Facts about Paris

After the Normandy invasion, Paris waited for liberation.

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.

Known as boatsmen and traders, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, the Parisii, settled the area near the river Seine from around B.C.E.

Each of these universities inherited only some of the departments of the old University of Paris, and are not generalist universities.

Paris has several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130 metres (426 ft) above sea level.

A selection of members from each arrondissement council form the Council of Paris (conseil de Paris), which in turn elects the mayor of Paris.

Paris' cathedrals are another main attraction: its Notre-Dame cathedral and Sacrй-Coeur basilica annually receive 12 million and eight million visitors respectively.

The University of Paris in the nineteenth century had six faculties: law, science, medicine, pharmaceutical studies, literature and theology.

A permanent Roman settlement began towards the end of the same century on Paris' Rive Gauche (Left Bank), Sainte Geneviиve Hill and Оle de la Citй island.

Apart from Notre Dame de Paris, there are several other ecclesiastical masterpieces including the Gothic thirteenth century Sainte-Chapelle palace chapel and the Йglise de la Madeleine.

The Paris Region is France's premier centre of economic activity.

Paris in its early history drew its water from the Seine and Biиvre rivers.

Many of Paris' once-popular local establishments have metamorphosed into a parody of French culture, in a form that caters to the tastes and expectations of foreign tourists.

The Paris region (Оle-de-France) is France's foremost centre of economic activity.

Paris' first 'mass' attractions, drawing international attention, were the Expositions Universelles, the first of which was held in 1855, and which inspired the construction of many new monuments, such as the Eiffel tower (1889).

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.

Paris' culinary reputation has its base in the many origins of its inhabitants.

Maintained by a round-the-clock service since their construction, only a small percentage of Paris' sewer rйseau has needed complete renovation.

Paris' cemeteries were on located on its outskirts in 1804.

Paris Notre-Dame Cathedral was the first center of higher education before the creation of the University of Paris.

Paris, excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, covers an oval measuring 86.928 square kilometres (33.56 miІ) in area.

After capturing the city from the Catholic party, King Henry IV of France re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594.

In 1204, after Western crusaders sacked Constantinople, Venice won nominal control over central and southern Albania and the Epirus region of northern Greece and took possession of Durrлs.

The Paris agglomeration has shown a steady rate of growth since the end of the late sixteenth-century French Wars of Religion, except for brief setbacks during the French Revolution and World War II.

Paris is the capital city of France, situated on the River Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Оle-de-France region ("Rйgion parisienne").

A few of Paris' major theaters are Bobino, Thйвtre Mogador and the Thйвtre de la Gaоtй-Montparnasse.

Many of Paris's historical figures have found rest in Pиre Lachaise Cemetery.

Other notable cemeteries include Cimetiиre de Montmartre, Cimetiиre du Montparnasse, Cimetiиre de Passy and the Catacombs of Paris.

The New Morning is one of few Parisian clubs still holding jazz concerts, but also specializes in 'indie' music.

Hotels were another result of widespread travel and tourism, especially Paris' late-nineteenth century Expositions Universelles (World's Fairs).

Today, much of the clubbing in Paris happens in clubs like Le Queen, L'Etoile, and Le Cab which are highly selective.

Already famous by the thirteenth century, the University of Paris had students from all of Europe.

On the death of Clovis, the Frankish kingdom was divided, and Paris became the capital of a much smaller sovereign state.

Paris hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup final at Stade de France.

The Paris region has one of the highest GDPs in Europe, making it an engine of the global economy.

A specialty of Paris is its very large network of small movie theaters: during any week the movie fan has a choice of approximately three hundred old and new movies from all over the world.

In 1991, four more universities were created in the suburbs of Paris, reaching a total of 17 public universities for the Paris (Оle-de-France) rйgion.

Paris' museums and monuments are its most sought-after attractions, and increasing tourism has motivated both city and State to create new ones.

Paris has no municipal police force, although it does have its own brigade of traffic wardens.

Like many of the world’s city-dwellers, Parisians movie-goers favor Hollywood-generated film entertainment.

