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Paris
Coordinates 48°52′0″N, 2°19′59″E
Time Zone CET (GMT +1)
Administration
Country Flag of France France
Region Île-de-France
Department Paris (75)
Subdivisions 20 arrondissements
Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (PS)
(2001-2008)
City Statistics
Land area¹ 86.9[1] km²
Population² 1st in France
- 2005 estimate 2,153,600
- Density 24,783/km² (2005[1])
Urban Spread
Urban Area 2 723 km² (1999)
- Population 9 644 507 (1999)
Metro Area 14,518.3 km² (1999)
- Population 12,067,000 (2007)
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km²
(0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple
communes (e.g. students and military personnel).
France
Paris is the capital city of France. It is situated on the River Seine, in
northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region ("Région
parisienne"). Paris has an estimated population of 2,153,600 within its
administrative limits.[2] The Paris Unité urbaine (or "urban unit") is an
area of unbroken urban growth that extends well beyond its city limits, with
a population of 9.93 million.[3] A commuter belt around the same completes
the Paris urban area (similar to a metropolitan area) that, with its
population of 12 million,[4] is one of the most populated areas of its kind
in Europe.[5]
An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris is today one of
the world's leading business and cultural centres, and its influence in
politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science and the arts all
contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities.[6][7][8]
The Paris region (Île-de-France) is France's foremost centre of economic
activity. With €478.7 billion (US$595.3 billion), it produced more than a
quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) of France in 2005. With La
Défense, the largest purpose-built business district in Europe, it hosts the
head offices of almost half of the major French companies, as well as the
headquarters of fifteen of the world's 100 largest companies.[9] Paris also
hosts many international organizations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the ICC, or
the informal Paris Club.
Paris's location at a crossroads between land and river trade routes in
lands of abundant agriculture had made it one of the principal cities of
France by the 10th century, rich with royal palaces, wealthy abbeys and a
cathedral; by the 12th century Paris had become one of Europe's foremost
centres of learning and the arts. Today, Paris has a major worldwide
influence. The city serves as an important hub of intercontinental
transportation and is home to universities, sport events, opera companies
and museums of international renown,[10][11] making it the most popular
tourist destination in the world with over 30 million foreign visitors per
year.[12]
Etymology
Name of Paris and its inhabitants
The name Paris, pronounced [ˈpærɪs] in English and [paʁi] (help·info) in
French, derives from that of its pre-Roman-era inhabitants, the Gaulish
tribe known as the Parisii. The city was called Lutetia (/lutetja/) during
the first- to sixth-century Roman occupation, but the present name began to
replace this towards the end of that period.
Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is 'The City of Light' (La
Ville-lumière), a name it owes both to its fame as a center of education and
ideas and its early adoption of street-lighting. Paris since the early 20th
century has also been known in Parisian slang as Paname ([panam]; Moi j'suis
d'Paname (help·info), i.e. "I'm from Paname"), a slang name that has been
regaining favour with young people in recent years.
Paris's inhabitants are known in English as "Parisians" ([pʰəˈɹɪzɪənz] or [pʰəˈɹiːʒn̩z])
and as Parisiens ([paʁizjɛ̃] (help·info)) in French. Parisians are often
pejoratively called Parigots ([paʁigo] (help·info)) by those living outside
the Paris Region, but this is a term sometimes considered endearing by
Parisians themselves.
History
History of Paris
Early beginnings
The earliest archeological signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area
date from around 4200 BC.[13] Known boatsmen and traders, a sub-tribe of the
celtic Senones, the Parisii, settled the area near the river Seine from
around 250 BC.
The Roman westward campaigns had conquered the Paris basin in 52 BC.[13] A
permanent Roman settlement began towards the end of the same century on
Paris' Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill and Île de la Cité island, in a town
first called Lutetia, but later becoming Gallicised Lutèce. The Gallo-Roman
town expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous
city with palaces, a forum, baths, temples, theatres and an
amphitheatre.[14]
The collapse of the Roman empire and third-century Germanic invasions sent
the city into a period of decline: by 400 AD Lutèce, largely abandoned by
its inhabitants, was little more than a garrison town entrenched into its
hastily fortified central island.[13] The city would reclaim its original
"Paris" appellation towards the end of the Roman occupation.
Middle ages
Around AD 500, Paris was the capital of the Frankish king Clovis I, who
commissioned the first cathedral and its first abbey dedicated to his
contemporary, later patron saint of the city, Sainte Geneviève. On the death
of Clovis, the Frankish kingdom was divided, and Paris became the capital of
a much smaller sovereign state. By the time of the Carolingian dynasty (9th
century), Paris was little more than a feudal county stronghold. The Counts
of Paris gradually rose to prominence and eventually wielded greater power
than the Kings of Francia occidentalis. Odo, Count of Paris was elected king
in place of the incumbent Charles the Fat, namely for the fame he gained in
his defence of Paris during the Viking siege (Siege of Paris (885-886)).
Although the Cité island had survived the Viking attacks, most of the
unprotected Left Bank city was destroyed; rather than rebuild there, after
drying marshlands to the north of the island, Paris began to expand onto the
Right Bank. In 987 AD, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected King of
France, founding the Capetian dynasty which would raise Paris to become
France's capital.
From 1190, King Philip Augustus enclosed Paris on both banks with a wall
that had the Louvre as its western fortress and in 1200 chartered the
University of Paris which brought visitors from across Europe. It was during
this period that the city developed a spatial distribution of activities
that can still be seen: the central island housed government and
ecclesiastical institutions, the left bank became a scholastic centre with
the University and colleges, while the right bank developed as the centre of
commerce and trade around the central Les Halles marketplace.
Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm while occupied by the
English-allied Burgundians during the Hundred Years' War, but regained its
title when Charles VII reclaimed the city in 1437; although Paris was
capital once again, the Crown preferred to remain in its Loire Valley
castles. During the French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the
Catholic party, culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572).
King Henry IV re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594 after he
captured the city from the Catholic party. During the Fronde, Parisians rose
in rebellion and the royal family fled the city (1648). King Louis XIV then
moved the royal court permanently to Versailles in 1682. A century later,
Paris was the centre stage for the French Revolution, with the Storming of
the Bastille in 1789 and the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792.
Nineteenth century
The Industrial Revolution, the French Second Empire, and the Belle Époque
brought Paris the greatest development in its history. From the 1840s, rail
transport allowed an unprecedented flow of migrants into Paris attracted by
employment in the new industries in the suburbs. The city underwent a
massive renovation under Napoleon III and his préfet Haussmann, who leveled
entire districts of narrow-winding medieval streets to create the network of
wide avenues and neo-classical façades of modern Paris, with the added aid
that in case of future revolts or revolutions, artillery and rifles could
now be utilised in crowd control.
Cholera epidemics in 1832 and 1849 affected the population of Paris — the
1832 epidemic alone claimed 20,000 of the then population of 650,000.[15]
Paris also suffered greatly from the siege ending the Franco-Prussian War
(1870-1871), and the ensuing civil war Commune of Paris (1871) killed
thousands and sent many of Paris's administrative centres (and city
archives) up in flames.
Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal
Expositions of the late nineteenth century. The Eiffel Tower was built for
the French Revolution centennial 1889 Universal Exposition, as a "temporary"
display of architectural engineering prowess but remained the world's
tallest building until 1930, and is the city's best-known landmark. The
first line of the Paris Métro opened for the 1900 Universal Exposition and
was an attraction in itself for visitors from the world over. Paris's
World's Fair years also consolidated its position in the tourist industry
and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.
Twentieth century
During World War I, Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having
been spared a German invasion by the French and British victory at the First
Battle of the Marne in 1914. In 1918-1919, it was the scene of Allied
victory parades and peace negotiations. In the inter-war period Paris was
famed for its cultural and artistic communities and its nightlife. The city
became a gathering place of artists from around the world, from exiled
Russian composer Stravinsky and Spanish painters Picasso and Dalí to
American writer Hemingway. In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the
German attack on France, Paris fell to German occupation forces who remained
there until the city was liberated in August of 1944. After the Normandy
invasion Paris waited for liberation. Central Paris endured WW II
practically unscathed, as there were no strategic targets for bombers (train
stations in central Paris are terminal stations; major factories were
located in the suburbs), and also because of its cultural signifiance - as
an example, German General von Choltitz refused to carry out Adolf Hitler's
desperate order that all Parisian monuments be destroyed before any German
retreat.
In the post-war era, Paris experienced its largest development since the end
of the Belle Époque in 1914. The suburbs began to expand considerably, with
the construction of large social estates known as cités and the beginning of
the business district La Défense. A comprehensive express subway network,
the RER, was built to complement the Métro and serve the distant suburbs,
while a network of freeways was developed in the suburbs, centered on the
Périphérique expressway circling around the city.
Since the 1970s, many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the eastern ones)
have experienced deindustrialization, and the once-thriving cités have
gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of unemployment. At the
same time, the City of Paris (within its Périphérique ring) and the western
and southern suburbs have successfully shifted their economic base from
traditional manufacturing to high value-added services and high-tech
manufacturing, generating great wealth for their residents whose per capita
income is among the highest in Europe. The resulting widening social gap
between these two areas has led to periodic unrest since the mid-1980s, such
as the 2005 riots which largely concentrated in the northeastern suburbs.
Geography
Topography
Topography of Paris
Paris is located in the north-bending arc of the river Seine and includes
two islands, the Île Saint-Louis and the larger Île de la Cité, which form
the oldest part of the city. Overall, the city is relatively flat, and the
lowest elevation is 35 meters (114 ft) above sea level. Paris has several
prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130 m (426 ft).
Paris, excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de
Vincennes, covers an oval measuring 86.928 square kilometres (33.56 square
miles) in area. The city's last major annexation of outlying territories in
1860 not only gave it its modern form, but created the twenty
clockwise-spiralling arrondissements (municipal boroughs). From the 1860
area of 78 km² (30.1 mi²), the city limits were expanded marginally to 86.9
km² in the 1920s. In 1929 the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes forest
parks were officially annexed to the city, bringing its area to its present
105.397 km² (40.69 mi²).
Paris' real demographic size, or unité urbaine, extends well beyond the city
limits, forming an irregular oval with arms of urban growth extending along
the Seine and Marne rivers from the city's south-east and east, and along
the Seine and Oise rivers to the city's north-west and north. Beyond the
main suburbs, population density drops sharply: a mix of forest and
agriculture dotted with a network of relatively evenly dispersed
éparpillement of satellite towns, this couronne périurbaine commuter belt,
when combined with the Paris agglomeration, completes the Paris aire urbaine
(or Paris urban area, a sort of metropolitan area) that covers an oval
14,518 km² (5,605.5 mi²)[citation needed] in area, or about 138 times that
of Paris itself.
Climate
Paris has an oceanic climate and is affected by the North Atlantic Current,
so the city has a temperate climate that rarely sees extremely high or low
temperatures. The average yearly high temperature is about 15 °C (59 °F),
and yearly lows tend to remain around an average of 7 °C (45 °F). The
highest temperature ever, recorded on 28 July 1948, was 40.4 °C (104.7 °F),
and the lowest was a −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F) temperature reached on 10 December
1879.[16] The Paris region has recently seen temperatures reaching both
extremes, with the heat wave of 2003 and the cold wave of 2006.
Rainfall can occur at any time of the year, and Paris is known for its
sudden showers. The city sees an average yearly precipitation of 641.6 mm
(25.2 inches).[16] Snowfall is a rare occurrence, usually appearing in the
coldest months of January or February (but has been recorded as late as
April), and almost never accumulates enough to make a covering that will
last more than a day.
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Avg high °C (°F) 7 (45) 9 (49) 13 (56) 16 (61) 20 (68) 23 (73) 24 (75) 25
(77) 21 (71) 15 (59) 9 (49) 8 (47) 15 (59)
Avg low temperature °C (°F) 4 (39) 4 (39) 6 (45) 9 (49) 12 (54) 15 (60) 16
(61) 16 (61) 12 (54) 8 (46) 4 (39) 4 (36) 7 (45)
Source: MSN Weather
Cityscape
Architecture
"Modern" Paris is the result of a vast mid-19th century urban remodelling.
For centuries it had been a labyrinth of narrow streets and half-timber
houses, but beginning in 1852, the Baron Haussmann's vast urbanisation
levelled entire quarters to make way for wide avenues lined with
neo-classical stone buildings of bourgeoise standing; most of this 'new'
Paris is the Paris we see today. These Second Empire plans are in many cases
still actual, as the city of Paris imposes the then-defined "alignement" law
(imposed position defining a predetermined street width) on many new
constructions. A building's height was also defined according to the width
of the street it lines, and Paris' building code has seen few changes since
the mid-19th century to allow for higher constructions. It is for this
reason that Paris is mainly a "flat" city.
Paris' unchanging borders, strict building codes and lack of developable
land have together contributed in creating a phenomenon called muséification
(or "museumification") as, at the same time as they strive to preserve
Paris' historical past, existing laws make it difficult to create within
city limits the larger buildings and utilities needed for a growing
population. Many of Paris' institutions and economic infrastructure are
already located in, or are planning on moving to, the suburbs. The financial
(La Défense) business district, the main food wholesale market (Rungis),
major renowned schools (École Polytechnique, HEC, ESSEC, INSEAD, etc.),
world famous research laboratories (in Saclay or Évry), the largest sport
stadium (Stade de France), and some ministries (namely the Ministry of
Transportation) are located outside of the city of Paris. The National
Archives of France are due to relocate to the northern suburbs before 2010.
Districts and historical centres
Paris districts
These are a few of Paris' major districts.
* Champs-Élysées (8th arrondissement, right bank) is a seventeenth century
garden-promenade turned avenue connecting the Concorde and Arc de Triomphe.
It is one of the many tourist attractions and a major shopping street of
Paris. This avenue has been called "la plus belle avenue du monde" ("the
most beautiful avenue in the world").
