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For other uses of "Paris", see Paris (disambiguation).

Ville de Paris

(City flag) (City coat of arms)
City motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves but does not founder)
Administration
Subdivisions	20 arrondissements
Département	Paris (75)
Région	Île-de-France
Present Mayor	Bertrand Delanoë (PS)
Geographical Characteristics
Area	105.397 km² 1 86.928 km² 2
Population   City proper   Urban area (unité urbaine)   Metro area (aire urbaine)	2,144,700 (1999) 9,643,880 (1999) 11,505,000 (1999)
Intercommunality	None yet
Density (City proper)	24,450/km² 2 (1999)
Coordinates   Latitude   Longitude	48°52′00″ 2°19′59″
Time Zone	CET (UTC +1)
Twin city	Rome (Italy)
Notes
1 Including Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes 2 Excluding Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes

Paris is the capital and largest city of France. Straddling the river Seine in the country's north, it is a major global cultural and political centre in addition to being the world's most visited city.

Nicknamed "the City of Light" (la Ville Lumière) since lighting its main boulevards with gas street lamps in 1828, the city of Paris also has a reputation as a "romantic" city and the "heart of Europe". The most recognisable symbol of Paris is the 324 metre (1,063 ft) brown metal Eiffel Tower located on the banks of the Seine. Paris is also internationally renowned for its defining neoclassical architecture and its influence in fashion and the arts.

As one of the main cultural and political centers in Europe since the early Middle Ages, Paris contains many vestiges from its past including numerous art galleries, museums and theatres. More recently, it has grown into a significant centre of international trade with ever-growing modern business districts, including La Défense, which forms a secondary city centre. Paris hosts the headquarters of many international trade and social organisations, including the OECD and UNESCO in addition to the head offices of nearly half of all French companies and offices of many major international firms.

The population of Paris city proper was estimated at 2,144,700 inhabitants in 2004^[1], but during the last century the city has grown well beyond its administrative boundaries. According to the INSEE, the body issuing official statistics in France, the population of Paris urban area (the contiguous built-up area) was estimated at 10.1 million people in 2005. The population of Paris metropolitan area (also including satellite cities) was estimated at 11.6 million people in 2005. The Île-de-France région, of which Paris is the capital, produces over a quarter of France's wealth, with a GDP of nearly €450 billion ^[2].

Today Paris is one of the world's major transport destinations, because of its financial, cultural, political, and tourism activities. It is often listed as one of the four major global cities along with New York, London and Tokyo.

Contents 1 Name 1.1 People 2 Geography 2.1 Coordinates 2.2 Area 2.3 Altitude 2.4 Temperatures 3 History 3.1 Origins 3.2 Middle Ages 3.3 Nineteenth century 3.4 World Wars' Years 3.5 Modern Era 3.6 The future: muséification? 4 Demographics 4.1 Density 4.2 Population Growth 4.3 Immigration 5 Economy 5.1 Size 5.2 Economic sectors 6 Administration 6.1 Paris as a commune 6.2 Paris as a département 6.3 Paris as the prefecture of Île-de-France 7 Transport 8 Cultural Centres and Organisations 8.1 Monuments and Landmarks 8.2 Museums 8.3 Historical Centres 8.4 Cemeteries 8.5 Parks and Gardens 8.6 Districts 8.7 Boutiques, Department Stores and Hotels 8.8 Nightlife 8.9 Sports 9 References 10 Bibliography 10.1 History 11 External links

Name

Paris is pronounced [ˈpʰæɹɪs] (RP) or [ˈpʰæɹəs] in English, and [paʀi] in French.

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

Traditionally, Paris was known as Paname (/panam/) in French slang, but this vulgar appellation is gradually losing currency. ("I'm from Paname" (help·info).)

People

The inhabitants of Paris are known as Parisians /pəˈɹiː.ʒn̩z/ in English, and as Parisiens (/paʀizjɛ̃/) in French. The pejorative term Parigot (/paʀigo/) is sometimes used in French slang.

