisdiction, which used to be the whole Seine département, is now limited to Paris proper, but for some matters (such as fire protection or rescue operations) it still covers the three départements of the petite couronne. On the other hand, the jurisdiction of the Prefecture of Paris, previously called Prefecture of the Seine (before 1968), is now strictly limited to the city of Paris.

Paris is also the capital of the Île-de-France région which was created in 1976, replacing a District of the Paris Region which had been created in 1961. This région encompasses the city of Paris, its suburbs, and most of the commuting belt beyond. It is made up of eight départements: the city of Paris itself, the three départements of the petite couronne already mentioned, and another concentric circle of four larger départements which form the grande couronne. The city of Paris, the seven départements of petite couronne and grande couronne, and the Île-de-France région all have their own separate administrations. The hundreds of suburban communes around the city of Paris also each have their separate administrations, which accounts for the extreme complexity of the administrative grid in Paris and its île-de-France region.

See also: Paris mayors (comprehensive list)

Transport

Walkway tunnel in Parisian metro

Paris is well connected to the rest of Europe by train. Click above to see journey times for the fastest train connections to the rest of Europe.

Paris is served by two principal airports: Orly Airport, which is south of Paris, and the Charles De Gaulle International Airport in nearby Roissy-en-France, one of the busiest in Europe. A third and much smaller airport, at the town of Beauvais, 70 km (45 mi) to the north of the city, is used by charter and low-cost airlines. Le Bourget airport nowadays only hosts business jets, air trade shows and the aerospace museum.

Paris is a central hub of the national rail network of very fast (TGV) and normal (Corail) trains, which interconnects with a high-speed regional network, the RER. Six major railway stations, Gare du Nord, Gare Montparnasse, Gare de l'Est, Gare de Lyon, Gare d'Austerlitz, and Gare Saint-Lazare connect this train network to the world famous and highly efficient underground metro system, the Métro. This latter is a network of 380 stations (more than the London Underground) connected by 221.6km of rails

There are two tangential tramway lines in the suburbs: Line T1 runs from Saint-Denis to Noisy-le-Sec, line T2 runs from La Défense to Issy. A third line along the southern inner orbital road is currently under construction.

Administratively speaking, the public transportation networks of the Paris region are coordinated by the Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF), formerly Syndicat des transports parisiens (STP). official site Members of the syndicate include the RATP, which operates the Parisian and some suburban busses, the Métro, and sections of the RER; the SNCF, which operates the rest of the RER and the suburban train lines; and other operators.

The city is also the hub of France's motorway network, and is surrounded by an orbital road, the Périphérique, which roughly follows the path of final, 19th-century fortifications around Paris. On/off ramps of the Périphérique are called 'Portes', as they correspond to the former city gates in these fortifications. Most of these 'Portes' have parking areas and a metro station, where non-residents are advised to leave cars. Traffic in Paris is notoriously heavy, slow and tiresome.

See also: Transport in France

Cultural Centres and Organisations

File:250px-Arc-de-triomphe-paris.jpg

The Arc de Triomphe by night

The Sacré Cœur, a Roman Catholic basilica on Montmartre.

Monuments and Landmarks

Main article: Paris landmarks

The three most famous landmarks of Paris are almost certainly the Eiffel Tower, originally a "temporary" construction for the 1889 Universal Expositon, the Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, a 12th-century ecclesiastical masterpiece. Other than the Eiffel Tower, the lone skyscraper Tour Montparnasse and Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on the hill Montmartre are easily visible from many locations around the city, while the window-shaped Grande Arche in La Défense marks the west.

Museums

The Mona Lisa, one of the Louvre's most famous treasures.

Main article: List of museums in Paris

• Louvre - a huge museum housing many works of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue.
• Musée d'Orsay - an art museum housed in a converted 19th century railway station, which contains mainly Impressionist works.
• Centre Georges Pompidou, also known as Beaubourg - houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne and a cultural center with a large public library. Famous for its external skeleton of service pipes.
• Musée Rodin - a large collection of works by France's most famous sculptor
• 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.
• Musée Cluny, also known as the Musée National du Moyen-Age, houses a large collection of art and artifacts from the Middle Ages, including the tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn.
• Musée Picasso, exhibits nearly 3000 pieces of art by Pablo Picasso as well as art from his own personal collection including works by Cézanne and Matisse.

