Paris
From top left: Louvre Pyramid, Arc de Triomphe, looking towards La Défense, skyline of Paris on the Seine river with the Pont des Arts bridge, and the Eiffel Tower
Flag Coat of arms
Motto(s):  "Fluctuat nec mergitur" (Latin: "She is tossed by the waves but does not sink")
Location of Paris
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Paris
Subdivisions	20 arrondissements
Government
• Mayor (since 5 April 2014)	Anne Hidalgo (PS)
Area 1 (2010)[1]	105.4 km2 (40.7 sq mi)
• Urban	2,844.8 km2 (1,098.4 sq mi)
• Metro	17,174.4 km2 (6,631.1 sq mi)
Population  (2011 census)	2,249,975[2]
• Rank	1st in France[2]
• Urban	10,516,110[3]
• Metro	12,292,895[4]
Demonym	Parisian
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	75056 /75001-75020, 75116
Website	www.paris.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Paris (UK: /ˈpærɪs/; US: /ˈpɛərɪs/ ^ⓘ; French: [paʁi] ^ⓘ) is the capital and most populous city of France. Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is at the heart of the Île-de-France region, also known as the région parisienne^[5] ("Paris Region" in English^[6][7]). The city of Paris has a population of 2,249,975 inhabitants (January 2011),^[2] but its metropolitan area is one of the largest population centres in Europe, with 12,292,895 inhabitants at the January 2011 census.^[4]

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. By the 12th century, Paris was the largest city in the western world, a prosperous trading center, the home of the University of Paris, one of the most influential centres of learning in Europe. In the eighteenth century, it was the center stage for the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and an important center of commerce, fashion, science, and the arts.^[8]

Paris has one of the largest GDPs in the world, €607 billion (US$845 billion) in 2011, and is one of the world's leading tourist destinations. In 2013-2014, it received an estimated 15.57 million international overnight visitors, making it the third most popular destination for international travelers, after London and Bangkok.^[9] The Paris Region hosts the world headquarters of 30 of the Fortune Global 500 companies.^[10][11] Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres and has a global influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, science, and the arts. ^[12]

Paris in 2013 was the home of the three of the most visited art museums in the world; the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, It also is the home of several of the most visited architectural landmarks, including the Cathedral of Notre-Dame-de-Paris (12th century); Sainte-Chapelle (13th century); the Eiffel Tower (1889); and the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur on Montmartre (1919). ^[13]

Paris is known for its fashion designers, high-end boutiques, and the twice-yearly Paris Fashion Week. It is world-renowned for its haute cuisine, and celebrated three-star restaurants. Most of France's major universities and Grandes Écoles are in Paris or its suburbs, and most of France's major newspapers including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération are based in the city, while Le Parisien in Saint-Ouen near Paris.

Paris is home to the association football club Paris Saint-Germain FC and the rugby union club Stade Français. The 80,000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located in Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros. Paris played host to the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics, the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cup, and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The city is a major rail, highway, and air-transport hub, served by the two international airports Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily. Paris is the hub of the national road network, and is surrounded by three orbital roads: the Boulevard Périphérique, the A86 motorway, and the Francilienne motorway in the outer suburbs.

Toponyms

See Wiktionary for the name of Paris in various languages other than English and French.

The name "Paris" is derived from its early inhabitants, the Celtic tribe known as the Parisii. The city was called Lutetia (more fully, Lutetia Parisiorum, "Lutetia of the Parisii"), during the Roman era of the 1st to the 4th century AD, but during the reign of Julian the Apostate (360–3), the city was renamed Paris.^[14] It is believed that the name of the Parisii tribe comes from the Celtic Gallic word parisio, meaning "the working people" or "the craftsmen".^[15]

Paris is often referred to as "La Ville-Lumière" ("The City of Light").^[16] The name is sometimes said to come from its reputation as a centre of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment. The name took on a more literal sense when Paris became one of the first European cities to adopt gas street lighting: the Passage des Panoramas was Paris' first gas-lit indoor passageway from 1817.^[17] The first gas street light was installed in 1822; Place Vendôme was lit in 1825, and rue de la Paix in 1829. During the reign of King Louis-Philippe, the Champs-Elysées became known as the Avenue Lumière and Paris as the Ville Lumière.^[18] Beginning in the 1860s, Napoleon III had the boulevards and streets of Paris illuminated by fifty-six thousand gas lamps, and the Arc de Triomphe, the Hôtel de Ville and Champs-Élysées were decorated with garlands of lights.^[19]

Since the mid-19th century, Paris is also known as Paname ("panam") in the Parisian slang called argot (Moi j'suis d'Paname, i.e. "I'm from Paname").^[20] The singer Renaud repopularised the term among the younger generation with his 1976 album Amoureux de Paname ("In love with Paname").^[21]

Inhabitants are known in English as "Parisians" and in French as Parisiens ([paʁizjɛ̃] ^ⓘ) and Parisiennes. Parisians are also pejoratively called Parigots ([paʁiɡo] ^ⓘ) and Parigotes, a term first used in 1900 by those living outside the Paris region.^[22]

History

Origins

The oldest known site of human habitation in Paris, a settlement of hunter-gatherers dating to between 9000 and 7500 BC, was found in 2006 near the Seine on rue Henri-Farman in the 15th arrondissement.^[23] The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the area near the river Seine from around 250 BC,^[24][25] building a trading settlement on the island, later the Île de la Cité, the easiest place to cross.^[26] They minted their own coins and traded by river with towns on the Rhine and the Danube, and also with Spain.^[27]

The Romans conquered the Paris basin in 52 BC,^[28] building a new town on the left bank around the present site of the Pantheon, and on the Île de la Cité. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia, or Lutetia Parisorum but later Gallicised to Lutèce.^[29] It became a prosperous city with a forum, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre.^[30]

In 305 AD, the city began to be called Civitas Parisiorum, ("The City of the Parisii"), and that name was inscribed on the milestones. By the end of the Roman Empire, it was known simply as Parisius in Latin and Paris in French.^[31] Christianity was introduced into Paris in the middle of the 3rd century AD. According to tradition, it was brought by Saint Denis, the Bishop of the Parisii. When he refused to renounce his faith, he was beheaded on Mount Mercury. The hill where he was executed later became the "Mountain of Martyrs" (Mons Martyrum), eventually "Montmartre".^[32]

The collapse of the Roman empire, along with the Germanic invasions of the 5th-century, sent the city into a period of decline. The Paris region was under full control of the Salian Franks by the late 5th century. The Frankish king Clovis the Frank, the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, made the city his capital from 508, but in the late 8th century the Carolingian dynasty moved the capital of the Franks to Aachen, and the counts of Paris controlled little more than immediate area around the city. In the early 9th century, Paris suffered a series of devastating raids by the Vikings.^[33] In 987 AD Hugh Capet, count of Paris, was elected king of France. Under the rule of the Capetian kings, Paris became the capital once more, and gradually became the largest and most prosperous city in France.

