PARIS - la ville lumière



PARIS - la ville lumière

MUSEUMS

Paris is known for its wide boulevards, parks, historic monuments, churches and museums. There are more than thirty museums, the most well-known are:

• The Musée du Louvre, dates from about 1200, when it was built as a royal fort. It was rebuilt during the 1500's as the royal palace. From then on, many French rulers expanded it. Napoleon III began to build the last addition in 1852. Today it is one of the richest art museums in the world (extending 1/2 mile along the Seine). it contains the Mona Lisa (la Joconde) by Leonardo da Vinci, the Greek statues Vénus de Milo and the Victoire de Samothrace. The entrance to the museum is an enormous glass pyramid designed by I. M. Pei.

• The Panthéon, in the Quartier Latin, was originally a church named for Sainte Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. In A.D. 451, she organized the city's defenses against a threatened attack by Attila the Hun. It is believed that her prayers prevented the attack and saved the city. In 1791, the church was named the Panthéon, and became a monument to French heroes and other famous people. It is now the burial place for famous French people like: Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Rousseau, Émile Zola. The motto "Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante" is carved over the entrance.

• The Cluny Museum, a house built in the 1400's, has art works and other objects of the Middle Ages, and was built over the ruins of an ancient Roman bath/spa complex.

• The Carnavalet Museum, a house dating from the 1500's, has displays that tell the history of Paris.

• The Musée d'Orsay is located in the former train station gare d'Orsay. It contains a collection of 18th and 19th century paintings, and a major group of Impressionist paintings.

• The Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, also known as Centre Beaubourg is located in the neighborhood called Beaubourg. This museum opened in 1977, and houses mainly modern artistic, musical and cultural activities. This is one of the most visited museums in France, partly because it was built with its interior pipes and ducts on the outside.

• The Cité de sciences et de l'industrie is a new museum of science and technology. It is located in the Parc de la Villette and it designed for French young people. There is the Géode, a spectacular theatre for three-dimensional films shown on a panoramic Omni screen, and the Zénith kids attend rock and techno music concerts.

• The Hôtel des Invalides, built in 1676 by Louis XIV houses the red marble tomb of Napoléon 1 Bonaparte, and a huge military museum with collections of historical weapons and armor. The museum and tomb stand on the grounds of the Hotel des Invalides (Home for Disabled Soldiers)

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CHURCHES

• Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady) is located on the Île de la Cité. The cathedral is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture, and was one of the first buildings to have flying buttresses (arched exterior supports). The buttresses strengthen the walls and permit the use of large stained-glass windows that allow light to enter the building. The cathedral's main entrances are elaborately decorated with stone sculptures.. It was built over a Roman temple, and those ruins may still be seen by entering an underground museum in the courtyard at the front of the cathedral.

The cathedral stands on the site of two earlier churches. Construction of the present building occurred between 1163 and 1250. During the French Revolution (which began in 1789), Notre Dame was heavily damaged by mobs.

• Sainte-Chapelle has been called a Gothic jewel because of its enormous stained glass windows. Built by King Louis IX during the 1240's, its walls are made almost entirely of stained glass. The windows are separated only by narrow stone frames and extend from just above the floor to the ceiling, a distance of nearly 50 feet (15 meters).

• The Madeleine is an elegant church built in the style of a Greek temple with columns all around.

PARKS, GARDENS & STREETS

• The Bois de Boulogne (Boulogne Forest) located in western Paris, it was once a forest, and is now the city's largest park. It has lakes, several restaurants, two racetracks, a baseball diamond and the famous Roland Garros tennis stadium (where the French Open is held). The Bois de Vincennes (Vincennes Forest) is at the eastern end of Paris.

• The Place de la Concorde (Square of Peace) is at the eastern end of the Champs Élysées. This square was built during the 1700's. Within it are eight huge statues, two fountains, and the Obelisk of Luxor, a 3,000-year-old stone pillar from Egypt. The Obelisk of Luxor stands 75 feet (23 meters) high. During the French Revolution (1789-1799), a guillotine (beheading machine) stood in the Place de la Concorde. Hundreds of people, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, were executed on this guillotine. Other squares in Paris are Carrousel, Nation, République, Saint Michel, Vendôme, and Vosges.

• The Jardin des Tuileries is located at the eastern end of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées between the Place de la Concorde and the Musée du Louvre. At one time it was the huge private garden of the kings, but today it houses merry-go-rounds, children's play areas, and lovely walking grounds decorated with numerous statues. These were the gardens of the Palais des Tuileries, a famous royal palace begun in 1564, which stood on the right bank of the River Seine in Paris. During the French Revolution, mobs forced Louis XVI and his family to live there instead of at Versailles. For a time, the National Convention held its sessions in the Tuileries. Napoleon I made it his home, and it served as the royal residence after the Restoration, until it was destroyed in 1871.

• The Champ de Mars (Field of Mars) is a beautiful park that was once a military training ground. Among its gardens and tree-lined lawns are many attractions for children, including miniature automobile speedways, merry-go-rounds, and donkey rides. In the Champ de Mars stands the Eiffel Tower.

• The Champs Élysées (Elysian Fields) is Paris's most famous avenue. It is lined with beautiful gardens and rows of chestnut trees. Along its route is the Rond-Point. This landscaped circle has magnificent fountains, and formal flower beds trimmed to look like a huge bouquet. At the western end of the Champs Élysées stands the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph).

