Mention the name Paris and see the reaction: everyone associates this city with something, whether that be an image, an area or a monument!
Paris has a thousand faces…

The Right Bank and the Left Bank: the Marais, Montmartre, Barbès, La Villette, the Champs-Elysées, the Louvre museum, the Eiffel Tower, Montparnasse, the Luxembourg gardens, the Panthéon, the Sorbonne, the Buttes-Chaumont, the Place de la Concorde and Sacré-Cœur. The list could go on in many directions since Paris is so rich with different places and identities.

The river Seine is at the origin of Paris and its suburbs and it all began on its two islands, Ile de la Cité and Ile Saint-Louis.
The Celtic tribe of Parisi settled on Ile de la Cité as it was easy to defend thanks to the natural moat formed by the branches of the Seine. Nevertheless, the river did not stop the Romans who took the town in 52 BC and named it Lutecia. The primitive town limits were quickly exceeded: Lutecia spread over to the left bank and invested in the Roman assets of thermal baths, forums, arenas, amphitheatres and main roads.
Clovis, King of the Franks drove away the Romans in 486 and made Paris the capital of his kingdom.

In 885, the Vikings came back up the Seine estuary and laid siege to the Ile de la Cité for more than thirteen months. But Count Eudes and the bishop of Paris, heading an army of knights, pushed the assailants back and made Paris the symbol of resistance to barbarian invasions.

The next dynasty to settle on the Ile de la Cité was that of the Capetians. The river traffic brought a certain prosperity to the town. One sign of this new wealth was the building of the Notre-Dame cathedral that was started in 1163 and finished in 1330.

At the same time the Louvre was being build from 1180 onwards and a new enclosure appeared. Paris grew in three different directions: the Ile de la Cite was the heart of the capital, the right bank was the home of tradesmen and the left bank that of the university.

In the 14th century the Valois reign started and Charles V installed himself in the Louvre which had been transformed into a veritable royal dwelling resembling a stronghold. Later during François I's reign, the Louvre was destroyed and rebuilt. The building work entrusted to Pierre Lescot in 1528. The latter demolished the keep and the general look of the castle metamorphosed into that of a Renaissance palace. It was during Henry II's rule (1547-1559) that the palace was finally finished. Close by this imposing building, Charles IX had the Tuileries built.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Henry IV launched a policy of building work and the Louvre and the Tuileries were enlarged once more. In 1605, he also had the Royal Palace developed, where the Place des Vosges now stands. In 1612, his widow, Mary de Medicis, bought the Duke of Luxembourg's private mansion as well the grounds of Chartreux in order to build a Renaissance palace there. Today, the Luxembourg gardens accommodates the French senate.

Later, the Fronde prevented the young Louis XIV from fleeing Paris for Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The Sun King never forgave the Parisians for this insult and centralised the monarchy in Versailles. Despite everything, Paris was not forgotten: the Champs-Elysées avenue was planted, the Invalides monument, Salpétrière hospital, the Gobelins factory and the place Vendome were built and the wharves developed.
Then there was the Revolution and Bastille prison fell…

In the 19th century, Napoleon and then Louis-Philippe devoted themselves to the improvement and embellishment of the town by having bridges, pavements and sewers built. This century was also that of the Seine prefect who gave Paris the look it has today: Baron Haussman. He decided to create wide boulevards in order to open up the town to traffic and to restore the monuments. The second Empire saw Paris become one of the most popular European capitals for tourists.
In "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame", Victor Hugo took pleasure in writing "But a town like Paris is in perpetual spate. Only these sorts of towns become capitals".

The capital expanded and new monuments were built during the 20th century: the Eiffel Tower in 1889, the Grand and Petit Palaces in 1900, the Chaillot Palace in 1937. The underground train also appeared at the turn of the century and is celebrating its hundredth birthday this year! The metro entrances, designed by the archtect Hector Guimard establish Art Nouveau and have since become one of the symbols of Paris.
More recent buildings have also been quickly integrated into this historical Paris: the Georges Pompidou centre and its fabulous fountain, the grand Arche de la Défense, the Opéra Bastille, the Louvre's pyramid and the National Library.

But Paris cannot be reduced to a list of buildings and monuments. In order to discover this town, it is best to wander at will following your mood or intuition. Thus, Paris unveils one of its multiple facets which forge its identity to everyone.

The city of Paris offers a virtual visit to the town hall but also introduces the monuments, squares, parks, museums and bridges of the town. There is a selection of links and advice for going out.

The National Monuments site : Notre Dame cathedral, the Palais Royal, the Conciergerie, the Pantheon, the Arc de Triomphe are just some of the monuments that you can find on this user-friendly and very practical site. It is possible to construct one's own itinerary and an album of ones favourite places.

The Louvre museum site : the history of the building itself, the collections, virtual visits around the museum and on-line purchasing of tickets.

The Eiffel Tower site: history and anecdotes surrounding the famous "iron lady", exploration of the tower, guided interactive visit, filmed sequences of the 31st of December 1999 and games.

France, the visit:
the Film

From Paris to Marseilles, one of the most beautiful journeys of discovery through France. Available on video and DVD