Middle Ages and the Renaissance

By the end of the 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious and cultural capital of France. ^[33] The Île de la Cité was the site of the new royal palace, and king Philippe-Auguste had begun building the new cathedral of Notre-Dame 1163. The Left Bank (south of the Seine) was the site of the University of Paris, a guild of students and teachers formed in the mid-12th century to train scholars in theology.^{[34] [33]} The Right Bank (north of the Seine) became the centre of commerce and finance. A league of merchants, the Hanse parisienne, was established and quickly became a powerful force in the city's affairs. Between 1190 and 1202, Philippe-Auguste built the massive château du Louvre (a fortress) on the right bank, where the museum is today. He paved the first streets with stone, replaced the two wooden bridges over the Seine with stone bridges, and began the first wall around the city.^[35]

Between 1241 and 1248, Louis IX, (1226–1270), known to history as "Saint Louis", built next to his palace (the Palais de la Cité) the Sainte Chapelle, the masterpiece of Rayonnant Gothic art, to house relics from the crucifixion of Christ. At the same period that the Saint-Chapelle was built, the great eighteen metre high stained glass rose windows were added to the transept of Notre Dame Cathedral.^[35]

The Black Plague struck Paris for the first time in 1348, killing as many as 800 people a day, and the English and Burgundians occupied Paris in 1356 during the Hundred Years' War, not leaving Paris until 1436.

In 1534, François I transformed the Louvre from a fortress into a palace, and became the first king to reside there. Between 1564 and 1572, Catherine de Medici built a new royal residence, the Tuileries Palace, and the Jardin des Tuileries.

During the French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic league. On 24 August 1572, the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre began in Paris, when thousands of French Protestants were killed. The war did not end until 1594, when Henri IV converted to Catholicism and the city welcomed him as king.^[36][37]

Henry IV completed the Pont Neuf the first Paris bridge not lined with buildings, constructed a new wing of the Louvre, the grande galerie or galerie au bord de l'eau, connecting it with the Tuileries Palace on the south side, along the Seine, and built the first Paris residential square, the Place des Vosges.

17th century

After the assassination of Henry IV in 1610, his widow, Marie de Medicis, built her own residence, the Luxembourg Palace (1615-1634), on the left bank.^[38]

Cardinal de Richelieu, chief minister of Louis XIII, was determined to make Paris the most beautiful city in Europe. He built five new bridges, a new chapel for the College of Sorbonne, and a palace for himself, the Palais Cardinal, which he bequeathed to the young Louis XIV and became, after his death in 1642, the Palais-Royal.

Louis XIV distrusted the Parisians; as a child he had been forced to flee the city during an uprising known as the Fronde and, in 1682, he moved his court permanently to Versailles; but he also wanted to add to the architecture of Paris. He built the Collège des Quatre-Nations, Place Vendôme, Place des Victoires, and began Les Invalides. More important, he wanted to show that Paris was safe from any invasion, and had the city walls demolished. The place of the walls was later taken by the Grands Boulevards.^[39]

The 18th century and the French Revolution

Between 1640 and 1789, Paris grew in population from 400,000 to 600,000. Under Louis XV, the city expanded westward. A large new square, Place Louis XV, the future Place de la Concorde, was created between 1766 and 1775, and new boulevard, the Champs-Élysées, was built as far as the Étoile.^[40] The Faubourg Saint-Germain on the left bank became the most fashionable aristocratic neighborhood. The working-class Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the eastern site of the city grew more and more crowded.^[41]

Paris became the center of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity known as the Age of Enlightenment. Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert published their Encyclopédie in 1751-52. By the 1720s, there were around 400 cafés in the city, and they became the centres for the exchanging of ideas and information. In the summer of 1789, Paris became the center stage of the French Revolution. On 11 July 1789, soldiers attacked a peaceful demonstration on Place Louis XV, where a large crowd of Parisians were protesting the dismissal by the King of his reformist finance minister, Jacques Necker. The reform movement turned quickly into a revolution. On 13 July, a crowd of Parisians occupied the Hôtel de Ville. On 14 July, a mob seized the arsenal at the Invalides, acquiring thousands of guns, and stormed the Bastille, a symbol of royal authority, a prison which at the time held only seven prisoners, four counterfeiters, one libertine aristocrat imprisoned at the demand of his family, and two lunatics. The first independent Paris Commune, or city council, met in the Hôtel de Ville and on 15 July, and a new Mayor, the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly. ^[42]

On 6 October 1789, Louis XVI and his family were brought to Paris and made virtual prisoners within the Tuileries Palace. On 21 June 1791, the royal family fled Paris, was arrested in Varennes and brought back to Paris on the 25th. On 10 August 1792, mobs of the most militant revolutionaries, the sans-culottes attacked the Tuileries Palace. On 13 August, Louis XVI and his family were imprisoned in the Temple fortress. Between 2 and 7 September, massacres took place in the prisons, which was the beginning of the Reign of Terror (la Terreur) imposed upon France by the new government. On 21 January 1793, Louis XVI was guillotined on the Place de la Révolution, the former Place Louis XV. Marie Antoinette was executed on the same square on 16 October 1793. Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, was sent to the guillotine. During the reign of terror, 16,594 persons were tried by the revolutionary tribunal and executed.^[43] The property of the aristocracy and the church was nationalised, and the churches closed, sold or demolished.^[44]

A succession of revolutionary factions ruled Paris: on 1 June 1793, the Montagnards seized power from the Girondins, then were replaced by Georges Danton and his followers; in 1794, they were overthrown and guillotined by a new government led by Maximillien Robespierre. On 27 July 1794, Robespierre himself was executed by a coalition of Montagnards and moderates. This signalled the end of the Terreur. The executions ceased and the prisons gradually emptied.^[45] The new government, the Directory (November 1795-November 1799), made its headquarters at the Luxembourg Palace. It was replaced in turn, on 9 November 1799 by the Consulate with Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul.^[46]