MONUMENTS

• The Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower) rises 984 feet (300 meters) on the Left Bank at a turn in the river. It was built as the symbol of a world's fair called the Universal Exposition of 1889, and was almost torn down afterwards. Today visitors can dine in restaurants on various platforms in the tower and enjoy spectacular views of Paris.

• The Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph) was begun by Emperor Napoleon I in 1806 as a monument to his troops. It was patterned it after the triumphal arches of ancient Rome. The arch was left unfinished when Napoleon lost power in 1814. It was completed in 1836, and is the largest triumphal arch in the world. The arch stands 162 feet (49.5 meters) high. The arch is decorated with relief sculpture. The grave of France's Unknown Soldier of World War I lies beneath the arch. The arch is in the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly called the Place de l'Etoile - for of the star pattern in the paving stones), one of more than 130 public squares in Paris. Broad avenues extend from the square in 12 directions. It stands at the western end of the broad avenue called the Champs Élysées.

• The Opéra Garnier (also known as the Palais Garnier) was designed and built by Garnier in 1875, and formerly housed the Paris opera company. It now holds dance programs, and the Opera de la Bastille presents opera. Paris also has several symphony orchestras, about 60 theaters, and the Comédie-Française, Paris's most famous theater, offers classics of French drama.

• Le Métropolitain (the Métro) is the Paris subway system. It has has more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) of track. The Regional Express Network (RER) is a suburban commuter train system that links the western, eastern, and southern suburbs with Paris. The trains travel at about 60 miles (96 kilometers) per hour.

• The Palais de Versailles is a magnificent palace, built by King Louis XIV during the 1600's and the royal residence for more than 100 years. It is now a national museum. The palace stands in the city of Versailles, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) southwest of Paris. The palace is more than 1/4 mile long and has about 1,300 rooms. Versailles was originally the site of a hunting lodge built in 1624 by Louis XIII. After he died, his son, Louis XIV, ordered that a palace be constructed on the same site. Work began in 1661 and took more than 40 years to complete. The interior of the palace is richly decorated. The most famous rooms include the living quarters of the king and queen, the Room of Hercules, and the Hall of Mirrors. The Hall of Mirrors was begun in 1678, and is a long hallway lined with mirrors that runs along the front of the palace. The ceiling is decorated with paintings glorifying the achievements of Louis XIV. The palace also contains a magnificent royal chapel and a private theater. The palace gardens were first laid out in the 1660's, were enlarged several times, and now cover nearly 250 acres. Plantings, fountains, and statues are arranged in geometric patterns. The park also includes two small palaces called the Grand Trianon, and the Petit Trianon. Nearby are stables; an orangerie (greenhouse for growing orange trees); and the picturesque hameau, a miniature farm designed for Queen Marie Antoinette. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 led to the overthrow of the French king. Mobs invaded the palace during the revolution and removed or destroyed most of the furniture and art. Little was done to maintain the building until the early 1900's, when restoration work began.

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Paris, the capital and largest city of France, is in the heart of a fertile, heavily populated lowland called the Paris Basin. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Lovely gardens and parks and historic squares lie throughout Paris, and chestnut trees line the city's famous avenues. At night, floodlights shine on Paris's many magnificent palaces and monuments. The beauty of Paris has given it the nickname "la ville lumière" (the "city of light"). Paris is laid out according to plans that developed through hundreds of years.

The larger of two islands in the Seine, the Île de la Cité (Island of the City), is the heart of Paris. Called Lutèce by the ancient Romans, Paris received its name from the Parisii, the Celtic/Gallic tribe that founded the city over 2,000 years ago. In 52 B.C., Julius Ceasar's Roman soldiers found the area and the Parisii, a tribe of people who lived by fishing. The Romans established a colony and Paris soon spread out on both banks of the river. It became known as Paris about A.D. 300. It grew rapidly during the Middle Ages, and became a major center of culture and government. About 1200, a fortified wall was built around the city, and as the city grew new walls were built in a series of widening circles. Today boulevards have replaced the walls. The city has a population of over two million, and along with its suburbs forms a complex of over eleven million inhabitants.

Paris is the political and economic capital of France, and also the center of French cultural life. It is divided into twenty arrondissements, each one headed by a mayor.The Seine River curves through Paris for about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from east to west. The river divides Paris into two parts: la rive droite (the Right Bank - north of the river), and la rive gauche (the Left Bank - south of the river). The rive droite is larger and has more business and commercial areas with department stores and theatres. Montmartre, a colorful artists' neighborhood on a northern Paris hilltop is located there.

The rive gauche contains the Quartier Latin - an old student area (in the Middle Ages university students all spoke Latin). Many educational institutes are located here: la Sorbonne (the oldest part of the University of Paris), le Collège de France, l'École de Médicine, l'École Normale Supérieure.

Several bridges cross the Seine. The oldest is the Pont Neuf (New Bridge) built in the sixteenth century.

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• Basilique du Sacré Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) is a gleaming white church at the top of Montmartre, Paris's tallest hill at 423 feet. With its huge bell tower and onion-shaped dome, it is one of the city's most familiar sights.

• The Colonne de Juillet (July Column) is a column located in Bastille Square.The Bastille was a fortress / prison in Paris that stood as a symbol of royal tyranny. On July 14, 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution, a large crowd of Parisians captured the Bastille. This act convinced King Louis XVI to withdraw his troops from Paris.

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