With its monuments, museums, metro and department stores, the capital of France is proud of its heritage, its history and its culture. Modern Paris is made up of a mosaic of districts, from the Latin Quarter to Bastille, from Chatelet to Montmartre.
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With its monuments, museums, metro and department stores, the capital of France is proud of its heritage, its history and its culture. Modern Paris is made up of a mosaic of districts, from the Latin Quarter to Bastille, from Chatelet to Montmartre.
The history of Paris dates back over 2,000 years, with the French capital playing the leading role in the events of the country.
Just mention the Eiffel Tower and fans of the City of Light will be in rhapsody. Today, the historic city is calmly facing the challenges of the new century, in which it continues along its path as a dynamic and forward-thinking world capital.
At the time of Roman conquest in 55 BC, Paris was a mere fortified village called Lutecia. In 486 Paris became the capital city of the Frank kingdom under Clovis.
Philippe Auguste had the Louvre Fortress built in the 13the century; it was designed to strengthen the city's defenses. After a period of famine in the 14th century and English occupation during the Hundred Years' War, Parisreached a golden era under François I in the 16th century.
Louis XIV, based in Versailles, deserted the city as instability grew. Cradle of the Enlightenment the following century, Paris became the spearhead of the Revolution in 1789, and therafter a revolutionary battlefield. It was Napoleon III who commissioned Baron Haussmann to transform Paris' traffic network by laying grandiose avenues.
Nowadays, with its 3 million inhabitants, Paris is a major economic asset as well as an intellectual and cultural nerve-centre.