During the post-war era, Paris experienced its largest development since the end of the Belle Йpoque in 1914.

Three of the most famous Parisian landmarks are the twelfth century cathedral Notre Dame de Paris on the Оle de la Citй, the nineteenth century Eiffel Tower, and the Napoleonic Arc de Triomphe.

Paris is also considered to be the capital of the (EMEA) region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) with more EMEA headquarters than any other European city.

Each of Paris's 20 arrondissements has a directly-elected council (conseil d'arrondissement), which in turn elects an arrondissement mayor.

German General von Choltitz refused to carry out Hitler's order that all Parisian monuments be destroyed before any German retreat.

All parish cemeteries were abolished from 1786, and their contents were taken to abandoned limestone mines outside the southern gates of Paris, today the 14e arrondissement's place Denfert-Rochereau.

During World War I, Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having been spared from German invasion by the French and British victory at the First Battle of the Marne in 1914.

Paris, save for a few brief occasions, had no mayor until 1977, and the Paris Prefecture of Police is still under state control today.

Few of the above changes have taken into account Paris's existence as an agglomeration.

Paris' most sparsely populated quarters are its western and central office and administration arrondissements.

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.

Central Paris endured World War II practically unscathed, as it contained no strategic targets for bombers; the train stations in central Paris are terminal stations, and major factories were located in the suburbs.

Parisians are often pejoratively called Parigots () by those living outside the Paris Region, but this is a term sometimes considered endearing by Parisians themselves.

The public transit networks of the Paris region are coordinated by the Syndicat des transports d'Оle-de-France (STIF), formerly Syndicat des transports parisiens (STP).

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.

Paris's Rive Gauche scholastic center, or "Latin Quarter" as classes were taught in Latin then, would eventually regroup around the college created by Robert de Sorbon from 1257, the Collиge de Sorbonne.

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.

Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic League, during the French Wars of Religion, which culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572).

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.

The Counts of Paris gradually rose to prominence and eventually wielded greater power than the Kings of Francia occidentalis.

Out of the clubs remaining from this era grew the modern discothиque: Le Palace, although closed today, is Paris' most legendary example.

You will often see Parisians having picnics at the parks, soaking up the warm sunshine, or simply enjoying nature.

Paris’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.

Paris has an extensive road network with over 2000 kilometres of major roads and highways.

Paris has over 2,400 km of underground passageways dedicated to the evacuation of Paris' liquid wastes.

The Sorbonne is the most famous part of the University of Paris and is based in the centre of the Latin Quarter.

The city reclaimed its original "Paris" appellation towards the end of the Roman occupation.

From 1190, King Philip II of France (Philip Augustus) enclosed Paris on both banks by building a wall with the Louvre as its western fortress.

In 987 C.E., Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected King of France, founding the Capetian dynasty which raised Paris to become France's capital.

The Eiffel Tower, by far Paris' most famous monument, averages over 6 million visitors per year.

In 1790, Prince Nikolaus died and was succeeded by a thoroughly unmusical prince who dismissed the entire musical establishment and put Haydn on a pension.

Paris's inhabitants are known in English as "Parisians" ( or ) and as Parisiens in French.

Disneyland Resort Paris is a major tourist attraction, not only for visitors to Paris, but for Parisians themselves, with 12.4 million visitors in 2004.

The Paris region hosts France's highest concentration of grandes йcoles, or prestigious centers of higher specialized education outside the public university structure.

More recently, the Zenith hall in Paris' La Villette quarter and a "parc-omnisports" stadium in Bercy serve as large-scale rock concert halls.

Paris has an average annual precipitation of 652 mm (25.7 in), and experiences light rainfall distributed evenly throughout the year.

By the time of the Carolingian dynasty in the ninth century, Paris was little more than a feudal county stronghold.

Cafйs are an almost obligatory stop on the way to or from work for many Parisians, and especially during lunchtime.

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.

Around 500 C.E., 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 Geneviиve.

A century later, Paris became the center of the French Revolution, with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the overthrow of the monarchy in 1792.

