User:Josefu/Work In Progress/Paris (Archive)




 * For Paris Travel, see Wikitravel:Guide to Paris

Paris is the capital city of France, as well as the capital of the Île-de-France région, whose territory encompasses Paris and its suburbs. The city of Paris proper is also a département, called Paris département (French: département de Paris).

Paris, together with its suburbs and satellite cities, forms the Greater Paris metropolitan area, with a population estimated at 11.5 million as of January 2004. Paris is the most populous urban area in the European Union and is the second largest metropolitan area in Europe (after Moscow, and along with London), and is ranked approximately as the 20th most populous metropolitan area in the world.

Greater Paris metropolitan area, with a total GDP in 2003 higher than Brazil or Russia, is the largest financial and business center of Europe (alongside London), harboring more than 30% of France's white-collar population, as well as more than 40% of the headquarters of French companies, with the largest business district of Europe (La Défense), and the second largest stock exchange in Europe (Euronext).

Known worldwide as the City of Light (la Ville Lumière), Paris has been a major tourist destination for centuries. The city is renowned for the beauty of its architecture, its urban perspectives and avenues, as well as the wealth of its museums. Built on an arc of the River Seine, it is divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to the south.

Formerly the capital of a colonial empire stretching over five continents, Paris is still regarded as the heart of the French-speaking world and has retained a strong international position, hosting the headquarters of the OECD and the UNESCO among others. This, combined with its financial, business, political, and tourism activities, has turned Paris into one of the major transportation hubs in the world. New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris are often listed as the four major global cities.

Name of Paris and its inhabitants
Paris is pronounced in English, and [[Media:Paris1.ogg|]] in French.

The original Latin name of Paris was Lutetia, or Lutetia Parisiorum, known in French as Lutèce. 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 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|]]) in French. The pejorative term Parigot ([[Media:Parigot.ogg|]]) is sometimes used in French slang.

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

Coordinates
Paris is located at 48.86667°N, 2.33306°W (48.866667, 2.333056).

Area
The city (commune) of Paris has an area of 105.398 km² (40.69 sq. miles, 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 sq. miles, or 21,480 acres).

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). For comparison, Greater London has an area of 1,572 km² (607 sq. mi), and New York City has an area of 786 km² (303 sq. miles). This peculiar fact is due to the conservatism of administrative limits in France. Unlike other western metropolises such as London, New York, or Berlin whose limits were extended in the 20th century to include suburbs previously independent, in the case of Paris no such enlargement happened. In fact, the last time Paris was enlarged was in 1860 when Napoleon III and the prefect Haussmann annexed the then suburban communes surrounding Paris, such as Montmartre or Auteuil, extending the area of the city from 34.50 km² (13.3 sq. miles) to 78 km² (30.1 sq. miles), and creating the 20 arrondissements of Paris. Since 1860, the limits of Paris have only marginally changed, reaching the 86.9km² 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 lying outside of the city of Paris proper, and the city of Paris can be more rightly compared to the borough of Manhattan (59.5 km²/23 sq. miles) or to Inner London (319 km²/123 sq. miles). Even the largest business and financial district of Paris, known as La Défense, lies outside of the city limits.

The urban area of Paris (unité urbaine de Paris), however, is much more extended than the administrative city of Paris. It had an area of 2,723 km² (1,051.4 sq. miles) in 1999, about 26 times larger than the city of Paris. As for the metropolitan area of Paris (aire urbaine de Paris), its area in 1999 was 14,518 km² (5,605.5 sq. miles), about 138 times larger than the city of Paris.

The city of Paris proper, excluding the outlying Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, has an almost regular oval shape, 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.

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 most western cities, which are rarely as crowded as Paris (except for Manhattan). The density in Paris is comparable to the densities met with in 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).