Locally, inhabitants of the Paris suburbs are known colloquially as banlieusards (/bɑ̃ljøzaʀ/). Inhabitants of the Île-de-France région are known officially as Franciliens (/fʀɑ̃siljɛ̃/). Parisians tend to call those living outside the Paris region provinciaux (i.e. from la Province).

Geography

Coordinates

Paris is located at 48°52′00″N, 2°19′59″E (48.866667, 2.333056). The city straddles a north-bending arc of the river Seine. This waterway features two inhabitated islands within the city, the Île de la Cité and the Île Saint-Louis, of which the former is the larger and the Capital's heart and origin.

Area

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

The commune of Paris is the 113th largest commune in France (out of 36,782 communes). The borders of the commune were changed in 1860 when Napoleon III and the prefect Haussmann annexed the suburban communes surrounding Paris, such as Montmartre and Auteuil, more than doubling the city's area to 78 km² (30.1 mi²), and created the twenty arrondissements. The limits of Paris changed marginally after 1860, reaching the 86.9 km² figure indicated above. In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes were officially incorporated into the city of Paris.

The metropolitan urban area (unité urbaine) of Paris (the contiguous built-up area) covers 2,723 km² (1,051.4 mi²) (INSEE 1999), or about 26 times as large as the commune of Paris. The metropolitan area (aire urbaine) of Paris (the built-up area plus the commuter belt) reaches beyond the surrounding Île-de-France administative région to cover 14,518 km² (5,605.5 mi²) (INSEE 1999), or about 138 times as large as the commune of Paris.

Altitude

Main article: Topography of Paris

The altitude of Paris varies, with several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130 metres (426½ ft) above sea level. The highest elevation in the urban area of Paris is in the Forest of Montmorency (Val-d'Oise département), 19.5 km. (12 miles) north-northwest of the center of Paris as the crow flies, at 195 metres (640 ft) above sea-level.

Temperatures

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

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

History

Main article: History of Paris

Origins

The region around Paris was settled from about 250 BC, by the Celtic Parisii who were known as boatmen and traders. They established a settlement by the River Seine to control river commerce. There is dispute about the exact location of the settlement, traditionally assumed to be on the Île de la Cité, but now placed by many historians near Gare d'Austerlitz. Rome conquered the region in 52 BC and built the city of Lutetia on the Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill as this area was protected from river floods. Lutetia expanded and prospered during the ensuing period of peaceful Gallo-Roman cohabitation, but third-century Germanic invasions caused a period of decline. By 400 AD Lutetia had been reduced to a garrison town entrenched in the hastily fortified central island. The city reclaimed its original name of Paris towards the end of the Roman occupation.

From AD 512, Paris was the capital of the Frankish king Clovis I, who commissioned the first cathedral and abbey. On the death of Clovis, the Frankish kingdom was divided with Paris as the capital of a much smaller kingdom. By the time of the Carolingian dynasty (9th century), it was little more than a feudal county stronghold.

Middle Ages

During the Carolingian dynasty, the counts of Paris rose to prominence, eventually wielding greater power than the Kings of France. Odo, Count of Paris defended Paris during the siege of 885-886 by the Vikings Siegfried and Rollo. Odo was elected king after the deposition of the incumbent Charles the Fat. Paris became the city of French kings when Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected King of France in 987, founding the Capetian dynasty whose rulers would raise Paris to become France's capital. The Counts of Paris gained fame by defending France against Viking attack in the ninth century, but the Vikings irreparably damaged the old Roman city on the Left Bank. Nearby marshlands were drained to allow Paris to grow on the Right Bank.

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 the city fame and visitors from across Europe. During this period the city's modern spatial distribution of activities appeared: the central island housed government and ecclesiastical institutions, the Left Bank became a scholastic centre with the University of Paris and colleges, while the Right Bank developed as the centre of commerce and trade around the central Les Halles marketplace.

Paris was occupied during the Hundred Years' War by the Burgundians, allies of the English. Although Joan of Arc failed to reconquer the city in 1429, a successful reconquest took place in 1437. However, the Kings of France abandoned Paris in favour of the Loire Valley. 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.