* Avenue Montaigne (8th arrondissement), next to the Champs-Élysées, is home
to luxury brand labels such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Dior and
Givenchy.
* Place de la Concorde (8th arrondissement, right bank) is at the foot of
the Champs-Élysées, built as the "Place Louis XV", site of the infamous
guillotine. The Egyptian obelisk is Paris's "oldest monument". On this
place, on the two side of the Rue Royale live two identical stone buildings:
the eastern houses the French Naval Ministry, the western the luxurious
Hôtel de Crillon. Nearby Place Vendôme is famous for its fashionable and
deluxe hotels (Hotel Ritz and Hôtel de Vendôme) and its jewellers. Many
famous fashion designers have had their salons in the square.
* Faubourg Saint-Honoré (8th arrondissement, right bank) is one of Paris'
high-fashion districts, home to labels such as Hermès and Christian Lacroix.
* L'Opéra (9th arrondissement, right bank) is the area around the Opéra
Garnier is a home to the capital's densest concentration of both department
stores and offices. A few examples are the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette
grands magasins (department stores), and the Paris headquarters of financial
giants such as Crédit Lyonnais and American Express.
* Montmartre (18th arrondissement, right bank) is a historic area on the
Butte, home to the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur. Montmartre has always had a
history with artists and has many studios and cafés of many great artists in
that area.
* Les Halles (1st arrondissement, right bank) was formerly Paris' central
meat and produce market, since the late 1970s a major shopping center around
an important metro connection station (the biggest in Europe). The past Les
Halles was destroyed in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles. The
central market of Paris, the biggest wholesale food market in the world, was
transferred to Rungis, in the southern suburbs.
* Le Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements) is a trendy Right Bank district.
With large gay and Jewish populations it is a very culturally open place.
* Place de la Bastille (4th, 11th and 12th arrondissements, right bank)
being one of the most historic districts, being a location of an essential
event of not only Paris, but the whole country of France. Because of its
historical value the square is often used for political demonstrations,
including the massive anti-CPE demonstration of March 28, 2006.
* Quartier Latin (5th and 6th arrondissements, left bank) is a twelfth
century scholastic centre formerly stretching between the Left Bank's Place
Maubert and the Sorbonne campus. It is known for its lively atmosphere and
many bistros. With various higher education establishments, such as the
École Normale Supérieure, ParisTech and the Jussieu university campus make
it a major educational center in Paris, which also contributes to its
atmosphere.
* Montparnasse (14th arrondissement) is a historic Left Bank area famous for
artists studios, music halls, and café life. The large Montparnasse -
Bienvenüe métro station and the lone Tour Montparnasse skyscraper are
located there.
* La Défense (straddling the communes of Courbevoie, Puteaux, and Nanterre,
2.5 km/1.5 miles west of the City of Paris) is a key suburb of Paris and is
one of the largest business centres in the world. Built at the western end
of a westward extension of Paris' historical axis from the Champs-Élysées,
La Défense consists mainly of business highrises. Initiated by the French
government in 1958, the district hosts 3.5 million m² of offices, making of
it the largest district in Europe specifically developed for business. The
Grande Arche (Great Arch) of la Défense, which houses a part of the French
Transports Minister's headquarters, ends the central Esplanade around which
the district is organised.
Monuments and landmarks
Paris landmarks
Three of the most famous Parisian landmarks are the twelfth century
cathedral Notre Dame de Paris on the Île de la Cité, the nineteenth century
Eiffel Tower, and the Napoleonic Arc de Triomphe. The Eiffel Tower was a
"temporary" construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition
but the tower was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris.
It is visible from many parts of the city as are the Tour Montparnasse
skyscraper and the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on the Montmartre hill.
The Historical axis is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that
run in a roughly straight line from the city centre westwards: the line of
monuments begins with the Louvre and continues through the Tuileries
Gardens, the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe centred in the Place de
l'Étoile circus. From the 1960s the line was prolonged even further west to
the La Défense business district dominated by square-shaped triumphal Grande
Arche of its own; this district hosts most of the tallest skyscrapers in the
Paris urban area. The Invalides museum is the burial place for many great
French soldiers, including Napoleon, and the Panthéon church is where many
of France's illustrious men and women are buried. The former Conciergerie
prison held some prominent ancien régime members before their deaths during
the French Revolution. Another symbol of the Revolution are the two Statues
of Liberty located on the Île des Cygnes on the Seine and in the Luxembourg
Garden. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to
America in 1886 and now stands in New York City's harbour.
The Palais Garnier built in the later Second Empire period, houses the Paris
Opera and the Paris Opera Ballet, while the former palace of the Louvre now
houses one of the most famous museums in the world. The Sorbonne is the most
famous part of the University of Paris and is based in the centre of the
Latin Quarter. Apart from Notre Dame de Paris, there are several other
ecclesiastical masterpieces including the Gothic thirteenth century Sainte-Chapelle
palace chapel and the Église de la Madeleine.
Parks and gardens
List of parks and gardens in Paris
Two of Paris's oldest and famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden, created
from the 16th century for a palace on the banks of the Seine near the
Louvre, and the Left bank Luxembourg Garden, another formerly private garden
belonging to a chateau built for the Marie de' Medici in 1612. The Jardin
des Plantes, created by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the
cultivation of medicinal plants, was Paris' first public garden.
A few of Paris' other large gardens are Second Empire creations: the
formerly suburban parks of Montsouris, Parc des Buttes Chaumont and Parc
Monceau (formerly known as the "folie de Chartres"), were creations of
Napoleon III's engineer Jean-Charles Alphand and the landscape . You will
often see Parisians having picnics at the parks, soaking up the warm
sunshine, or simply enjoying the nature. They are peaceful escapes from the
city and are enjoyed by all ages. Another project executed under the orders
of Baron Haussmann was the re-sculpting of Paris' western Bois de Boulogne
forest-parklands; the Bois de Vincennes, to Paris' opposite eastern end,
received a similar treatment in years following.
Newer additions to Paris' park landscape are the Parc de la Villette, built
by the architect Bernard Tschumi on the location of Paris' former
slaughterhouses, and gardens being lain to Paris' periphery along the traces
of its former circular "Petite Ceinture" railway line.
Cemeteries
Paris's cemeteries were on its outskirts upon their 1804 creation. Many of
Paris's churches had their own cemeteries, but, by the late 18th century,
they were making living conditions unpleasant for nearby housing. Abolished
from 1786, all parish cemeteries contents were taken to abandoned limestone
mines outside the southern gates of then Paris, today the 14e
arrondissement's place Denfert-Rochereau. The latter are known today as the
Paris Catacombes.
Although Paris today has once again grown to surround all its former
cemeteries, these have become much-appreciated oases of quiet in a thriving
city. Many of Paris's 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.
New suburban cemeteries were created in the early 20th century: the largest
of these are the Cimetière Parisien de Saint-Ouen, the Cimetière Parisien de
Bobigny-Pantin, the Cimetière Parisien d'Ivry and the Cimetière Parisien de
Bagneux.