Altitude
The altitude of Paris varies, with several prominent hills :
 * Montmartre - 130 metres (425 feet) Above Sea Level
 * Belleville - 115 metres (375 feet) ASL
 * Menilmontant - 108m (354 feet) ASL
 * Buttes-Chaumont - 80m (269 feet) ASL
 * Passy - 71m (233 feet) ASL
 * Chaillot - 67m (220 feet) ASL
 * Montagne Ste-Geneviève - 61 (200 feet) ASL
 * Butte-aux-Cailles - 62m (203 feet) ASL
 * Montparnasse - 66m (217 feet) ASL

Montparnasse was leveled in the 18th century. 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 meters (640 ft) above sea-level.

Temperatures
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Paris since meteorological records started in 1873 was on December 10, 1879 when the temperature went down to –23.9° C (–11.0° F) in the city proper, and –25.6° C (–14.1° F) in the southeastern suburb of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.

The hottest temperature was recorded on July 28, 1947 when the temperature in the city proper (Parc Montsouris) reached 40.4° C (104.7° F). During the deadly European heat wave of 2003, the temperature in central Paris (Parc Montsouris) "only" reached 38.1° C (100.6° F) during the day, while reaching 40.2° C (104.4° F) at Le Bourget Airport in the northern suburbs, but the lowest temperature at night on August 11 and August 12, 2003 was 25.5° C (77.9° F) in the Parc Montsouris, which is the hottest minimum temperature at night ever registered in Paris, causing the death of many elderly people whose body temperature could not cool down.

History
Main article: History of Paris

Brief history
The name of the city comes from the name of a Gallic tribe (parisis) inhabiting the region at the time of the Roman conquest. The historical heart of Paris is the Île de la Cité, a small island now largely occupied by the huge Palais de Justice and the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. It is connected with the smaller Île Saint-Louis (another island) occupied by elegant houses built in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Paris was occupied by a Gallic tribe until the Romans arrived in 52 BC. The invaders referred to the previous occupants as 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 had ceased by 508, when Clovis the Frank made the city the capital of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks. In 511 he commissioned the building of the cathedral of St.Etienne on the Île. Viking invasions during the 800s forced the Parisians to build a fortress on the Île de la Cité. On March 28, 845 Paris was sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collected a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. The weakness of the late Carolingian kings of France led to the gradual rise in power of the Counts of Paris; Odo, Count of Paris was elected king of France by feudal lords while Charles III was also claiming the throne. Finally, in 987 Hugh Capet, count of Paris, was elected king of France by the great feudal lords after the last Carolingian king died.

During the 11th century the city spread to the Right Bank. In the 12th and 13th centuries, which included the reign of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), the city grew strongly. 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 grouped together 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 nucleus, interrupted temporarily when the Black Death struck in the 14th century, and again in the 15th century when urban revolts drove the royal court to abandon the city for almost 100 years. 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.

In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War ended in a siege of Paris. Fortunately the Prussian Commander, General von Blumenthal, refused to bombard it. The Paris Commune followed. It 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 Beautiful period). The famous Parisian Haussmann Style also dates back to this period.

In 1900 Paris hosted the 1900 Summer Olympics, and hosted them again in 1924 (1924 Summer Olympics).

In June 1940, several weeks after the German attack on France during World War II, Paris fell to German occupation forces, which remained there until late August 1944. After the battle of Normandy, Paris was liberated when the German general Dietrich von Choltitz surrendered after skirmishes to the French 2nd Armoured Division commanded by Philippe de Hauteclocque backed by the Allies.

In the late 1960s, the Tour Montparnasse, a large, modern skyscraper, was constructed just south of the Jardin du Luxembourg. It is starkly out of place in its neighborhood and ruined many of Haussmann's carefully planned vistas; as such it was one of the most immediate causes for the changes in zoning and administrative rules that now keep all urban development outside the city limits (principally confining skyscrapers to La Défense) and preserves Paris proper as a city of museums and monuments.

Demographics

 * See main article: Demographics of Paris

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 faster in the 2000s than 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.