Paris recovered from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of the late nineteenth century.

The name Paris, pronounced in English and in French, derives from that of its pre-Roman-era inhabitants, the Gaulish tribe known as the Parisii.

The Paris region has recently seen temperatures reaching both extremes, with the European heat wave of 2003 and the European cold wave of 2006.

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-nineteenth century to allow for higher constructions.

Paris is the most densely populated city of more than 1,000,000 in the Western world.

Odo, Count of Paris was elected king in place of the incumbent Charles the Fat, because of the fame he acquired in his defense of Paris during the Viking siege (Siege of Paris, 885-886).

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.

The first line of the Paris Mйtro opened for the [[Exposition Universelle (1900) and was an attraction in itself for visitors from the world over.

Paris' last Prйvфt des marchands was assassinated the afternoon of July 14, 1789, during the French Revolution Storming of the Bastille.

The Industrial Revolution, the French Second Empire, and the Belle Йpoque brought Paris the greatest development in its history.

Many of Paris' concert and dance halls were transformed into movie theatres when the media became popular starting in the 1930s.

The result of this division is that today Paris's limits as a dйpartement are exactly those of its limits as a commune, a situation unique in France.

The Roman westward campaigns had conquered the Paris basin in 52 B.C.E.

Many of Paris' hotel, restaurant and nighttime entertainment businesses have become heavily dependent on tourism, with sometimes detrimental results for Parisian culture.

Paris is a central hub of the national rail network of high-speed (TGV) and normal (Corail) trains.

Non-Parisian students and teachers would stay in hostels, or "colleges," created for the boursiers coming from afar.

Paris has been a commune (municipality) since 1834 (and also briefly between 1790 and 1795).

Guinguettes and Bals-concerts were the backbone of Parisian entertainment before the middle of the twentieth century.

Paris has an oceanic climate and is affected by the North Atlantic Drift, so the city has a temperate climate that rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures.

Paris' administrative borders have little effect on 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.

Paris's World's Fairs helped to establish the city as a tourist destination and an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.

Tennis is another popular sport in Paris and throughout France.

Paris's main sport clubs are the football club Paris Saint-Germain, the basketball team Paris Basket Racing and the rugby union club Stade Franзais Paris.

Paris is located on a north-bending arc of the River Seine and includes two islands, the Оle Saint-Louis and the larger Оle de la Citй which forms the oldest part of the city.

Paris also hosts many international organizations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the ICC, and the informal Paris Club.

Paris' modern administrative organization still retains some traces of the former Seine dйpartement jurisdiction.

Paris also hosted the 1900 and 1924 Olympic Games, and was venue for the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups.

The Mйtro is one of Paris' most important methods of transportation.

Some Parisian theaters also doubled as concert halls.

The Paris agglomeration or urban area (unitй urbaine) covers 2,723 kmІ (1,051.4 miІ), or an area about 26 times larger than the city of Paris.

Many of Paris' institutions and economic infrastructure are already located in, or are planning on moving to, the suburbs.

Paris is the capital of France, and therefore is the seat of France's national government.

The following year, the formerly unique University of Paris was split between 13 autonomous universities ("Paris I" to "Paris XIII") located throughout the City of Paris and its suburbs.

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.

Racing Mйtro 92 Paris (who now play in Rugby Pro D2) is another rugby team, which actually contested the first ever final against Stade Franзais in 1892.

From this it is still possible to determine that the Paris metropolitan area is one of the most multi-cultural in Europe: Over 20 percent were born outside France.

The city of Paris is much smaller than its urban area and metropolitan area.

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 dedicated to the cleaning of Paris' streets.

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.

The earliest signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 B.C.E.

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.

The first wave of international migration to Paris started as early as 1820 with the arrival of German peasants fleeing the agricultural crisis in Germany.

From the 1840s, rail transport allowed an unprecedented flow of migrants into Paris, attracted by employment in the new industries in the suburbs.

During the “Fronde,” (1648–1653) Parisians rose in rebellion and the royal family fled the city King Louis XIV of France moved the royal court permanently to Versailles in 1682.