19th century

Between 1789 and 1799, the population of Paris dropped by one hundred thousand. Between 1799 and 1815, it gained 160,000 new residents, reaching a population of 660,000.^[47] Napoleon Bonaparte placed the city government under the Prefect of the Seine, named by him. He turned the Louvre into the Musée Napoléon, displaying paintings from the countries he conquered. He began building the Rue de Rivoli, erected a column made of the bronze of captured cannon in the Place Vendôme, built the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, a triumphal arch, on the Place du Carrousel, began a much larger one at Place de l'Étoile, and built a Temple to the Glory of his Great Army, which was consecrated as La Madeleine church during Louis-Philippe's reign, in 1842. He created Père Lachaise Cemetery and began building the Canal de l'Ourcq to bring fresh water to the city's fountains. He also built the city's first iron bridge, the Pont des Arts.^[47]

After the fall of Napoleon, Paris was occupied by thirty-thousand Russian and Allied soldiers, who camped in the Bois de Boulogne and along the Champs-Élysées. The Restoration period ended with the July Revolution of 1830, which brought a constitutional monarch, Louis Philippe I, to power. Louis Philippe erected the Luxor Obelisk on Place de la Concorde (1836) and the July Column in the Place de la Bastille (1840), finished the Arc de Triomphe (1836) and placed Napoleon's ashes in his tomb at Les Invalides (1840). Victor Hugo published The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in 1831, causing a revival of interest in Paris history, and the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral. The first railroad line from Paris to Saint-Germain-en-Laye opened in 1837, beginning a period of massive migration from the countryside to the city.^[47]

Louis-Philippe was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1848. Napoleon III became the first elected president of France in 1848, then declared himself Emperor in 1853. His prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, employed thousands of workers to build two hundred kilometres of wide new boulevards and streets, new aqueducts and sewers, and 1,835 hectares of new public parks, including the Bois de Boulogne, Bois de Vincennes, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Parc Montsouris and many smaller parks and squares.^[48] Haussmann imposed strict building standards on the new boulevards, setting the height, façade style, building material and color, which gave central Paris its distinctive look.^{[49] [50]} In 1860, Napoleon III annexed the surrounding towns to the city of Paris and created eight new arrondissements, expanding Paris to its current limits.^[48]

Napoleon III was captured and overthrown during Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), and Paris was besieged by the Prussian Army. After months of blockade, hunger, and then bombardment by the Prussians, the city was forced to surrender on 28 January 1871.

On 28 March 1871, a revolutionary government called the Paris Commune seized power in Paris. The Commune held power for two months, until it was suppressed by the French army at the end of May 1871. Seven to ten thousand Communards were killed in the fighting or shot afterwards by summary firing squads during the Bloody Week (21 to 28 May 1871), eight thousand more were imprisoned, deported to New Caledonia, or fled abroad. Several Paris landmarks, including the Tuileries Palace and Hôtel de Ville, were burned by the Communards in the last days of fighting.^[51]

Late in the 19th century, Paris hosted two major international expositions: the 1889 Universal Exposition, was held to mark the centennial of the French Revolution, and featured the Eiffel Tower; and the 1900 Universal Exposition, which gave Paris the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais and the first Paris Métro line.^[52]

20th century

By 1901, the population of Paris had grown to 2,715,000.^[53] The city became the birthplace of modern art; Pablo Picasso, living in Montmartre, painted his famous La famille de saltimbanques and Les Demoiselles d'Avignon between 1904 and 1909.^[54]

In September 1914, at the beginning of the First World War, Paris found itself on the front line; it was spared by the French and British victory at the First Battle of the Marne, achieved with the assistance of some 600 to 1000 Paris taxis which carried six thousand soldiers to the front. (The taxis dutifully ran their metres, as required by law, and were reimbursed 70,002 francs by the French treasury).^[55] In the years after the war, known as Les Années Folles, Paris attracted artists, writers and musicians from around the world, including Ernest Hemingway, Igor Stravinsky and Josephine Baker. Paris gave birth to the art movements known as dadaism and surrealism.

On 14 June 1940, the German army entered Paris without resistance.^[56] On 16–17 July 1942, following German orders, the French police and gendarmes arrested 12,884 Jews, in the great majority Jews who had fled eastern and central Europe and found refuge in France before World War II, among which 4115 were children, and confined them during five days at the Vel d'Hiv (Vélodrome d'Hiver), from which they were taken by bus to French internment and transit camps at Drancy, Beaune-la-Rolande and Pithiviers, before being transported by train to the extermination camp at Auschwitz. None of the children came back.^[57][58] Shortly after a resistance and police uprising, the city was liberated on 25 August 1944 by the French 2nd Armored Division and the US 4th Infantry Division.

The population of Paris dropped from 2,850,000 in 1954 to 2,152,000 in 1990, as middle-class families departed for the suburbs.^[59] A suburban railroad network, called the RER, was built to complement the Métro, and the Périphérique expressway encircling the city, was completed in 1973.^[60]

In May 1968, protesting students occupied the Sorbonne and put up barricades in the Latin Quarter. Thousands of Paris workers joined the students, and the student movement grew into a two-week general strike. Supporters of the government won the June elections by a large majority, but the May 1968 events in France resulted in the breakup of the University of Paris into thirteen independent campuses.^[61]

The tallest building in the city, the Tour Montparnasse, 57 stories and 210 metres high, was built between 1969 and 1973. Frequently criticised by Parisians, it remains the city's only skyscraper.^[58]

Each President of the postwar Fifth French Republic added his own monuments to Paris. President Georges Pompidou started the Centre Georges Pompidou (1977), a museum of 20th century art; Valéry Giscard d'Estaing began the Musée d'Orsay (1986), devoted to 19th century French art. President François Mitterrand, in power for fourteen years, built the Opéra Bastille (1985-1989), the Bibliothèque nationale de France (1996), the Arche de la Défense (1985-1989), and the Louvre Pyramid and underground courtyard (1983-1989).^[58]

Since the reign of Napoleon, Paris had mayors for each arrondissement, but the city as a whole was run by officials named by the national government. In 1975, the National Assembly changed the status of Paris to that of other French cities, and on 25 March 1977 Jacques Chirac became the first elected Mayor since 1793. ^[62]

21st century

In the early 21st century, the population of Paris began to increase slowly again, as more young people moved into the city. It reached 2.25 million in 2011.

In March 2001, Bertrand Delanoë became the first Socialist mayor of Paris, and also the first openly gay mayor of the city. In 2007, in an effort to reduce car traffic in the city, he introduced the Vélib', a system which rents bicycles for the use of local residents and visitors. The new Mayor also transformed a section of the highway along the left bank of the Seine into an urban promenade and park, the Promenade des Berges de la Seine.