As a result of this peculiar situation, there are those in France who warn against a so-called "muséification" of the city of Paris. Already, all airports are located outside of the city, the largest financial and business district (La Défense) is outside of the city, the main food wholesale market (Rungis) providing food for the whole metropolitan area is outside of the city, major renowned schools (École Polytechnique, HEC, INSEAD, etc.) are outside of the city, world famous research laboratories (in Saclay or Évry) are outside of the city, the largest sport stadium (Stade de France) is outside of the city, and even some ministries (Ministry of Transportation) are now located outside of the city of Paris proper, not to mention the National Archives of France, which are due to relocate to the northern suburbs before 2010.

It is feared that the city of Paris is turning into an embalmed museum, with tourists and Amélie's nostalgists as its only denizens, 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, who is proposing to gather the most renowned architects in the world to build skyscrapers on the outskirts of the city center (but inside the city proper), have been met with strong opposition on all sides. The mayor wished to scrap the cap on building height dating back to Haussmann in the 19th century, and thus build tall in order to compensate for the lack of space on the ground, such as was done in Manhattan. The project was also meant to give a new image and fame to 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 mayor's project is already interpreted by some as yet another sign of the "muséificication" of the city of Paris.

Historical population
For complete tables, see: Historical population

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

 * ''Note: Paris GDP figures listed in this section are in fact those for the Île-de-France région, which matches quite well the territory of Paris metropolitan area, although it is about 2.5% smaller than the actual metropolitan area.

The metropolitan area of Paris is one of the engines of the global economy. In 2002, at a time when the euro was very low, the GDP of the metropolitan area of Paris as calculated by INSEE and Eurostat was US$398.4 billion (at real exchange rates, not at PPP). In 2003, with the recovery of the euro, the GDP of the metropolitan area was approximately US$497 billion. 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. Inside Europe, the only other metropolitan area that can compare with Paris is London. The GDP of either Paris or London metropolitan areas far outweighs the GDP of any other metropolitan area in Europe.

As a matter of comparison, the total GDP of Greater London in 2002, as published by Eurostat, was US$309.8 billion (approximately US$358 billion in 2003) at real exchange rates. The metropolitan area of London, however, is larger than Greater London proper, but given that no government agency or statistical office has ever officially defined the extent of London metropolitan area, it is difficult to give a figure for its GDP. According to Eurostat figures, the combined GDP of Greater London and all the NUTS 2 regions around Greater London was US$574.6 billion in 2002 (approximately US$664 billion in 2003). However, this vast area extends from Brighton to Oxford to Bedford to Colchester to Dover and is much larger than what most people understand as the metropolitan area of London. Thus, we can only say that in 2003 the actual GDP figure for the metropolitan area of London was somewhere between US$358 billion and US$664 billion; and it seems reasonable to say that the total GDP of London metropolitan area is approximately equal to the total GDP of Paris metropolitan area (US$497 billion).

In North America, there are only two metropolitan areas that have a GDP larger than Paris: the New York-Newark-Bridgeport metropolitan area and the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County metropolitan area. According to 2003 figures released by the US Conference of Mayors in November 2004, the total GDP of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport metropolitan area was US$847.6 billion, whereas the total GDP of the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County metropolitan area was US$699.8 billion. Paris metropolitan area, with US$497 billion, had a larger GDP than all other North American metropolitan areas: Chicago-Naperville-Michigan metropolitan area (US$390.5 billion), Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia metropolitan area (US$362.6 billion), San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area (Bay Area) (US$346.4 billion), etc.

Outside of North America, the only other metropolitan areas in the world with a GDP larger than Paris are Tokyo metropolitan area and Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. According to data from the Statistics Bureau of Japan, the GDP of the Tokyo metropolitan area in 2003 was US$1,315 billion (at real exchange rates), while the GDP of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area was US$578 billion.

Paris and London, which were once the largest cities in the world, are now only approximately the 20th largest metropolitan areas in the world, but when looking at GDP figures, both metropolitan areas still stand in the top 5 of the largest gross metropolitan products in the world.