During the French Revolution, Paris was the centre stage of French history, 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 and train stations spilled an unprecedented flow of immigration into Paris. A majority of migrants found employment in the new industries appearing in the suburbs. The city itself underwent a massive renovation under Napoleon III and his préfet Haussmann, who, in levelling entire districts of narrow-winding medieval streets, created the network of wide avenues and neo-classical facades that make much of modern Paris.

Paris suffered greatly from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and the Siege of Paris by Prussian troops, which brought famine and destruction to the city. The ensuing Commune of Paris events (1871) brought scenes of civil war and devastation into the very heart of the city.

Despite grim predictions on the future of the city, Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of the late 19th century. Built for the French Revolution centennial 1889 Universal Exposition as a "temporary" display of architectural engineering prowess, the Eiffel Tower remained the world's tallest building until 1930, and today 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 consecrated its position in the tourist industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.

Cholera in 1832 and 1849 (in 1832, 20 000 deads on a population of 650 000 [3]).

World Wars' Years

During World War I, Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having been spared a German invasion by the French and English 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, as well as its nightlife. From Russian exiled artists (such as composer Igor Stravinsky), to Spanish painters (such as Picasso or Dalí), to US writers (such as Hemingway), Paris became a melting pot of artists from all around the world.

In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the German attack on France, a partially-evacuated Paris fell to German occupation forces, who remained there until Free French troops of General Leclerc liberated the city in late August 1944. It was one of few European cities that suffered almost no war damage at all thanks in part to the refusal of the German military commander, General von Choltitz, to carry out Hitler's direct order to destroy all monuments before evacuating the city.

Modern Era

In the post-WWII era, Paris experienced its largest development since the end of the Belle Époque in 1914. The suburbs around the city of Paris proper 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, the expressway circling around the city of Paris proper.

Many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the eastern ones) have been in a period of de-industrialisation since the 1970s, and the once-thriving cités have gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of unemployment. The widening social gap between these disadvantaged suburbs on the one hand and the wealthier suburbs (especially the western ones) and the rich city of Paris on the other hand have led to periodic unrest since the mid-1980s, sometimes degenerating into riots such as during the 2005 riots.

The future: muséification?

A so-called "muséification" (museumification) of the city of Paris is feared by some in France. Many of its institutions and arenas of communal activity are either located in the suburbs or finding a new home there, which one day may lessen Paris' importance as a pole of activity for its surrounding 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 even some ministries (namely the Ministry of Transportation) are located outside of the city of Paris. Emblematically, even the National Archives of France are due to relocate to the northern suburbs before 2010.

It is feared that Paris is being slowly "embalmed" into a form pleasing to tourists and nostalgists. Paris is subject to some of the most stringent architectural protection laws in the world: ill-renowned urbanistic experiences of the 1960s aside, it is difficult to place large-scale or architecturally innovative buildings within city limits. Recent 'modernisation' proposals - building skyscrapers to the inside of the city rim, or to loosen strict laws governing the height of any new constructions - have been met with strong opposition on all sides. The expected failure of these projects is interpreted in France as yet another sign of Paris' muséification.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Paris

Density

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

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

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

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

Population Growth

At the 1999 census, the population of the city of Paris was 2,125,246. This is a number lower than its historical 1921 peak of 2.9 million. This decline in population is due to the relocation of people to the suburbs, under the influence of several factors, namely de-industrialisation, high rent, the gentrification of many inner quarters as well as the transformation of living space into offices, although not to the scale of London or American cities. These tendencies are generally seen as negative for the city, and the current city administration is trying to reverse them; these actions seem to have had some effect, as according to the population estimate of July 2004, Paris population rose for the first time since 1954 reaching a total of 2,144,700 inhabitants.

On the other hand, Paris agglomeration considered as a whole have been continuously increasing since the end of the late 16th-century French Wars of Religion, with brief setbacks only during the French Revolution and World War II. Modern suburban development is even accellerating, as with an estimated total of 11.5 million inhabitants for 2004, the Paris metropolitan area is showing a rate of growth double that of the 1990s.