In 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy launched the Grand Paris project, to integrate Paris more closely with the surrounding regions. It called for the construction of a €26.5 billion new automatic metro, connecting the Grand Paris regions to one another and to the centre of Paris.^[63]

On 5 April 2014, Anne Hidalgo, a socialist, was elected the first woman mayor of Paris.

Geography

Paris is located in northern central France. By road it is 450 kilometres (280 mi) south-east of London, 287 kilometres (178 mi) south of Calais, 305 kilometres (190 mi) south-west of Brussels, 774 kilometres (481 mi) north of Marseille, 385 kilometres (239 mi) north-east of Nantes, and 135 kilometres (84 mi) south-east of Rouen.^[64] Paris is located in the north-bending arc of the river Seine, spread widely on both banks of the river, and includes two inhabited islands, the Île Saint-Louis and the larger Île de la Cité, which forms the oldest part of the city. The river’s mouth on the English Channel (Manche) is about 233 mi (375 km) downstream of the city. Overall, the city is relatively flat, and the lowest point is 35 m (115 ft) above sea level. Paris has several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130 m (427 ft) .^[65] Montmartre gained its name from the martyrdom of Saint Denis, first bishop of Paris atop the "Mons Martyrum" (Martyr's mound) in 250.

Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, Paris occupies an oval measuring about 87 km² (34 sq mi) in area, enclosed by the 35 km (22 mi) ring road, the Boulevard Périphérique.^[66] The city's last major annexation of outlying territories in 1860 not only gave it its modern form but also created the twenty clockwise-spiralling arrondissements (municipal boroughs). From the 1860 area of 78 km² (30 sq mi), the city limits were expanded marginally to 86.9 km² (33.6 sq mi) in the 1920s. In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes forest parks were officially annexed to the city, bringing its area to about 105 km² (41 sq mi).^[67] The metropolitan area of the city is 2,300 km² (890 sq mi).^[68]

Climate

Paris has a typical Western European oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb ) which is affected by the North Atlantic Current. The overall climate throughout the year is mild and moderately wet.^[69] Summer days are usually moderately warm and pleasant with average temperatures hovering between 15 and 25 °C (59 and 77 °F), and a fair amount of sunshine.^[70] Each year, however, there are a few days where the temperature rises above 30 °C (86 °F). Some years have even witnessed long periods of harsh summer weather, such as the heat wave of 2003 where temperatures exceeded 30 °C (86 °F) for weeks, surged up to 39 °C (102 °F) on some days and seldom cooled down at night.^[71] More recently, the average temperature for July 2011 was 17.6 °C (63.7 °F), with an average minimum temperature of 12.9 °C (55.2 °F) and an average maximum temperature of 23.7 °C (74.7 °F).

Spring and autumn have, on average, mild days and fresh nights, but are changing and unstable. Surprisingly warm or cool weather occurs frequently in both seasons.^[72] In winter, sunshine is scarce; days are cold but generally above freezing with temperatures around 7 °C (45 °F).^[73] Light night frosts are however quite common, but the temperature will dip below −5 °C (23 °F) for only a few days a year. Snowfall is uncommon, but the city sometimes sees light snow or flurries with or without accumulation.^[74]

Rain falls throughout the year. Average annual precipitation is 652 mm (25.7 in) with light rainfall fairly distributed throughout the year. The highest recorded temperature is 40.4 °C (104.7 °F) on 28 July 1948, and the lowest is a −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F) on 10 December 1879.^[75]

Administration

City government

Paris has been a commune (municipality) since 1834 (and also briefly between 1790 and 1795). At the 1790 division (during the French Revolution) of France into communes, and again in 1834, Paris was a city only half its modern size, composed of 12 arrondissements,^[77] but, in 1860, it annexed bordering communes, totally enclosing the surrounding towns (bourgs) either fully or partly, to create the new administrative map of 20 arrondissements (municipal districts) the city still has today.

For almost all of its long history, except for a few brief periods, Paris was governed directly by representatives of the King, Emperor, or President of France. The city was not granted municipal autonomy by the National Assembly until 1974.^[78] The first modern elected Mayor of Paris was Jacques Chirac, elected 20 March 1977.

The Mayor of Paris is not elected directly by Paris voters; the voters of each arrondissement elect the Conseil de Paris (Council of Paris), composed of 163 members. Each arrondissement has a number of members depending upon its population, from ten members for each of the least-populated arrondissements (1st through 9th) to thirty-six members for the most populated (the 15th). The elected Council members select the Mayor. Sometimes the candidate who receives the most votes city-wide is not selected, if the other candidate has won the support of the majority of council members; Mayor Dalanoë was elected by a minority of city voters, but a majority of council members. Once elected, the Council plays a largely passive role in the city government; they meet only once a month.

Each of Paris' twenty arrondissements has its own town hall and a directly elected council (conseil d'arrondissement), which, in turn, elects an arrondissement mayor.^[79] The council of each arrondissement is composed of members of the Conseil de Paris and also members who serve only on the council of the arrondissement. The number of deputy mayors in each arrondissement varies depending upon its population. There are a total of twenty arrondissement mayors and one hundred twenty deputy mayors.^[80]

Regional government

The Region of Île de France, including Paris and its surrounding communities, is governed by the Regional Council, which has its headquarters in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is composed of 209 members representing the different communes within the region, with a majority belonging to the Socialists and their allies. The current President of the Council is Jean-Paul Huchon, a socialist. The next elections for the Regional council will take place in 2015.

National government

As the capital of France, Paris is the seat of France's national government. For the executive, the two chief officers each have their own official residences, which also serve as their offices. The President of France resides at the Élysée Palace (Palais de l'Élysée) in the 8th arrondissement,^[81] while the Prime Minister's seat is at the Hôtel Matignon in the 7th arrondissement.^[82][83] Government ministries are located in various parts of the city; many are located in the 7th arrondissement, near the Matignon.

The two houses of the French Parliament are located on the left bank. The upper house, the Senate, meets in the Palais du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement, while the more important lower house, the Assemblée Nationale, meets in the Palais Bourbon in the 7th arrondissement. The President of the Senate, the third-highest public official in France,^[84] resides in the Petit Luxembourg, a smaller palace annex to the Palais du Luxembourg.^[85]

France's highest courts are located in Paris. The Court of Cassation, the highest court in the judicial order, which reviews criminal and civil cases, is located in the Palais de Justice on the Île de la Cité,^[86] while the Conseil d'État, which provides legal advice to the executive and acts as the highest court in the administrative order, judging litigation against public bodies, is located in the Palais Royal in the 1st arrondissement.^[87] The Constitutional Council, an advisory body with ultimate authority on the constitutionality of laws enacted by Parliament, also meets in the Montpensier wing of the Palais Royal.^[88]

Paris and its region host the headquarters of many international organisations including UNESCO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Paris Club, the European Space Agency, the International Energy Agency, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the European Union Institute for Security Studies, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the International Exhibition Bureau and the International Federation for Human Rights.