Culture
Entertainment
Opera
Paris' largest opera houses are the 19th century Opéra Garnier and modern
Opéra Bastille; the former tends towards the more classic ballets and
operas, and the latter provides a mixed repertoire of classic and modern.
Theatre/Concert halls
Theatre traditionally has had a large place in Parisian culture. This still
holds true today, although, perhaps strangely, many of its most popular
actors today are also stars of French television. A few of Paris' major
theatres are Bobino, Théatre Mogador and the Théatre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse.
Some Parisian theatres also doubled as concert halls.
Many of France's greatest musical legends such as Édith Piaf, Maurice
Chevalier, Georges Brassens and Charles Aznavour found their fame in
Parisian concert halls: legendary yet still-showing examples of these are Le
Lido, Bobino, l'Olympia, la Cigale and le Splendid.
The below-mentioned Élysées-Montmartre, much reduced from its original size,
is a concert hall today. The New Morning is one of few Parisian clubs still
holding jazz concerts, but the same also specialises in 'indie' music. More
recently, the Zenith hall in Paris' La Villette quarter and a "parc-omnisports"
stadium in Bercy serve as large-scale rock concert halls.
Dancehalls/Discotheques
Guinguettes and Bals-concerts were the backbone of Parisian entertainment
before the mid-20th century. Early to mid-19th century examples were the
Moulin de la Galette guinguette and the Élysées-Montmartre and Chateau-Rouge
dancehalls-gardens. Popular orchestral fare gave way to the Parisian
accordionists of lore whose music moved the Apollo and le Java faubourg du
Temple and Belleville dance-hall crowds. Out of the clubs remaining from
this era grew the modern discothèque: Le Palace, although closed today, is
Paris' most legendary example. Today, much of the clubbing in Paris happens
in clubs like Le Queen, L'Etoile, Le Cab which are highly selective.
Electronic music oriented clubs such as Le Rex, the Batofar (a boat
converted into a club) or The Pulp are quite popular and the world's best
DJs play there.
Cinema
Parisians tend to share the same movie-going trends as many of the world's
global cities, that is to say with a dominance of Hollywood-generated film
entertainment. French cinema comes a close second, with major directors (réalisateurs)
such as Claude Lelouch, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Luc Besson, and
the more slapstick/popular genre with director Claude Zidi as an example.
European and Asian films are also widely shown and appreciated. A specialty
of Paris is its very large network of small movie theaters: on a given week
the movie fan has the choice between around 300 old or new movies from all
over the world.
Many of Paris' concert/dance halls were transformed into movie theatres when
the media became popular from the 1930s. Later most of the largest cinemas
were divided into multiple, smaller rooms: Paris' largest cinema today is by
far le Grand Rex theatre with 2800 seats, while other cinemas all have less
than 1000 seats. There is now a trend toward modern multiplexes with more
than 10 or 20 screens in the same building.
Cafés, restaurants and hotels
Cafés quickly became an integral part of French culture from their
appearance, namely from the opening of the left bank Café Procope in 1689
and the café Régence at the Palais Royal one year earlier. The cafés in the
gardens of the latter locale became quite popular through the 18th century,
and can be considered Paris' first "terrace cafés"; these would not become
widespread until sidewalks and boulevards began to appear from the mid-19th
century. Cafés are an almost obligatory stop on the way to or from work for
many Parisians, and especially during lunchtime.
Paris' culinary reputation has its base in the many origins of its
inhabitants. With the early-19th century railways and ensuing industrial
revolution came a flood of migration that brought with it all the
gastronomical diversity of France's many different regions, and maintained
through 'local speciality' restaurants catering to the tastes of people from
all. "Chez Jenny" is a typical example of a restaurant specialising in the
cuisine of the Alsace region, and "Aux Lyonnais" is another with traditional
fare originating from its city name's region. Of course migration from even
more distant climes meant an even greater culinary diversity, and today, in
addition to a great number of North African and Asian establishments, in
Paris one can find top-quality cuisine from virtually the world over.
Hotels were another result of widespread travel and tourism, especially
Paris' late-19th century Expositions Universelles (World's Fairs). Of the
most luxurious of these, the Hôtel Ritz appeared in the Place Vendôme from
1898, and the Hôtel de Crillon opened its doors on the north side of the
place de la Concorde from 1909.
Tourism
List of museums in Paris
Paris had always been a destination for traders, students and those on
religious pilgrimages, but its 'tourism' in the proper sense of the term
began on a large scale only with the appearance of rail travel, namely from
state organisation of France's rail network from 1848. One of Paris' first
'mass' attractions drawing international interest were, from 1855, the
above-mentioned Expositions Universelles that would bring Paris many new
monuments, namely the Eiffel tower from 1889. These, in addition to the
Capital's 2nd Empire embellishments, did much to make the city itself the
attraction it is today.
Paris' museums and monuments are by far its highest-esteemed attractions,
and tourist interest has been nothing but a benefit to these; tourism has
even motivated both city and State to create new ones. The city's most
prized museum, the Louvre, sees over 6 million visitors a year. Paris'
cathedrals are another main attraction: its Notre-Dame cathedral and Sacré-Coeur
basilica receive 12 million and 8 million visitors respectively. The Eiffel
Tower, by far Paris' most famous monument, averages over 6 million visitors
per year. Disneyland Resort Paris is a major tourist attraction not only for
visitors to Paris, but to Europe as well, with 12.4 million visitors in
2004.
The Louvre is one of the largest and most famous museums, housing many works
of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue.
Works by Pablo Picasso and Rodin are found in Musée Picasso and Musée Rodin
respectively, while the artistic community of Montparnasse is chronicled at
the Musée du Montparnasse. Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior,
the Centre Georges Pompidou, also known as Beaubourg, houses the Musée
National d'Art Moderne. Lastly, art and artifacts from the Middle Ages and
Impressionist eras are kept in Musée Cluny and Musée d'Orsay respectively,
the former with the prised tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn.
Many of Paris' once-popular local establishments have metamorphised into a
parody of French culture, in a form catering to the tastes and expectations
of tourist capital. Le Lido, The Moulin Rouge cabaret-dancehall, for
example, are a staged dinner theatre spectacle, a dance display that was
once but one aspect of the cabaret's former atmosphere. All of the
establishment's former social or cultural elements, such as its ballrooms
and gardens, are gone today. Much of Paris' hotel, restaurant and night
entertainment trades have become heavily dependent on tourism, with results
not always positive for Parisian culture.
Sports
Paris's main sport clubs are the football club Paris Saint-Germain, the
basketball team Paris Basket Racing and the rugby union club Stade Français
Paris. The 80,000-seat Stade de France was built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup
and is used for football and rugby union, and is used annually for French
rugby team's home matches of the Six Nations Championship and sometimes for
big matches for the Stade Français rugby team. Racing Métro 92 Paris (who
now play in Rugby Pro D2) is another rugby team, which actually contested
the first ever final against Stade Français in 1892. Paris also hosted the
1900 and 1924 Olympic Games and was venue for the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World
Cups.