Economically speaking, Paris is not properly the center of the agglomeration. Indeed, most offices in the agglomeration of Paris are located in an area consisting of the Western half of the city of Paris proper and the central portion of the département of the Hauts-de-Seine, in a triangle between the Opéra Garnier, La Défense and the Val de Seine. As a consequence commuters are not exclusively going from the suburbs to work in the city of Paris, but also come from the city of Paris to work in the suburbs.

The city of Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine represent together 47.5% of the 5,089,170 jobs in the metropolitan area, while the city proper alone represents only 31.5% of these. These peculiar facts are due to the conservativeness of French administrative limits, with no significant administrative enlargement of the city of Paris since 1860, contrary to many other western cities.

See also: Historical population tables

Immigration

The metropolitan area of Paris is one of the most multi-cultural in Europe, with 19.4% of the total population of the metropolitan area being born outside of metropolitan France^[4]. As a comparison, 19.5% of the total population of the metropolitan area of London was born outside of the (metropolitan) United Kingdom^[5], while 27.5% and 31.9% of the total populations of the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas respectively were born outside of the United States^[6].

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

Economy

Main article: Economy of Paris

Size

Paris and its surrounding Île-de-France région is one of the engines of the global economy. Together their 2003 GDP GDP is calculated by INSEE at €448,933 million ^[7], or US$506.7 billion (at real exchange rates, not at PPP). In the same year, were it a country, the Île-de-France would be the 15th largest economy in the world.

The Île-de-France 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 Île-de-France GDP 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.

According to the 1999 census conducted within the INSEE statistical aire urbaine (metropolitan area) commuter belt area around Paris, out of 5,089,170 persons employed within, 31.5% worked inside the city of Paris, 16% in the Hauts-de-Seine (92) département, home of the new La Défense business district to the west of the city proper, while the remaining 52.5% worked in the rest of the suburbs of the Paris agglomeration.

Economic sectors

The economy of the Paris region is extremely diverse and has not yet adopted a specialization inside the global economy (unlike Los Angeles with the entertainment industry, or London and New York with financial services). The tourism industry, for instance, employs only 3.6% of the total workforce of the metropolitan area (as of 1999) and is by no means a major component of the economy. The Paris economy is essentially a service economy. Although the Île-de-France's manufacturing base is still important and remains one of the manufacturing powerhouses of Europe, it is in a period of decline. The economies of Paris and its closest départements have made a clear shift towards high value-added services, in particular business services.

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

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

Administration

Paris as a commune

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

Citizens of each arrondissement elect a local council (conseil d'arrondissement), which in turn elects the mayor of the arrondissement. A selection of members from each arrondissement council form the Council of Paris (Conseil de Paris). The Council of Paris elects the mayor of Paris, a position created in 1977.

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

See also: Paris mayors (comprehensive list), Arrondissements of Paris

Paris as a département

As well as being a single commune, the city of Paris is also a département (official number: 75), which is a unique status in France solely introduced for the capital city. The Council of Paris, presided by the Mayor of Paris, is the single council for both authorities, meeting either as municipal council (conseil municipal) or as departmental council (conseil général) depending on the issue to be debated.

The State appointed prefect of Paris, not to be confused with the above mentioned prefect of Police, is the representative of the French State in the Paris département, in charge of the control of legality, as is the case in other French départements. The prefect of Paris is at the same time regional prefect of Île-de-France, in charge of some economic development and urban planning issues for the whole région of Île-de-France, which encompasses Paris and all its suburbs.

Number 75 was once the official number of the Seine département, which encompassed the city of Paris and its nearest suburbs. In 1968, Seine was split into four new départements: the city of Paris proper (which retained the number 75) and three départements (Hauts-de-Seine (92), Seine-Saint-Denis (93) and Val-de-Marne (94)) forming a ring around Paris often called petite couronne (i.e. "small ring"), as opposed to the grande couronne (i.e. "large ring") of the more distant suburbs of Paris.