Demographics

2019 Census Paris Region
(Île-de-France)[89][90]
Country/territory of birth Population Metropolitan France 9,215,134 Algeria 330,935 Morocco 253,518 Portugal 234,399 Tunisia 127,827 Guadeloupe 81,269 Martinique 75,959 China 71,500 Turkey 67,982 Mali 66,085 Côte d'Ivoire 63,810 Senegal 60,124 Italy 58,141 Romania 53,848 Democratic Republic of Congo 52,449 Spain 45,828 Sri Lanka 45,786 Cameroon 45,370
Other countries/territories Republic of the Congo 38,651 Haiti 36,685 Poland 35,871 Vietnam 35,251 Cambodia 30,321   Réunion 30,077 India 29,623 Serbia 25,632 Lebanon 21,066 Madagascar 21,002 Germany 20,523 Pakistan 20,178 Russia 19,019 Mauritius 18,840 Guinea 18,709 Brazil 17,887 United Kingdom 17,789 United States 17,583 Other countries and territories 857,720

As of the January 2011 census, the population of the city of Paris proper stood at 2,249,975,.^[2] The population of the Paris Metropolitan Area (the city, its suburbs and the commuter belt around them) stood at 12,292,895.^[4] Though substantially lower than at its peak in the early 1920s, the density of the city proper is one of the highest in the developed world. Compared to the rest of France, the main features of the Parisian population are a high average income, relatively young median age, high proportion of international migrants and high economic inequalities. Similar characteristics are found in other large cities throughout the world.

Population evolution

The population of the city proper reached a maximum shortly after World War I, with nearly 3 million inhabitants, and then decreased for the rest of the 20th century to the benefit of the suburbs. Most of the decline occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, when it fell from 2.8 to 2.2 million.^[91] This trend toward de-densification of the centre was also observed in other large cities like London and New York City.

Since the beginning of 21st century, the population of the city of Paris proper has started once again to rise, gaining 125,000 inhabitants between 1999 and 2011,^[2] despite persistent negative net migration and a fertility rate well below 2.^[92] The population growth is explained by the high proportion of people in the 18-40 age range who are most likely to have children.^[93] The Paris Metropolitan Area, whose population has grown uninterruptedly since the end of World War II, gained 937,000 inhabitants between 1999 and 2011.^[4] Contrary to the city of Paris proper, the fertility rate of the overall metropolitan area is above 2 children per woman.^[94]

Paris is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.^[95] Its population density, excluding the outlying woodland parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, was 25,864 inhabitants per square kilometre (66,986 /sq mi) at the 2011 census, which could be compared only with some Asian megapolises and the New York City borough of Manhattan. Even including the two woodland areas, its population density was 21,347 /km2 (55,288 /sq mi),^[4] the fifth-most-densely populated commune in France after Levallois-Perret, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Vincennes, Saint-Mandé, and Montrouge—all of which border the city proper. The most sparsely populated quarters are the western and central office and administration-focused arrondissements. The city's population is densest in the northern and eastern arrondissements; the 11th arrondissement had a density of 42,138 inhabitants per square kilometre (109,137 /sq mi) in 2011, and some of its eastern quarters had densities close to 100,000 /km2 (260,000 /sq mi) in the same year.

Migration

Paris and its metropolitan area is one of the most multi-cultural in Europe: at the 2011 census, 23.1% of the total population in the Paris Region was born outside of Metropolitan France, up from 22.2% at the 2006 census, and 19.7% at the 1999 census.^[96]

About one-third of persons who have recently moved to Metropolitan France from foreign countries settle in the Paris Region, about a third of whom in the city of Paris proper.^[97] 20% of the Paris population are first-generation international immigrants, and 40% of children have at least one immigrant parent. Recent immigrants tend to be more diverse in terms of qualification: more of them have no qualification at all and more of them have tertiary education.^[97]

Though international migration rate is positive, population flows from the rest of France are more intense, and negative. They are heavily age dependent: while many retired people leave Paris for the southern and western parts of France, migration flows are positive in the 18-30 age range.^[98] About one half of Île-de-France population was not born in the region.

Economy

La Défense, the largest dedicated business district in Europe.^[99]

The Paris Region is France's premier centre of economic activity, and with a 2011 GDP of €607 billion^[100] (US$845 billion); it is has one of the highest GDPs in the world.,^[101] Were it a country, it would rank as the seventeenth-largest economy in the world.^[102] While its population accounted for 18.8 percent of the total population of metropolitan France in 2011,^[103] its GDP accounted for 31.0 per cent of metropolitan France's GDP.^[100]

The Parisian economy has been gradually shifting towards high-value-added service industries (finance, IT services, etc.) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics, optics, aerospace, etc.). However, in the 2009 European Green City Index, Paris was still listed as the second most "green" large city in Europe, after Berlin.^[104] The Paris region's most intense economic activity through the central Hauts-de-Seine département and suburban La Défense business district places Paris' economic centre to the west of the city, in a triangle between the Opéra Garnier, La Défense and the Val de Seine. While the Paris economy is largely dominated by services, it remains an important manufacturing powerhouse of Europe, especially in industrial sectors such as automobiles, aeronautics, and electronics. The Paris Region hosts the headquarters of eight of the top one hundred companies in the 2014 Fortune Global 500.^[105]

The 1999 census indicated that, of the 5,089,170 persons employed in the Paris urban area, 16.5 per cent worked in business services; 13% in commerce (retail and wholesale trade); 12% in manufacturing; 10.0 per cent in public administrations and defence; 8.7 per cent in health services; 8% in transport and communications; 6.6 per cent in education, and the remaining 25% in many other economic sectors. In the manufacturing sector, the largest employers were the electronic and electrical industry (17.9 per cent of the total manufacturing workforce in 1999) and the publishing and printing industry (14.0 per cent of the total manufacturing workforce), with the remaining 68% of the manufacturing workforce distributed among many other industries. Tourism and tourist related services employ 6% of Paris' workforce, and 3.6 per cent of all workers within the Paris Region.