Administration
The city of Paris is itself a département of France (Paris, 75), part of the Île-de-France  région. Paris is divided into twenty numerically arranged districts, the arrondissements. These districts are numbered in a spiral pattern with the 1er arrondissement at the center of the city.

The city of Paris also comprises two forests: the Bois de Boulogne on the west and the Bois de Vincennes on the east.



Prior to 1968, département 75 was the Seine département, which contained the city of Paris and its immediate suburbs. The splitting up of the Seine département resulted in the creation of four new départements: Paris proper (75), and three départements (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) forming a ring around Paris, often called la petite couronne (i.e. the "small ring", as opposed to the "large ring" of the more distant suburbs of Paris).

As an exception to the normal rules for French cities, some powers normally vested in the mayor of the city are instead vested in a representative of the national government, the Prefecture of Police which also controls the Paris Fire Brigade. As an example, Paris has no municipal police force, though it has some traffic wardens. This is a legacy of the situation that up to 1977, Paris had no mayor and was essentially run by the prefectoral administration.

Citizens of Paris elect in each arrondissement some municipal council members. Each arrondissement has its own council, which elects the mayor of the arrondissement. Some members of the arrondissement councils form the Council of Paris, which elects the mayor of Paris, and has the double functions of a municipal council and the general council of the département.

Bertrand Delanoë has been the Mayor of Paris since March 18, 2001. Mr Delanoë is openly homosexual.

Former mayors Jacques Chirac and Jean Tiberi were cited in corruption scandals in the Paris region.

Unlike other French cities, Paris does not have an intercomunality to govern the whole metropolitan area (ie Paris and its suburbs) and is not expected to have one any time soon.

List of Paris mayors since the French Revolution
Before the French Revolution, the municipality of Paris was headed by the provost of the merchants (prévôt des marchands). On July 14, 1789, at the end of the afternoon, following the storming of the Bastille, the provost of the merchants of Paris, Jacques de Flesselles, was shot by the crowd on the steps of Paris city hall. The next day, the first mayor of Paris was elected.
 * July 15, 1789 - November 18, 1791: Jean-Sylvain Bailly (guillotined)
 * November 18, 1791 - October 15, 1792: Jérôme Pétion (committed suicide in 1794 as he was about to be arrested)
 * December 8, 1792 - February 2, 1793: Nicolas Chambon
 * February 14, 1793 - May 10, 1794: Jean-Nicolas Pache (deposed and arrested, survived)
 * May 10, 1794 - July 27, 1794: Jean-Baptiste Fleuriot-Lescot (guillotined)
 * 1794-1977: office of mayor abolished, no mayor (except briefly in 1848 following the overthrow of Louis-Philippe and in 1870-1871 following the overthrow of Napoleon III)
 * March 20, 1977 - May 16, 1995: Jacques Chirac
 * May 22, 1995 - March 24, 2001: Jean Tiberi
 * March 25, 2001 - now: Bertrand Delanoë

Transport


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. A third and much smaller airport, at the town of Beauvais, 70km (45 miles) 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 densely covered by a metro system, the Métro, as well as by a large number of bus lines. This interconnects with a high-speed regional network, the RER, and also the train network: commuter lines, national train lines, and the TGV (or derivatives like Thalys or Eurostar for specific destinations). 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 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.

Monuments and Landmarks

 * The Eiffel Tower - a "temporary" construction of Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition
 * Arc de Triomphe - monument at the center of the Place de l'Étoile, commemorating the victories of France and honoring those who died in battle.
 * Les Invalides - museum and burial place of many great French soldiers, including Napoleon.
 * The Conciergerie - medieval building; former prison where some prominent members of the ancien régime stayed before their death during the French Revolution
 * Palais Garnier - Paris' central opera built in the later Second Empire period.
 * Cathedral of Notre Dame on the Île de la Cité - Paris' 12th-century ecclesiastical centrepiece
 * The Sorbonne - the University of Paris, the centre of Paris' Latin Quarter
 * Statue of Liberty - a smaller version of the New York City harbor statue which France gave to the United States in 1886, located on the Île aux Cygnes on the Seine. Another version is in the Luxembourg Garden.
 * The Panthéon - beautiful church and tomb of a number of France's illustrious men and women
 * Sainte-Chapelle - 13th century Gothic palace chapel.
 * Église de la Madeleine
 * Place des Vosges - square in the Marais district laid out by Henry IV
 * Flame of Liberty public co-opted temporary memorial for Diana, Princess of Wales