Although the starting point and the route of the famous Tour de France
varies each year, the final stage always finishes in Paris and since 1975,
the race has finished on the Champs-Elysées. Tennis is another popular sport
in Paris and throughout France. The French Open, held every year on the red
clay of the Roland Garros National Tennis Center near the Bois de Boulogne,
is one of the four Grand Slam events of the world professional tennis tour.
The 2006 UEFA Champions League Final between Arsenal and FC Barcelona was
played in the Stade de France. Paris will host this years' 2007 Rugby World
Cup final at Stade de France on 20 October 2007.
Economy
Economy of Paris
With a 2005 GDP of €478.7 billion[17] (US$595.3 billion),[18] the Paris
Region has one of the highest GDPs in Europe, making it an engine of the
global economy: were it a country, it would rank as the sixteenth largest
economy in the world.[19] The Paris Region is France's premier centre of
economic activity: while its population accounted for 18.7% of the total
population of metropolitan France in 2005,[20] its GDP was about 28.5% that
of metropolitan France.[17] Activity in the Paris urban area is very
diverse, unlike most of the world's metropoles that tend to 'specialise'
their industry (such as Los Angeles with entertainment industries or London
and New York with financial industries). Recently the Paris economy has been
shifting towards high value-added service industries (finance, IT services,
etc.) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics, optics, aerospace, etc.).
The Paris Region's most intense economic activity through the central Hauts-de-Seine
département and suburban La Défense business district places Paris' economic
centre to the west of the city, in a triangle between the Opéra Garnier, La
Défense and the Val de Seine. Paris' administrative borders have little
consequences on the limits of its economic activity: although most workers
commute from the suburbs to work in the city, many commute from the city to
work in the suburbs. At the 1999 census, 47.5% of the 5,089,170 people in
employment in the Paris urban area worked in the city of Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine
département, while only 31.5% worked exclusively in Paris[citation needed].
Although the Paris economy is largely dominated by services, it remains an
important manufacturing powerhouse of Europe, especially in industrial
sectors such as automobiles, aeronautics, and electronics. Over recent
decades, the local economy has moved towards high value-added activities, in
particular business services.
The 1999 census indicated that of the 5,089,170 persons employed in the
Paris urban area, 16.5% 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), with the remaining 68.1% of the
manufacturing workforce distributed among many other industries. Tourism and
tourist related services employ 6.2% of Paris' workforce, and 3.6% of all
workers within the Paris Region.[21]
Demography
Demographics within the Paris Region
(according to the INSEE 2005 estimates)
Ile-de-France départements
Areas Population
2005 est. Area
(km²) Density
(/km²) 1999-2005
pop. growth
City of Paris
(département 75) 2,153,600 105 20,433 +1.33%
Inner ring
(Petite Couronne)
(Depts. 92, 93, 94) 4,254,600 657 6,477 +5.34%
Outer ring
(Grande Couronne)
(Depts. 77, 78, 91, 95) 4,991,100 11,249 426 +4.25%
Ile-de-France
(entire région) 11,399,300 12,011 949 +4.08%
Statistical Growth (INSEE 1999 census)
Areas Population
1999 census Area
(km²) Density
(/km²) 1990-1999
pop. growth
Urban area
(Paris agglomeration) 9,644,507 2,723 3,542 +1.85%
Metro area
(Paris aire urbaine) 11,174,743 14,518 770 +2.90%
Demographics of Paris
The population of the city of Paris was 2,125,246 at the 1999 census, lower
than its historical peak of 2.9 million in 1921. The city's population loss
mirrors the experience of most other core cities in the developed world that
have not expanded their boundaries. The principal factors in the loss were a
significant decline in household size, and a dramatic outmigration of
residents to the suburbs between 1962 and 1975. Factors in the outmigration
included de-industrialisation, high rent, the gentrification of many inner
quarters, the transformation of living space into offices and improved
affluence among working families. The city's population loss was one of the
most severe among international municipalities and the largest for any that
had achieved more than 2,000,000 residents. These losses are generally seen
as a negative for the city; the city administration is trying to reverse
them with some success, as the population estimate of July 2004 shows a
population increase for the first time since 1954 reaching a total of
2,144,700 inhabitants.
Density
Paris is the most densely populated city of more than 1,000,000 population
in the Western world[citation needed]. Its density, excluding the outlying
woodland parks of Boulogne and Vincennes, was 24,448 inh. per km² (63,321
inh. per sq mile) in 1999 official census. Even including the two woodland
areas its population density was 20,164 / km² (52,224 / sq mi), the fifth
most densely populated commune in France following Le Pré-Saint-Gervais,
Vincennes, Levallois-Perret, and Saint-Mandé, all being Paris' closest
suburbs.
Paris' most sparsely populated quarters are its western and central office
and administration-charged arrondissements. The city's population is at its
densest in its north and east arrondissements; its 11th arrondissement had a
density of 40,672/km² (105,339/sq mile) in 1999, and some of the same
arrondissement's eastern quarters showed densities close to 100,000/km²
(260,000/sq mile) the same year.
The Paris agglomeration
The city of Paris is much smaller than its urban area and metropolitan area.
At present, the city's urban area (agglomeration) fills a ring of Paris'
three neighbouring départements - also known as petite couronne ("small
ring") - and extends into an "outer ring" of four grande couronne
départements beyond. These eight départements together complete the
Île-de-France région.
The Paris agglomeration or urban area (unité urbaine) covers 2,723 km²
(1,051.4 mi²),[22] or about 26 times larger than the city of Paris. Beyond
this, the couronne peri-urbaine commuter belt region reaches well beyond the
limits of the Île-de-France région, and combined with the Paris
agglomeration, completes a metropolitan area (aire urbaine) covering 14,518
km² (5,605.5 mi²)[citation needed], or an area about 138 times that of Paris
itself.
The Paris agglomeration has shown a steady rate of growth since the end of
the late 16th century French Wars of Religion, save brief setbacks during
the French Revolution and World War II[citation needed]. Suburban
development has accelerated in recent years, as with an estimated total of
11.4 million inhabitants for 2005, the Île-de-France région shows a rate of
growth double that of the 1990s.[23][24]
Immigration
French censuses, by law, ask no questions regarding ethnicity or religion,
but do gather information concerning country of birth. From this it is still
possible to determine that the Paris metropolitan area is one of the most
multi-cultural in Europe: at the 1999 census, 19.4% of its total population
was born outside of metropolitan France.[25] At the same census, 4.2% of the
Paris metropolitan area's population were recent immigrants (i.e people who
migrated to France between the 1990 and 1999 censuses),[26] in their
majority from mainland China and Africa.[27]
The first wave of international migration to Paris started as early as in
1820 with the arrivals of German peasants fleeing the agricultural crisis in
Germany. Several waves of immigration followed continuously until today:
Italians and central European Jews during the 19th century; Russians after
the revolution of 1917; colonial citizens during World War I and later;
Poles between the two world wars; Spaniards, Portuguese and North Africans
from the 1950s to the 1970s; North African Jews after the independence of
those countries; Africans and Asians since then.[28] The majority of these
today are naturalised French without any distinction, in the name of the
French Republic principle of equality among its citizens.