Paris receives around 28 million tourists per year,^[106] of which 17 million are foreign visitors,.^[107] In 2013-2014, Paris received 15.57 million international overnight visitors, which made Paris the third most popular tourist destination city, after London and Bangkok.^[108] Paris has four UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Its museums and monuments are among its highest-esteemed attractions; tourism has motivated both the city and national governments to create new ones. The city's top tourist attraction was the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, which welcomed 14 million visitors in 2013. The Louvre museum had more than 9.2 million visitors in 2013, making it the most visited museum in the world. The other top cultural attractions in Paris in 2013 were the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (10,500,000 visitors); the Eiffel Tower (6,740,000 visitors); the Centre Pompidou (3.745.000 visitors) and Musée d'Orsay (3,467.000 visitors).^[109] Disneyland Paris, in Marne-la-Vallée, 32 km (20 miles) east of centre of Paris, is a major tourist attraction for visitors to not only Paris but also the rest of Europe, with 14.5 million visitors in 2007.

Income

The GDP per capita in the Île-de-France region was around 49,800 euros in 2010.^[110] The average net household income (after social, pension and health insurance contributions) was 36,085 euros in Paris for 2011.^[111] It ranges from €22,095 in the 19th^[112] arrondissement to €82,449 in the 7th^[113] arrondissement. The median taxable income for 2011 was around 25,000 euros in Paris and 22,200 for Île-de-France.^[114] Generally speaking, incomes are higher in the Western part of the city and in the Western suburbs than in the Northern and Eastern parts of the urban area.

Cityscape

Panorama of Paris as seen from the Eiffel Tower as a 270-degree view. The river flows from right to left, from the north-east to the south-west.

Architecture

Most French rulers since the Middle ages made a point of leaving their mark on a city that, contrary to many other of the world's capitals, has never been destroyed by catastrophy or war. In modernising its infrastruction through the centuries, Paris has preserved even its earliest history in its street map.

Before the Middle ages, the city was composed around several islands and sandbanks in a bend of the Seine. Three remain today: the île Saint-Louis, the île de la Cité and the île aux Cygnes. Modern Paris owes much to its late 19th century Second Empire remodelling by the Baron Haussmann: many of modern Paris' busiest streets, avenues and boulevards today are a result of that city renovation. Paris also owes its style to its aligned street-fronts, building-unique upper-level stone ornamentation, aligned top-floor balconies, and its tree-lined boulevards. The high residential population of its city centre makes it much different from most other western global cities.

Paris' urbanism laws have been under strict control since the early 17th century^[115], particularly where streetfront alignment, building height and building distribution is concerned. In recent developments, a 1974-2010 building height limitation of 37 metres (121 ft) was raised to 50 m (160 ft) in central areas and 180 metres (590 ft) in some of Paris' peripheral quarters, yet for some of Paris' more central quarters, even older building-height laws still remain in effect. The 210 metres (690 ft) Montparnasse tower was both Paris and France's tallest building until 1973^[116], but this record has been held by the La Defense quarter tour First tower in Courbevoie since its 2011 construction. Skyscrapers are appearing in many of Paris' closest suburbs, particularly in La Defense where there are projects to build towers between 265 metres (869 ft) and 323 metres (1,060 ft) high^[117].

Churches are the oldest intact buildings in the city, and show high Gothic architecture at its best—Notre Dame cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle are two of the most striking buildings in the city.^[118] The latter half of the 19th-century was an era of architectural inspiration, with buildings such as the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, built between 1875 and 1919 in a neo-Byzantine design.^[119] Paris' most famous architectural piece, the Eiffel Tower, was built as a temporary exhibit for the 1889 World Fair and remains an enduring symbol of the capital with its iconic structure and position, towering over much of the city.^[120]

Housing

Paris is the 8th most expensive city in the world for luxury housing^[121]: €12,105 per square metre (€1,124.6/sq ft) in 2007 (with London at the most expensive with €36,800 per square metre (€3,420/sq ft))^[122]. According to a 2012 study for the La Tribune newspaper, the most expensive street is the quai des Orfèvres in Paris' 6th, with an average price of €20,665 per square metre (€1,919.8/sq ft), against €3,900 per square metre (€360/sq ft) for the 18th arrondissement rue Pajol^[123].

The total number of residences in the City of Paris in 2011 was 1,356,074, up from a former high of 1,334,815 in 2006. Among these, 1,165,541 (85,9%) were main residences, 91,835 (6,8%) were secondary residences, and the remaining 7.3% were empty (down from 9,2% in 2006).^[124]

Paris' urban tissue began to fill and overflow its 1860 limits from around the 1920s, and because of its density, it has seen few modern constructions since then. Sixty-two percent of its buildings date from 1949 and before, 20% were built between 1949 and 1974, and only 18% of the buildings remaining were built after that date.^[125]

Two-thirds of Paris' 1.3 million residences are studio and two-room apartments. Paris averages 1.9 residents per residence, a number that has remained constant since the 1980s, but it is much less than the Île-de-France's 2.33 person-per-residence average. Only 33% of principal-residence Parisians own their habitation (against 47% for the entire Île-de-France): the major part of Paris' population is a rent-paying one.^[125]

Social housing represents a little more than 17% of Paris' total residences, but these are rather unevenly distributed throughout the capital: the vast majority of these are concentrated in a crescent formed by Paris' south-western to northern periphery arrondissements.^[126]

Major monuments and attractions

The whole of the Paris banks of the Seine are referenced as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991.^[127] From the Middle Ages to the 21st century, the banks have been enriched with successive monuments over time on a large area extending from the Île de la Cité, hosting Notre-Dame (1163-1345) and Sainte-Chapelle (1242-1248), to the Eiffel Tower (1887-1889) and Musée du Quai Branly (2006). Between both ends can be found from east to west the Louvre (1202-1989), Musée d'Orsay (1900-1986), Les Invalides (1671-1678) and the Grand Palais (1897-1900).^[127]

The Axe historique of Paris has inspired many major cities worldwide.^[128] The east-west perspective starts in the center of Paris at the Louvre Palace, follows then through the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the Tuileries Garden, the Luxor Obelisk at place de la Concorde, continues along the avenue des Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe at place de l'Étoile, crosses the périphérique at Porte Maillot, the Seine river at Pont de Neuilly, then follows the central esplanade of the business district of La Défense, dominated by its skyscrapers, and ends finally at the Grande Arche.^[128]

Major monuments and attractions from the 20th and 21st centuries are scattered all over the city: consecrated in 1919, the basilica of the Sacré-Cœur is built atop Butte Montmartre;^[129] Centre Pompidou (1971-1977) and the Forum des Halles (currently under reconstruction and due to be completed by 2016^[130]) have been built in the heart of the city; Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (1986), the largest science museum in Europe,^[131] and Cité de la Musique (1995) are both located in the Parc de la Villette. Eventually, the Contemporary Art museum of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, drawn by the architect Frank Gehry, opened on October 2014 in the Bois de Boulogne.^[132]