Museums



 * 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' "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' scholastic center from the 12th century, formerly stratching between the Left Bank's place Maubert and the Sorbonne university.



Cemetaries

 * Père Lachaise Cemetery - Many of Paris' illustrious history have found rest here.
 * Cimetière de Montmartre
 * Cimetière du Montparnasse
 * Cimetière de Passy
 * Catacombs of Paris

Gardens

 * Luxembourg - a joining of gardens formerly belonging to a coverntry and a Chateau built for Marie de Medecis
 * Montsouris - One of three vast gardens created during the Second Empire to Paris' outskirts.
 * Buttes-Chaumont - see above
 * parc de Monceau - one of the above, but the former folie de Chartres
 * Bois du Boulogne - to Paris' western perimetre, resculpted during the Second Empire
 * Bois de Vincennes - same as above, but to a lesser degree.

Commercial 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 - Holds many of Paris' largest departement stores such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette

Boutiques, department stores and hotels

 * Gastronomical Establishments
 * Fauchon
 * Berthillon ice cream
 * Department stores
 * Galeries Lafayette
 * Printemps
 * Famous hotels:
 * Hôtel de Crillon, Place de la Concorde
 * Hôtel George V, Avenue Georges V
 * Hôtel Ritz Paris, Place Vendôme

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, Folies Bergères, Bobino - famous nightclubs.
 * The Buddha Bar, Barfly, Hotel Costes, Georges - trendy upscale restaurant / bars to see and be seen.
 * 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 Locales of Interest

 * Business districts
 * La Défense - major office, cinema and shopping complex, west of Paris


 * Monuments
 * Grande Arche de la Défense - built in alignment with the Louvre, place du Concorde and Arc de Triomphe


 * Chateaux
 * 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 modeled.
 * Saint Denis Basilica - ancient Gothic Cathedral and burial site for many French monarchs, located north of the city.


 * Civil Constructions
 * Arcueil Aqueduct - Completed in 1874 from the Monstouris reservoirs, its channels water from sources 156km to the south of Paris.


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

A Short Chronology



 * 52 BC - Lutetia, later to become Paris, is built by the Gallo-Romans
 * 1113 - Pierre Abélard opens his school
 * 1163 - Building of Notre Dame begins
 * 1257 - The Sorbonne University is founded
 * 1682 - Louis XIV moves the French court from the Tuileries palace to Versailles
 * July, 1789 - Storming of the Bastille
 * Royal family 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
 * 1840 - Napoleon's remains are buried at Les Invalides
 * 1853 - Baron Haussmann rebuilds the center of Paris
 * 1855 - Exposition Universelle (1855)
 * 1856 - Congress of Paris is held
 * 1867 - Exposition Universelle (1867)
 * 1870 - Prussian Siege of Paris. Gen von Blumenthal refuses to bombard.
 * January 28, 1871 - Paris Commune falls
 * 1878 - Exposition Universelle (1878)
 * 1889 - Exposition Universelle (1889) - Eiffel Tower
 * 1900 - Exposition Universelle (1900)
 * Paris Métro is opened
 * 1925 - Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (1925)
 * 1931 - French Colonial Exposition (1931)
 * June 13, 1940 - Nazis enter Paris
 * August 24, 1944 - Allies liberate the city
 * 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

Paris hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1900 and 1924. The 1998 World Cup was hosted by France; several matches were held in Paris proper at Parc des Princes, and several others, including the final, were held at Stade de France in the suburb of Saint-Denis.