Administration
Capital of France
Paris is the capital of France, and therefore is the seat of France's
national government.
For the executive, the two chief officers each have their own official
residences, which also serve as their offices. President of the Republic
resides at the Elysée Palace in the VIIIe arrondissement, while the Prime
Minister's seat is at the Hôtel Matignon in the VIIe arrondissement.
Government ministries are located in various parts of the city - many are
located in the VIIe, near the Matignon.
The two houses of the French Parliament are also located on the Left Bank.
The upper house, the Senate, meets in the Palais du Luxembourg in the VIe
arrondissement, while the more important lower house, the Assemblée
Nationale, meets in the Palais Bourbon in the VIIe. The President of the
Senate, the second highest public official in France after the President of
the Republic, resides in the "Petit Luxembourg", a smaller palace annex to
the Palais du Luxembourg.
France's highest courts are located in Paris. The Court of Cassation, the
highest court in the judicial order, which tries most criminal and civil
cases, is located in the Palais de Justice on the Ile de la Cité, while the
Conseil d'État, which provides legal advice to the executive and acts as the
highest court in the administrative order, judging litigation against public
bodies, is located in the Palais Royal in the Ier.
The Constitutional Council, which is an advisory body which is the ultimate
authority on the constitutionality of laws and government decrees, also
meets in the Palais Royal.
City government
Paris has been a commune (municipality) since 1834 (and also briefly between
1790 and 1795). At the 1790 division (during the French Revolution) of
France into communes, and again in 1834, Paris was a city only half its
modern size, but in 1860 it annexed bordering communes, some entirely, to
create the new administrative map of twenty municipal arrondissements the
city still has today. These municipal subdivisions describe a clockwise
spiral outward from its most central first arrondissement.
In 1790, Paris became the préfecture (seat) of the Seine département, which
covered much of the Paris region. In 1968, it was split into four smaller
ones: the city of Paris became a distinct département of its own, retaining
the Seine's departmental number of 75 (originating from the Seine
département's position in France's alphabetical list), while three new
départements of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne were
created and given the numbers 92, 93 and 94 respectively. The result of this
division is that today Paris's limits as a département are exactly those of
its limits as a commune, a situation unique in France.
Municipal offices
Each of Paris's 20 arrondissements has a directly-elected council (conseil
d'arrondissement), which in turn elects an arrondissement mayor. A selection
of members from each arrondissement council form the Council of Paris (conseil
de Paris), which in turn elects the mayor of Paris.
In medieval times Paris was governed by a merchant-elected municipality
whose head was the provost of the merchants: in addition to regulating city
commerce, the provost of the merchants was responsible for some civic duties
such as the guarding of city walls and the cleanliness of city streets. The
creation of the provost of Paris from the 13th century diminished the
merchant Provost's responsibilities and powers considerably: a direct
representative of the king, in a role resembling somewhat the préfet of
later years, the Provost of Paris oversaw the application and execution of
law and order in the city and its surrounding prévôté (county). Many
functions from both provost offices were transferred to the office of the
crown-appointed lieutenant general of police upon its creation in 1667.
Paris' last Prévôt des marchands was assassinated the afternoon of the 14th
of July 1789 uprising that was the French Revolution Storming of the
Bastille. Paris became an official "commune" from the creation of the
administrative division on December 14 the same year, and its provisional
"Paris commune" revolutionary municipality was replaced with the city's
first municipal constitution and government from October 9, 1790.[29]
Through the turmoil of the 1794 Thermidorian Reaction, it became apparent
that revolutionary Paris's political independence was a threat to any
governing power: the office of mayor was abolished the same year, and its
municipal council one year later.
Although the municipal council was recreated in 1834, Paris spent most of
the 19th and 20th centuries, along with the larger Seine département of
which it was a centre, under the direct control of the State-appointed
préfet of the Seine, in charge of general affairs there; the state-appointed
Prefect of Police was in charge of police in the same jurisdiction. Paris,
save for a few brief occasions, would have no mayor until 1977, and the
Paris Prefecture of Police is still under state control today.
Despite its double existence as commune and département, Paris has a unique
council to governing both; the Council of Paris, presided by the mayor of
Paris, meets either as a municipal council (conseil municipal) or as a
departmental council (conseil général) depending on the issue to be debated.
Paris' modern administrative organisation still retains some traces of the
former Seine département jurisdiction. The Prefecture of Police (also
directing Paris' fire brigades), for example, has still a jurisdiction
extending to Paris' petite couronne of bordering three départements for some
operations such as fire protection or rescue operations, and is still
directed by France's national government. Paris has no municipal police
force, although it does have its own brigade of traffic wardens.
Capital of the Île-de-France région
As part of a 1961 nation-wide administrative effort to consolidate regional
economies, Paris as a département became the capital of the new région of
the District of Paris, renamed the Île-de-France région in 1976. It
encompasses the Paris département and its seven closest départements. Its
regional council members, since 1986, have been chosen by direct elections.
The prefect of the Paris département (who served as the prefect of the Seine
département before 1968) is also prefect of the Île-de-France région,
although the office lost much of its power following the creation of the
office of mayor of Paris in 1977.
Intercommunality
Few of the above changes have taken into account Paris's existence as an
agglomeration. Unlike in most of France's major urban areas such as Lille
and Lyon, there is no intercommunal entity in the Paris urban area, no
intercommunal council treating the problems of the region's dense urban core
as a whole; Paris's alienation of its suburbs is indeed a problem today, and
considered by many to be the main causes of civil unrest such as suburban
riots in 2005. A direct result of these unfortunate events were propositions
for a more efficient metropolitan structure to cover the city of Paris and
some of the suburbs, ranging from a socialist idea of a loose "metropolitan
conference" (conférence métropolitaine) to the right-wing idea of a more
integrated Grand Paris ("Greater Paris").
Education
Emperor Charlemagne from the early 9th century mandated all churches to give
lessons in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to their parishes, and
cathedrals a higher education in the finer arts of language, physics, music
and theology. It was from then that Paris, already one of France's major
cathedral towns, began its rise to fame as a scholastic centre. By the early
13th century the île de la Cité Notre-Dame cathedral school had many famous
teachers, and the controversial teachings of some of these was behind the
creation of a separate Left-Bank Sainte-Genevieve University that would be
the centre of Paris' scholastic Latin quarter best represented by the
Sorbonne university.