In the Paris metropolitan area, the entertainment resort of Disneyland Paris is the most visited attraction in the region with 15.3 million visitors in 2008.^[133] In Seine-Saint-Denis, the Basilica of St Denis is the royal necropolis of French kings and queens.^[134] The Paris region also hosts 3 other UNESCO Heritage sites: the Palace of Versailles in the west,^[135] the Château de Fontainebleau in the south^[136] and the medieval fairs site of Provins in the east.^[137]

Parks and gardens

Paris today has more than 421 municipal parks and gardens, covering more than three thousand hectares and containing more than 250,000 trees.^[138] Two of Paris' oldest and most famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden, created in 1564 for the Tuileries Palace, and redone by André Le Nôtre between 1664 and 1672, ^[139] and the Luxembourg Garden, for the Luxembourg Palace, built for Marie de' Medici in 1612, which today houses the French Senate. ^[140] The Jardin des Plantes was the first botanical garden in Paris, created in 1626 by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the cultivation of medicinal plants.^[141] Between 1853 and 1870, the Emperor Napoleon III and the city's first director of parks and gardens, Jean-Charles Alphand, created the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois de Vincennes, Parc Montsouris and the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, located at the four points of the compass around the city, as well as many smaller parks, squares and gardens in the Paris' quarters.^[138] One hundred sixty-six new parks have been created since 1977, most notably the Parc de la Villette (1987-1991), Parc André Citroën (1992), and Parc de Bercy (1997).^[138] One of the newest park in Paris, the Promenade des Berges de la Seine, built on a former highway on the left bank of the Seine between the Pont de l'Alma and the Musée d'Orsay, has floating gardens and gives a view of the city's landmarks.

Water and sanitation

Paris in its early history had only the Seine and Bièvre rivers for water. From 1809, the canal de l'Ourcq provided Paris with water from less-polluted rivers to the north-east of the capital.^[142] From 1857, the civil engineer Eugène Belgrand, under Napoleon III, oversaw the construction of a series of new aqueducts that brought water from locations all around the city to several reservoirs built atop the Capital's highest points of elevation.^[143] From then on, the new reservoir system became Paris' principal source of drinking water, and the remains of the old system, pumped into lower levels of the same reservoirs, were from then on used for the cleaning of Paris' streets. This system is still a major part of Paris' modern water-supply network. Today Paris has over 2,400 km (1,491 mi) of underground passageways^[144] dedicated to the evacuation of Paris' liquid wastes.

In 1982, the then mayor, Jacques Chirac, introduced the motorcycle-mounted Motocrotte to remove dog faeces from Paris streets.^[145] The project was abandoned in 2002 for a new and better enforced local law, under the terms of which dog owners can be fined up to 500 euros for not removing their dog faeces.^[146] The air pollution in Paris, from the point of view of particulate matter (pm10), is the highest in France, with 38 µg/m³.^[147]

Cemeteries

In Paris' Roman era, its main cemetery was located to the outskirts of the left bank settlement, but this changed with the rise of Catholicism, where most every inner-city church had adjoining burial grounds for use by their parishes. With Paris' growth many of these, particularly the city's largest cemetery, les Innocents, were filled to overflowing, creating quite unsanitary conditions for the capital. When inner-city burials were condemned from 1786, the contents of all Paris' parish cemeteries were transferred to a renovated section of Paris' stone mines outside the "Porte d'Enfer" city gate, today place Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement.^[148][149] The process of moving bones from Cimetière des Innocents to the catacombs took place between 1786 and 1814;^[150] part of the network of tunnels and remains can be visited today on the official tour of the catacombs. After a tentative creation of several smaller suburban cemeteries, the Prefect Nicholas Frochot under Napoleon Bonaparte provided a more definitive solution in the creation of three massive Parisian cemeteries outside the city limits.^[151] Open from 1804, these were the cemeteries of Père Lachaise, Montmartre, Montparnasse, and later Passy; these cemeteries became inner-city once again when Paris annexed all neighboring communes to the inside of its much larger ring of suburban fortifications in 1860. New suburban cemeteries were created in the early 20th century: The largest of these are the Cimetière parisien de Saint-Ouen, the Cimetière parisien de Pantin (also known as Cimetière parisien de Pantin-Bobigny, the Cimetière parisien d'Ivry, and the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux.

Human Resources

Healthcare

Most health care and emergency medical service in the city of Paris and its suburbs are provided by the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), a public hospital system that employs more than 90,000 people (including practitioners, support personnel, and administrators) in 44 hospitals.^[152] It is the largest hospital system in Europe. It provides health care, teaching, research, prevention, education and emergency medical service in 52 branches of medicine. It employs more than 90,000 people (including 15,800 physicians) in 44 hospitals and receives more than 5.8 million annual patient visits.^[152]

One of the most notable hospitals is the Hôtel-Dieu, said to have been founded in 651, the oldest hospital in the city.^[153] Other hospitals include the Hôpital Beaujon, Hôpital Bichat-Claude-Bernard, Hôpital de Bicètre, Hôpital Cochin, Hôpital Européen Georges-Pompidou, Hôpital Lariboisière, Hôpital Necker - Enfants Malades, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Hôpital Saint-Louis, Hôpital Tenon and Val-de-Grâce.

Education

The Lycée Louis-le-Grand

Paris is the département with the highest proportion of highly educated people. In 2009, around 40 per cent of Parisians hold a diploma licence-level diploma or higher, the highest proportion in France,^[154] while 13 per cent have no diploma, the third lowest percentage in France.

In the early 9th century, the emperor Charlemagne mandated all churches to give lessons in reading, writing and basic arithmetic to their parishes, and cathedrals to give a higher-education in the finer arts of language, physics, music, and theology; at that time, Paris was already one of France's major cathedral towns and beginning its rise to fame as a scholastic centre. By the early 13th century, the Île de la Cité Notre-Dame cathedral school had many famous teachers, and the controversial teachings of some of these led to the creation of a separate left bank Sainte-Genevieve University that would become the centre of Paris' scholastic Latin Quarter best represented by the Sorbonne university.^[155] Twelve centuries later, education in Paris and the Île-de-France region employs approximately 330,000 persons, 170,000 of whom are teachers and professors teaching approximately 2.9 million children and students in around 9,000 primary, secondary, and higher education schools and institutions.^[156]

Paris is home to several of France's most prestigious high-schools such as Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Lycée Henri-IV, Lycée Janson de Sailly and Lycée Condorcet.