Historical Centres

• Montmartre - historic area on the Butte, home to the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur and also famous for the studios and cafés of many great artists.
• Champs-Élysées - a 17th-century garden promenade turned Avenue connection between the Concorde and Arc de Triomphe.
• Place de la Concorde - at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, built as the "Place Louis XV" site of the infamous guillotine. The Egyptian obleisk it holds today can be considered Paris's "oldest monument".
• Place de la Bastille - Former eastern stronghold and gate of Paris.
• Montparnasse - historic area on the Left Bank, famous for the its artists studios, music-halls, and café life.
• Quartier Latin - Paris's scholastic center from the 12th century, formerly stretching between the Left Bank's place Maubert and the Sorbonne university.

The Statue of Liberty copy on the river Seine in Paris. Given to the city in 1885, it faces west, toward the original Liberty in New York City.

Cemeteries

Many of Paris's illustrious historical figures have found rest in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Other notable cemeteries include Cimetière de Montmartre, Cimetière du Montparnasse, Cimetière de Passy and the Catacombs of Paris

Parks and Gardens

Main article: List of parks and gardens in Paris

.

Two of Paris's most famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden on the banks of the Seine next to the Louvre and the centrally-located Luxembourg Garden, which used to belong to a château built for the Marie de' Medici. During the Second Empire, Napoleon III created three vast gardens on the outskirts of Paris: Montsouris, Buttes Chaumont in the northeast, and Parc Monceau, formerly known as the folie de Chartres, in the northwest. On the western and eastern perimeters respectively are the two "forests", the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes.

Districts

Main article: Paris districts

• Les Halles - shopping precinct around an important metro connection station.
• Le Marais - trendy district on the Right Bank with large gay and Jewish populations
• l'Opéra - Shopping area with department stores such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette

Boutiques, Department Stores and Hotels

Paris is famous for gastronomical establishments like Fauchon (delicatessen), near the Église de la Madeleine, or Berthillon (ice cream) on Île-Saint-Louis.

Its department stores, e.g. Galeries Lafayette, Samaritaine (currently closed) or Printemps, are remarkable not only for the wide range of items they sell but also for their 19th-century or Art Nouveau architecture.

Paris also hosts a number of famous hotels. The most prestigious are probably the Hôtel de Crillon on Place de la Concorde, and the nearby Hôtel Ritz Paris on Place Vendôme.

Nightlife

• 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.
• Moulin Rouge, Le Crazy Horse Saloon, Folies Bergères - other famous cabarets
• the Paris Olympia, le Zenith, Bercy, Bobino - concert halls
• The Buddha Bar, Barfly, Hotel Costes, Georges - trendy upscale restaurant / bars to see and be seen.
• Les Bains-Douches, le Man Ray, l'Elysée Montmartre, le Queen - famous and trendy nightclubs.
• The Rex Club, Le Tryptique, Le Batofar- good places for electro music (techno, electro-rock, D&B).

Sports Clubs

Paris's main sports clubs are Paris Saint-Germain, Football (soccer) club, Paris Basket Racing, Basketball team and Stade Français, Rugby union club.

Suburban Areas of Interest

• Business district
  • La Défense - major office, cinema and shopping complex, west of Paris.
  • Grande Arche de la Défense - built in line with the Louvre, place de la Concorde and Arc de Triomphe.

• Chateaux and churches
  • Palace of Versailles - the former royal palace of Louis XIV and later kings, in the town of Versailles to the southeast of Paris.
  • Vaux-le-Vicomte, near Melun, a smaller palace on which Versailles was modelled.
  • Saint Denis Basilica - ancient Gothic Cathedral and burial site for many French monarchs, located north of the city.

• Civil Constructions
  • Arcueil Aqueduct - built in the 17th century and raised in 1874, it channels water from sources 156km to the south of Paris to the Montsouris reservoirs.

• Recreation parks and areas
  • Parc Astérix
  • Disneyland Resort Paris

References

1. ^ INSEE. Recensement de la population 1999. Paris. "Population totale par sexe et âge". Retrieved December 1, 2005.
2. ^ INSEE. Recensement de la population 1999. Île-de-France. "Population totale par sexe et âge". Retrieved December 1, 2005.
3. ^ INSEE - Comptes régionaux - données 2003 semi-définitives en base 2 000. "Produit intérieur brut (PIB) à prix courants.". Retrieved December 1, 2005.

External links

• Wikitravel:Guide to Paris
• Template:En icon English version of official site
  • Template:Fr icon Official Paris website
• Template:En icon English version of official Paris tourist office website
  • Template:Fr icon Official Paris Tourist Office website
• Google Maps satellite images of Paris