Twelve centuries later, education in Paris and the Paris region
(Île-de-France région) employs approximately 330,000 persons, 170,000 of
whom are teachers and professors teaching approximately 2.9 million children
and students in around 9,000 primary, secondary, and higher education
schools and institutions.[30]
Primary and secondary education
Paris is home to several of France's most prestigious high-schools such as
Lycée Louis-le-Grand and Lycée Henri IV. Other high-schools of international
renown in the Paris area include the Lycée International de Saint
Germain-en-Laye and the Ecole Active Bilingue
Higher education
As of the academic year 2004-2005, the Paris Region's 17 public
universities, with its 359,749 registered students,[31] is the largest
concentration of university students in Europe.[32] The Paris Region's
prestigious grandes écoles and scores of university-independent private and
public schools have an additional 240,778 registered students, that together
with the university population creates a grand total of 600,527 students in
higher education that year.[31]
Universities
Historical article: University of Paris
Paris Notre-Dame Cathedral was the first center of higher education before
the creation of the University of Paris. The universitas, a corporation
status granting teachers (and their students) the right to rule themselves
independently from crown law and taxes, was chartered by King Philip
Augustus in 1200. Many classes then were held in open air. Non-Parisian
students and teachers would stay in hostels, or "colleges", created for the
boursiers coming from afar. Already famous by the 13th century, the
University of Paris had students from all of Europe. Paris's Rive Gauche
scholastic centre, or "Latin Quarter" as classes were taught in Latin then,
would eventually regroup around the college created by Robert de Sorbon from
1257, the Collège de Sorbonne. The University of Paris in the 19th century
had six faculties: law, science, medicine, pharmaceutical studies,
literature and theology.
The 1968 student riots in Paris, in an effort to disperse the centralised
student body, resulted in a near total reform of the University of Paris.
The following year, the formerly unique University of Paris was split
between thirteen autonomous universities ("Paris I" to "Paris XIII") located
throughout the City of Paris and its suburbs. Each of these universities
inherited only some of the departments of the old University of Paris, and
are not generalist universities. Paris I, II, V and X, inherited the Law
School; Paris V inherited the School of Medicine as well; Paris VI and VII
inherited the scientific departments; etc.
In 1991, four more universities were created in the suburbs of Paris,
reaching a total of seventeen public universities for the Paris
(Île-de-France) région. These new universities were given names (based on
the name of the suburb in which they are located) and not numbers like the
previous thirteen: University of Cergy-Pontoise, University of Évry-Val
d'Essonne, University of Marne-la-Vallée and University of Versailles
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
In Paris there is also the english-speaking Westminster Centre for
International Studies, department of London's University of Westminster, as
well as the The American University of Paris, a private higher education
institution; and the The American Business School of Paris.
Grandes écoles
The Paris region hosts France's highest concentration of grandes écoles, or
prestigious centres of higher specialised education outside the public
university structure. Note that the prestigious public universities are
usually considered grands établissements. Most of the grandes écoles were
relocated to the suburbs of Paris in the 1960s and 1970s, in new campuses
much larger than the old campuses within the crowded City of Paris, though
the École Normale Supérieure has remained on rue d'Ulm in the Ve
arrondissement. The Paris area has a high number of engineering schools, led
by the prestigious Paris Institute of Technology (ParisTech) which is
composed of several colleges such as the famous École Polytechnique, École
des Mines, Télécom Paris, and École des Ponts et Chaussées, forming future
actors of France's engineering and industry. Business schools are also many,
including world-famous HEC, ESSEC, INSEAD, and ESCP-EAP European School of
Management. Although Paris' former elite administrative school ENA was
relocated to Strasbourg, the famous political science school Sciences-Po is
still located in Paris' Left bank VIIe arrondissement.
Classes préparatoires
Also called classes prépas or simply prépas, these "prep" schools are a two
or three year preparation leading to the grandes écoles (see above). Many of
the best prépas are located in Paris. Key examples include Lycée privé
Sainte-Geneviève, Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Lycée Henri IV, Lycée Hoche and
Lycée Saint-Louis. Student selection is based on the school grades and the
teacher remarks. Prépas attract most of the best students in France and are
known to be very demanding in terms of work load and psychological stress.
See also: Classes Préparatoires
Infrastructure
Transport
Paris's role as a centre of international trade and tourism has brought its
transportation system many embellishments over the past centuries, and its
development is still progressing at a rapid pace today. Only in the past few
decades Paris has become the center of an autoroute system, high-speed train
network and, through its two major airports, a hub of international air
travel.
The public transit networks of the Paris region are coordinated by the
Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France[33] (STIF), formerly Syndicat des
transports parisiens (STP). Members of the syndicate include the RATP, which
operates the Parisian and some suburban buses, the Métro, and sections of
the RER; the SNCF, which operates the suburban rail lines and the other
sections of the RER ; and other private operators managing some suburban bus
lines.
The Métro is one of Paris' most important methods of transportation. The
system comprises 16 lines, identified by numbers from 1 to 14, with two
minor lines, 3bis and 7bis, numbered thus because they used to be branches
of their respective original lines and only later became independent. In
October 1998, the new line 14 was inaugurated after a 70-year hiatus in
inaugurating fully new métro lines.
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, in the city proper, T-3, between Pont du Garigliano and Porte d'Ivry,
along the southern inner orbital road opened for use on December 15, 2006.
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 high-speed (TGV) and
normal (Corail) trains. 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 Métro network, with 380 stations connected by 221.6 km of rails.
Because of the short distance between stations on the Métro network, lines
were too slow to be extended further in the suburbs as is the case in most
other cities. As such, an additional express network, known as the RER, has
been created since the 1960s to connect more distant parts of the
conurbation.
The city is also the hub of France's motorway network, and is surrounded by
three orbital freeways: the Périphérique which follows the approximate path
of 19th century fortifications around Paris, the A86 autoroute motorway in
the inner suburbs, and finally the Francilienne motorway, also known as the
A104 (north) and N104 (south) (and N184), in the outer suburbs. Paris has an
extensive road network with over 2000 kilometres of major roads and
highways. By road Brussels can be reached in three hours, Frankfurt in 6
hours and Barcelona in 12 hours.
Water and sanitation
Paris in its early history had only the Seine and Bièvre rivers for water.
Later forms of irrigation were: a first-century Roman aqueduct from
southerly Wissous (later left to ruin); sources from the Right bank hills
from the late 11th century; from the 15th century an aqueduct built roughly
along the path of the first; finally, from 1809, the canal de l'Ourcq began
providing Paris with water from less polluted rivers away from the Capital.
Paris would only have its first constant and plentiful source of drinkable
water from the late 19th century: from 1857, under Napoleon III's Préfet
Haussmann, the civil engineer Eugène Belgrand oversaw the construction of a
series of new aqueducts that would bring sources from distant locations to
reservoirs built in the highest points of the Capital. The new sources
became Paris' principal source of drinking water, and the remains of the old
system, pumped into lower levels of the same reservoirs, were from then
dedicated to the cleaning of Paris' streets. This system is still a major
part of Paris' modern water supply network.
Paris has over 2,400 km of underground passageways[34] dedicated to the
evacuation of Paris' liquid wastes. Most of these even today date from the
late 19th century, a result of the combined plans of the Préfet Baron
Haussmann and the civil engineer Eugène Belgrand to improve the then very
unsanitary conditions in the Capital. Maintained by a round-the-clock
service since their construction, only a small percentage of Paris' sewer
réseau has needed complete renovation. The entire Paris network of sewers
and collectors has been managed since the late 20th century by a
computerised network system, known under the acronym "G.A.AS.PAR", that
controls all of Paris' water distribution, even the flow of the river Seine
through the capital.