The Prefecture of Police jurisdiction, which used to be the whole Seine département, is now limited to Paris proper, but for some matters (such as fire protection or rescue operations) it still covers the three départements of the petite couronne. On the other hand, the jurisdiction of the Prefecture of Paris, previously called Prefecture of the Seine (before 1968), is now strictly limited to the city of Paris.

Paris as the prefecture of Île-de-France

Paris is also the préfecture, or capital city, of the Île-de-France région which was created in 1976, replacing a District of the Paris Region which had been created in 1961. This région encompasses the city of Paris, its suburbs, and most of the commuting belt beyond. It is made up of eight départements: the city of Paris itself (as a département), the three départements of the petite couronne already mentioned, and another concentric circle of four larger départements (Val-d'Oise (95), Yvelines (78), Essonne (91) and Seine-et-Marne (77)) which form the grande couronne.

The city of Paris, the seven départements of petite couronne and grande couronne, and the Île-de-France région all have their own separate administrations. The hundreds of suburban communes around the city of Paris also each have their separate administrations, which accounts for the extreme complexity of the Île-de-France administrative grid. There are currently plans to create a metropolitan structure that would cover the city of Paris and some of its suburbs in order to increase administrative efficiency. The current socialist municipality of Paris is pushing forward the idea of a loose "metropolitan conference" (conférence métropolitaine), while some in the right wing opposition propose the creation of a more integrated Grand Paris (i.e. "Greater Paris").

Transport

Main article: Transport in Paris

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

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

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

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

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

See also: Transport in France

Cultural Centres and Organisations

Top ten tourist attractions in Paris in 2004 [8] (million of visitors)
Notre Dame de Paris cathedral	12,800,000
Disneyland Resort Paris	12,400,000
Basilica of the Sacré Cœur, Montmartre	8,000,000
Louvre Museum	6,600,398
Eiffel Tower	6,229,993
Centre Georges Pompidou	5,368,548
Palace of Versailles	3,300,200
Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Parc de la Villette	2,795,000
Musée d'Orsay	2,590,316
Parc Astérix	1,800,000[9]

Monuments and Landmarks

Main article: Paris landmarks

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

Museums

Main article: List of museums in Paris

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 prized tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn.

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 obelisk it holds today can be considered Paris's "oldest monument".
• Place de la Bastille - Former eastern stronghold and gate of Paris.
• Montparnasse - historic area on the Left Bank, famous for the its artists studios, music-halls, and café life.
• Quartier Latin - Paris's scholastic center from the 12th century, formerly stretching between the Left Bank's place Maubert and the Sorbonne university.

Cemeteries

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

Parks and Gardens

Main article: List of parks and gardens in Paris.

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

Districts

Main article: Paris districts

• Les Halles - shopping precinct around an important metro connection station.
• Le Marais - trendy district on the Right Bank with large gay and Jewish populations
• l'Opéra - Shopping area with department stores such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette
• La Défense - As a city antenna just outside Paris' western limits, La Défense of the largest business districts in the world, and is a major destination for business tourism in Europe.

Boutiques, Department Stores and Hotels

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

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

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

Paris is home to some of the most famous and luxurious brand names in the fashion industry like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermès, Dior and Givenchy.

Nightlife

• Le Lido - cabaret on the Champs-Élysées famous for its exotic shows and where, as an American GI on leave with some army friends, Elvis Presley gave an impromptu concert.
• Moulin Rouge, Le Crazy Horse Saloon, Folies Bergères - other famous cabarets
• the Paris Olympia, le Zenith, Bercy, Bobino - concert halls
• The Buddha Bar, Barfly, Hotel Costes, Georges - trendy upscale restaurant / bars to see and be seen.
• Les Bains-Douches, le Man Ray, l'Elysée Montmartre, le Queen - famous and trendy nightclubs.
• The Rex Club, Le Tryptique, Le Batofar- good places for electro music (techno, electro-rock, D&B).
• Harry's New York Bar

Sports

Paris's main sports clubs are the football club Paris Saint-Germain, the basketball team Paris Basket Racing and the Rugby union club Stade Français. The 80,000-seat Stade de France was built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and is used for football and rugby.

Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Olympic Games.

References

1. ^  (fr) Estimation de population pour certaines grandes villes. Janvier 2006. Paris. Retrieved January 23, 2005.
2. ^  (fr) INSEE - Comptes régionaux - données 2003 semi-définitives en base 2 000. "Produit intérieur brut (PIB) à prix courants.". Retrieved December 1, 2005.
3. ^ France census 1999
4. ^ U.K. census 2001
5. ^ U.S. census 2000
6. ^  (fr) INSEE - Comptes régionaux - données 2003 semi-définitives en base 2 000. "Produit intérieur brut (PIB) à prix courants.". Retrieved December 1, 2005.
7. ^  GDP comparisons between metropolitan areas can only be approximate, because of the differences in national metropolitan area definitions. See Economy of Paris for a more detailed discussion.
8. ^  (fr) ORTIF - "Chiffres clés du tourisme 2004 en Île-de-France", page 5
9. ^  (fr) France2 web article - "Ouverture du Parc Astérix pour sa 17e saison". Retrieved December 17, 2005.

Bibliography

History

• Favier, Jean (avril 23, 1997). Paris, Fayard. ISBN 2213598746.
• Hillairet, Jacques (avril 22, 2005). Connaissance du Vieux Paris, Rivages. ISBN 2869306482.

External links

• Travel guide to Paris from Wikitravel
• (en) English version of Official Paris website
• (en) English version of official Paris tourist office website
• Google Maps satellite images of Paris

Communes in the metropolitan area of Paris
Population over 2 million:	City of Paris
Population over 75,000:	Argenteuil | Asnières-sur-Seine | Aulnay-sous-Bois | Boulogne-Billancourt | Champigny-sur-Marne | Colombes | Créteil | Montreuil | Nanterre | Rueil-Malmaison | Saint-Denis | Saint-Maur-des-Fossés | Versailles | Vitry-sur-Seine
Population over 50,000:	Antony | Aubervilliers | Le Blanc-Mesnil | Bondy | Cergy | Clichy | Courbevoie | Drancy | Évry | Fontenay-sous-Bois | Issy-les-Moulineaux | Ivry-sur-Seine | Levallois-Perret | Maisons-Alfort | Neuilly-sur-Seine | Noisy-le-Grand | Pantin | Sarcelles | Sartrouville | Villejuif
Population over 25,000:	Alfortville | Athis-Mons | Bagneux | Bagnolet | Bezons | Bobigny | Champs-sur-Marne | Charenton-le-Pont | Châtenay-Malabry | Châtillon | Chatou | Chelles | Le Chesnay | Choisy-le-Roi | Clamart | Clichy-sous-Bois | Conflans-Sainte-Honorine | Corbeil-Essonnes | La Courneuve | Draveil | Élancourt | Épinay-sur-Seine | Ermont | Franconville | Fresnes | Gagny | Garges-lès-Gonesse | Gennevilliers | Goussainville | Guyancourt | L'Haÿ-les-Roses | Houilles | Livry-Gargan | Malakoff | Mantes-la-Jolie | Massy | Meaux | Melun | Meudon | Montigny-le-Bretonneux | Montrouge | Les Mureaux | Neuilly-sur-Marne | Nogent-sur-Marne | Noisy-le-Sec | Palaiseau | Le Perreux-sur-Marne | Pierrefitte-sur-Seine | Plaisir | Poissy | Pontault-Combault | Pontoise | Puteaux | Rosny-sous-Bois | Saint-Cloud | Saint-Germain-en-Laye | Saint-Ouen | Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois | Sannois | Savigny-sur-Orge | Savigny-le-Temple | Sevran | Stains | Suresnes | Taverny | Thiais | Trappes | Tremblay-en-France | Les Ulis | Vanves | Vigneux-sur-Seine | Villemomble | Villeneuve-Saint-Georges | Villepinte | Villiers-le-Bel | Villiers-sur-Marne | Vincennes | Viry-Châtillon | Yerres
Population under 25,000:	1,470 other communes, the most notable of which include Auvers-sur-Oise | Bougival | Le Bourget | Chantilly | Chessy | Crépy-en-Valois | Enghien-les-Bains | Étampes | Fontainebleau | Gisors | Maintenon | Maisons-Laffitte | Marly-le-Roi | Montfermeil | Montmorency | Orly | Orsay | Le Raincy | Rambouillet | Roissy-en-France | Rungis | Saclay | Saint-Cyr-l'École | Sceaux | Sèvres | Le Vésinet

