Paris

C

Educational and Cultural Institutions

With the exception of regional folk traditions, Paris has defined French culture to the world. Moreover, the international importance of the French language, and of French thought and action, has lent even greater significance to the expanded role of the capital. In both educational and cultural terms, the contrast between Paris and the provinces has been extremely sharp. Only very recently and very slowly has the dominance of Paris over the intellectual life of the nation been weakened. The most prestigious educational institutions of France are still concentrated in the city. Most prominent is the Sorbonne, which was founded about 1257 and evolved into the University of Paris. Beginning in 1968, in a major reform, the university was decentralized into 13 separate components. Other institutions of higher education include the Collège de France (1530), École Polytechnique (1794), Catholic Institute of Paris (1875), École du Louvre (1882), as well as medical, law, and technological schools.

The city is the centralized control point of most national radio and television broadcasting, place of publication of the most prestigious newspapers (Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération) and glossy magazines, and an international book publishing centre. The main public library, the Bibliothèque Nationale, which has more than 9 million volumes, originated in a small collection of books donated by Louis XI. The famous French Academy (founded 1635) meets in Paris, which is also the home of most of the nation's major musical and theatrical companies. Among the principal theatres are the Opéra, the Comédie Française, the Opéra Comique, and the Odeón. With more than 100 museums, Paris can boast one of the greatest concentrations of art treasures in the world. The Louvre, opened as a museum in 1793 and now with 225 galleries and some 400,000 catalogue entries, is one of the largest museums in the world. The Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges-Pompidou has, since opening in 1977, become a major tourist attraction. In 1985 the Picasso Museum opened in the restored 17th-century Hôtel Salé. It houses the world's largest collections of Picasso's work, plus his private art collection. Other major museums are the Museum of Paris (Musée Carnavalet), and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

IV

History

About the middle of the 3rd century bc the Parisii, a Celtic people, fortified the Île de la Cité, calling the site Lutetia. In 52 bc the Parisii burned their island fort and abandoned Lutetia to the Romans, who extended the town to the left bank of the Seine, where they built baths, a forum, and laid the grid for many Parisian streets. In Roman Gaul, Lutetia, which became known as Civitas Parisiorum, or Paris, remained a relatively unimportant city. According to a medieval tradition, Christianity was introduced by St Denis, the city's first bishop, about the middle of the 3rd century ad. Another legend says that St Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, inspired the city's defence against the Huns in ad 451.

A

The Medieval Period

Invading Germanic peoples ended Rome's control of Paris, and in 508 the city welcomed the rule of the Frankish King Clovis I. Clovis's successors did not reside in Paris, but after the Viking raids of the 9th century the Capetian kings made Paris the capital of France and rebuilt the city. Notre Dame (1163), Sainte Chapelle (1248), and a royal palace (1301) were built on the Cité, making this island the true heart of France. Philip II Augustus erected a wall around the right bank in 1190 and a rampart enclosing the left bank in 1210. Philip's charter for the University of Paris identified the three parts of medieval Paris: the Cité, the town (ville) on the right bank, and the university on the left bank. A royal provost, ensconced in the Châtelet, ruled Paris for the king; a provost of merchants, residing in the Hôtel de Ville, ruled the markets for the guilds. To protect Paris from the English, Charles V rebuilt the left bank wall and in 1370 added a new wall (now traced by the grands boulevards) on the right bank. This wall extended Paris to the west beyond the Louvre and defended its eastern flank with a fortress known as the Bastille. During the turmoil of the Hundred Years' War with England, the Parisians repeatedly rebelled against royal authority, and the English controlled the city from 1422 to 1439. Peace and prosperity were restored in the second half of the 15th century.

B

The Emergence of Modern Paris

In the 16th century Francis I renovated the Louvre and built the new Hôtel de Ville. Religious strife between Roman Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) halted this urban renaissance. Paris was a Roman Catholic stronghold; thousands of Huguenots were killed in the city during the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572). Not until 1594, when the new Bourbon king, Henry IV, entered Paris, did peace return. The Bourbon kings imposed classical architecture and absolutist rule on Paris. Squares such as the Place des Vosges, new bridges such as the Pont Neuf, and the Luxembourg Palace signalled the Bourbon dynasty's commitment to make Paris the new Rome. Louis XIV improved city services by illuminating Paris at night, modernizing the water supply, and building the Invalides and Salpêtrière hospitals; his successor, Louis XV, laid out the magnificent Place de la Concorde.

The people of Paris rebelled against Henry III (1588) and Louis XIV (1648), and when the French Revolution broke out in 1789, they led the way in overthrowing the monarchy and establishing the first French Republic. During the Revolution and under Napoleon the dominance of Paris over the rest of the country increased. The city remained politically turbulent during the 19th century. For defensive purposes a new wall (now the Boulevard Périphérique) was built in 1844. Starting in 1852, Emperor Napoleon III, aided by his prefect of the Seine, Georges Eugène Haussmann, radically transformed Paris. New parks at Boulogne and Vincennes graced the western and eastern edges of the city, and new wide boulevards afforded easy access to central Paris. The Opéra and the École des Beaux-Arts epitomized the style of this period. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and the revolt of the Paris Commune interrupted this rebuilding of the city. The Prussians inflicted minor damage, but the Communards burned much of central Paris; 20,000 Parisians died in 1871 defending the city against the troops of the Third Republic. To atone for the Commune's revolt the church of Sacré Coeur was built on Montmartre. Between 1871 and 1914 Paris gloried in the belle époque style exemplified today in the Gare de Lyon, the Pont Alexandre III, and the Métropolitain underground stations.

C

The Modern City

World War I marked the beginning of a period of urban decay for Paris. A burgeoning population depleted city services. Housing never kept pace with demand, and the political strikes of the 1930s weakened the Third Republic's pledge to improve conditions. Under the German occupation of World War II, Paris endured much hardship but little damage. In the post-war period the Fourth and Fifth republics have failed to check urban growth or to provide enough housing, despite massive developments around the periphery of the city and in the suburbs. Urban renewal projects in the 1980s included the refurbishing of the Louvre and the construction of a modern opera house at the Place de la Bastille.