International relations
Paris, Banks of the Seine*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party Flag of France France
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iv
Reference 600
Region† Europe and North America
Inscription History
Inscription 1991 (15th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
† Region as classified by UNESCO.
The following places are sister cities to Paris:[35]
Twin city:
* Flag of Italy Rome, Italy, 1956 is Paris' only sister city (Seule Paris
est digne de Rome; seule Rome est digne de Paris /Solo Parigi è degna di
Roma; Solo Roma è degna di Parigi /"Only Paris is worthy of Rome; Only Rome
is worthy of Paris").
Partner cities
* Flag of Turkey Akhisar, Turkey,1988
* Flag of Algeria Algiers, Algeria, 2003
* Flag of Jordan Amman, Jordan, 1987
* Flag of Greece Athens, Greece, 2000
* Flag of People's Republic of China Beijing, China, 1997
* Flag of Lebanon Beirut, Lebanon, 1992
* Flag of Germany Berlin, Germany, 1987
* Flag of Egypt Cairo, Egypt, 1985
* Flag of United States Chicago, United States, 1996
* Flag of Switzerland Geneva, Switzerland, 2002
* Flag of Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia, 1995
* Flag of Japan Kyoto, Japan, 1958
* Flag of Portugal Lisbon, Portugal, 1998
* Flag of United Kingdom London, United Kingdom, 2001
* Flag of Spain Madrid, Spain, 2000
* Flag of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico, 1999
* Flag of Canada Montreal, Canada, 1993
* Flag of Russia Moscow, Russia, 1992
* Flag of Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic, 1997
* Flag of Pakistan Islamabad, Pakistan
* Flag of Canada Quebec City, Canada, 1996
* Flag of Saudi Arabia Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1997
* Flag of Russia Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1997
* Flag of Yemen Sanaa, Yemen, 1987
* Flag of Brazil São Paulo, Brazil, 2004
* Flag of United States San Francisco, United States, 1996
* Flag of Chile Santiago, Chile, 1997
* Flag of South Korea Seoul, South Korea, 1991
* Flag of Bulgaria Sofia, Bulgaria, 1998
* Flag of Australia Sydney, Australia, 1998
* Flag of Georgia (country) Tbilisi, Georgia, 1997
* Flag of Japan Tokyo, Japan, 1982
* Flag of Poland Warsaw, Poland, 1999
* Flag of United States Washington, D.C., United States, 2000
* Flag of Armenia Yerevan, Armenia, 1998
Other:
* Flag of United Kingdom Whitwell, Rutland, United Kingdom claims to be
twinned with Paris[citation needed].
References
1. ^ a b Excluding Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes
2. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Estimation de population pour
certaines grandes villes". Retrieved on 2006-04-10.
3. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Population des villes et unités
urbaines de plus de 1 million d'habitants de l'Union Européenne". Retrieved
on 2006-04-10.
4. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Aire Urbaine '99 - pop totale
par sexe et age". Retrieved on 2006-04-10.
5. ^ (English) World Gazetteer. "World Metropolitan Areas". Retrieved on
2007-01-18.
6. ^ Inventory of World Cities, GaWC, Loughborough University
7. ^ Global Cities: GaWC Inventory of World Cities 1999 Global cities#GaWC
Inventory of World Cities .281999 Edition.29
8. ^ Global Cities: GaWC Inventory of World Cities 2004 Global cities#GaWC
Leading World Cities .282004 Edition.29
9. ^ DeCarlo, Scott. "The World's 2000 Largest Public Companies", Forbes,
2006-03-30. Retrieved on 2007-01-16.
10. ^ Frommers. Neighborhoods in Brief. NY Times. Retrieved on 2007-01-16.
11. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica: Character of the city (from Paris). Retrieved
on 2006-06-28.
12. ^ (French) INSEE. Le tourisme se porte mieux en 2004 (PDF). Retrieved on
2007-01-16.
13. ^ a b c (English) www.paris.culture.fr. Paris, Roman City - Chronology
(HTML). Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
14. ^ (English) www.paris.culture.fr. Paris, Roman City - The City (HTML).
Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
15. ^ (French) La Petite Gazette Généalogique, Amicale Genealogie. "Le
Cholera". Retrieved on 2006-04-10.
16. ^ a b (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Géographie de la capitale -
Le climat" (HTML). Retrieved on 2006-05-24.
17. ^ a b (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Produits intérieurs bruts
régionaux en valeur de 1990 à 2005" (XLS). Retrieved on 2006-09-12.
18. ^ At real exchange rates, not at PPP
19. ^ (English) "Total GDP 2005" (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-09-12.
20. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Estimations de la population
des régions au 1er janvier ". Retrieved on 2006-09-12.
21. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Les emplois dans les activités
liées au tourisme: un sur quatre en Ile-de-France" (PDF). Retrieved on
2006-04-10.
22. ^ (French) "Chiffres-Clefs - Unité Urbaine - Paris" (HTML). Retrieved on
2006-05-28.
23. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Enquêtes annuelles de
recensement 2004 et 2005" (PDF). Retrieved on 2006-04-10.
24. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Enquêtes annuelles de
recensement: premiers résultats de la collecte 2004" (PDF). Retrieved on
2006-04-10.
25. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Aire urbaine 99 : Paris -
Migrations (caractère socio-économique selon le lieu de naissance)".
Retrieved on 2006-07-06.
26. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Aire urbaine 99 : Paris -
Migrations (caractère démographique selon le lieu de résidence au
01/01/90)". Retrieved on 2006-07-06.
27. ^ (French) INSEE, Government of France. "Flux d'immigration permanente
par motif en 2003". Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
28. ^ (French) "Histoire de l'immigration en France". Retrieved on
2006-06-25.
29. ^ (French) "Improvising a Government in Paris in July 1789" (HTML).
Retrieved on 2006-09-14.
30. ^ (French) la Préfecture de l'Île-de-France. l'enseignement (HTML).
Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
31. ^ a b (English) Paris – Île-de-France Regional Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, IAURIF, INSEE Île-de-France (2006). Paris Region : key figures
2006 (PDF format). Retrieved on 2006-07-04.
32. ^ (French) Delegation for Spatial Planning and Regional Action (Datar)
(2006). Les villes européennes – Analyse comparative (page 42) (PDF format).
Retrieved on 2006-07-04.
33. ^ (French) Syndicat des Transports d'Ile-de-France, (STIF). "Le web des
voyageurs franciliens". Retrieved on 2006-04-10.
34. ^ (French) "Les égouts parisiens". Retrieved on 2006-05-15.
35. ^ (English) www.paris.fr. International relations : special partners
(HTML). Retrieved on 2006-10-25.
Bibliography
History
* (French) Favier, Jean (April 23, 1997). Paris. Fayard. ISBN 2-213-59874-6.
* (French) Hillairet, Jacques (April 22, 2005). Connaissance du Vieux Paris.
Rivages. ISBN 2-86930-648-2.
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