	Départements of France
01 Ain | 02 Aisne | 03 Allier | 04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 05 Hautes-Alpes | 06 Alpes-Maritimes | 07 Ardèche | 08 Ardennes | 09 Ariège | 10 Aube | 11 Aude | 12 Aveyron | 13 Bouches-du-Rhône | 14 Calvados | 15 Cantal | 16 Charente | 17 Charente-Maritime | 18 Cher | 19 Corrèze | 2A Corse-du-Sud | 2B Haute-Corse | 21 Côte-d'Or | 22 Côtes-d'Armor | 23 Creuse | 24 Dordogne | 25 Doubs | 26 Drôme | 27 Eure | 28 Eure-et-Loir | 29 Finistère | 30 Gard | 31 Haute-Garonne | 32 Gers | 33 Gironde | 34 Hérault | 35 Ille-et-Vilaine | 36 Indre | 37 Indre-et-Loire | 38 Isère | 39 Jura | 40 Landes | 41 Loir-et-Cher | 42 Loire | 43 Haute-Loire | 44 Loire-Atlantique | 45 Loiret | 46 Lot | 47 Lot-et-Garonne | 48 Lozère | 49 Maine-et-Loire | 50 Manche | 51 Marne | 52 Haute-Marne | 53 Mayenne | 54 Meurthe-et-Moselle | 55 Meuse | 56 Morbihan | 57 Moselle | 58 Nièvre | 59 Nord | 60 Oise | 61 Orne | 62 Pas-de-Calais | 63 Puy-de-Dôme | 64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 65 Hautes-Pyrénées | 66 Pyrénées-Orientales | 67 Bas-Rhin | 68 Haut-Rhin | 69 Rhône | 70 Haute-Saône | 71 Saône-et-Loire | 72 Sarthe | 73 Savoie | 74 Haute-Savoie | 75 Paris | 76 Seine-Maritime | 77 Seine-et-Marne | 78 Yvelines | 79 Deux-Sèvres | 80 Somme | 81 Tarn | 82 Tarn-et-Garonne | 83 Var | 84 Vaucluse | 85 Vendée | 86 Vienne | 87 Haute-Vienne | 88 Vosges | 89 Yonne | 90 Territoire de Belfort | 91 Essonne | 92 Hauts-de-Seine | 93 Seine-Saint-Denis | 94 Val-de-Marne | 95 Val-d'Oise | 971 Guadeloupe | 972 Martinique | 973 French Guiana | 974 Réunion
Administrative divisions of France: Régions - Départements - Arrondissements - Cantons - Communes

Olympic Summer Games host cities

Athens (1896) | Paris (1900) | Saint Louis (1904) | London (1908) | Stockholm (1912) | Antwerp (1920) | Paris (1924) | Amsterdam (1928) | Los Angeles (1932) | Berlin (1936) | London (1948) | Helsinki (1952) | Melbourne (1956) | Rome (1960) | Tokyo (1964) | Mexico City (1968) | Munich (1972) | Montreal (1976) | Moscow (1980) | Los Angeles (1984) | Seoul (1988) | Barcelona (1992) | Atlanta (1996) | Sydney (2000) | Athens (2004) Future host cities: Beijing (2008) | London (2012)