The Paris region hosts France's highest concentration of the prestigious grandes écoles – specialised centres of higher-education outside the public university structure. The prestigious public universities are usually considered grands établissements. Most of the grandes écoles were relocated to the suburbs of Paris in the 1960s and 1970s, in new campuses much larger than the old campuses within the crowded city of Paris, though the École Normale Supérieure has remained on rue d'Ulm in the 5th arrondissement.^[157] There are a high number of engineering schools, led by the prestigious Paris Institute of Technology (ParisTech) which comprises several colleges such as Arts et Métiers ParisTech, École Polytechnique, École des Mines, AgroParisTech, Télécom Paris, and École des Ponts et Chaussées. There are also many business schools, including INSEAD, ESSEC, HEC and ESCP Europe. The administrative school such as ENA has been relocated to Strasbourg, the political science school Sciences-Po is still located in Paris' 7th arrondissement. The Parisian school of journalism CELSA department of the Paris-Sorbonne University is located in Neuilly-sur-Seine.^[158]

Libraries

The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) operates public libraries in Paris, among them the François-Mitterrand Library, Richelieu Library, Louvois, Opéra Library, and Arsenal Library.^[159]

There are 74 public libraries in Paris, including specialised collections spread throughout the city. In the 4th arrondissement, the Forney Library is dedicated to the decorative arts; the Arsenal Library occupies a former military building, and has a large collection on French literature; and the Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris, also located in Le Marais, contains the Paris historical research service.
Designed by Henri Labrouste and built in the mid-1800s, the Sainte-Geneviève Library hosts a rare books and manuscripts section.^[160] Bibliothèque Mazarine, in the 6th arrondissement, is the oldest public library in France. The Médiathèque Musicale Mahler in the 8th arrondissement opened in 1986 and contains collections related to music while the four glass towers of the François Mitterrand Library (nicknamed Très Grande Bibliothèque) stand out in the 13th arrondissement thanks to a design by Dominique Perrault.^[160]

There are several academic libraries and archives in Paris. The Sorbonne Library in the 5th arrondissement is the largest university library in Paris. In addition to the Sorbonne location, there are branches in Malesherbes, Clignancourt-Championnet, Michelet-Institut d’Art et d’Archéologie, Serpente-Maison de la Recherche, and Institut des Etudes Ibériques.^[161]
Other academic libraries include the Inter-university Pharmaceutical Library, the Leonardo da Vinci University Library, the Ecole des Mines Library, and the René Descartes University Library.^[162]

Media

The Paris area is home to numerous newspapers, magazines and publications including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur, Le Canard enchaîné, L'Express, Le Point, Le Parisien, Les Inrockuptibles, Paris Match, Télérama, Le Journal du Dimanche and Courrier International.^[163] Agence France-Presse is France's oldest, and one of the world's oldest, continually operating news agencies. AFP, as it is colloquially abbreviated, maintains its headquarters in Paris, as it has since 1835.^[164] France 24 is a television news channel owned and operated by the French government, and is based in Paris.^[165] Another news agency is France Diplomatie, owned and operated by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and pertains solely to diplomatic news and occurrences.^[166]

The most-viewed network in France, TF1, is based in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, along with a plentiful number of others, including France Télévisions, Canal+, M6, Arte, D8, W9, NT1, NRJ 12, La Chaîne parlementaire and BFM TV, along with a multitude of others.^[167] Radio France, France's public radio broadcaster, and its various channels, are based in Paris. Radio France Internationale, another public broadcaster is also based in the city.^[168] The national postal carrier of France, including overseas territories, is known as La Poste. Headquartered in the 15th arrondissement, it is responsible for postal service in France and Paris.^[169]

Religion

Like the rest of France, Paris has been predominantly Roman Catholic since the Middle Ages, though religious attendance is now low. Political instability in the Third Republic was a result of disagreements about the role of the Church in society.^[170] The French Constitution makes no mention of the religious affiliations of its people and allows the freedom to practice any religion of their choice provided it was done as a private matter.^[171]

Some of the notable churches in Paris are: Notre-Dame de Paris, the most famous Gothic structure (the cathedral where Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804);^[172] La Madeleine (Church of St. Mary Magdalene), built in 1806 in the form of a Roman temple;^[173] Sainte-Chapelle, built in 1247–50 in Gothic Rayonnant style and damaged in the French Revolution, it was restored in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc;^[174] Chapel of Les Invalides (Church of Saint-Louis), built between 1671–91;^[175] Sacré-Coeur Basilica (Basilique du Sacré-Coeur), built from 1876–1912;^[176] Saint-Sulpice (1646–1776); Le Panthéon (1756–97), in Neoclassical style; and Basilique Saint-Denis (1136).^[177]

Sports

Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Olympic Games and was venue for the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups and for the 2007 Rugby World Cup Paris' most popular sport clubs are the association football club Paris Saint-Germain FC, and the rugby union clubs Stade Français and Racing Métro. The 80,000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located in Saint-Denis.^[178] It is used for football, rugby union and track and field athletics. It hosts the France national football team for friendlies and major tournaments qualifiers, France national rugby union team's home matches in the annual Six Nations Championship, and several important matches of the Stade Français rugby team.^[178] In addition to Paris Saint-Germain FC, the city has a number of other amateur football clubs: Paris FC, Red Star, RCF Paris and Stade Français Paris. Paris will host the final of UEFA Euro 2016; the 15th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. It is scheduled to be held in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016.^[179]

Although the starting point and the route of the famous Tour de France varies each year, the final stage always finishes in Paris, and, since 1975, the race has finished on the Champs-Elysées.^[180] The 2006 UEFA Champions League Final between Arsenal and FC Barcelona was played in the Stade de France.^[181] Paris hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup final at Stade de France on 20 October 2007.^[182] Tennis is another popular sport in Paris and throughout France; the French Open, held every year on the red clay of the Roland Garros National Tennis Centre,^[183] is one of the four Grand Slam events of the world professional tennis tour. The basketball team Paris-Levallois Basket play at the 4,000 capacity Stade Pierre de Coubertin. The city has hosted the Paris City Chess Championship since 1925, and has also hosted the Paris 1867 chess tournament and Paris 1900 chess tournament.

Transport

Paris is a major rail, highway, and air transport hub. The Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France (STIF), formerly Syndicat des transports parisiens (STP) oversees the transit network in the region.^[184] The syndicate coordinates public transport and contracts it out to the RATP (operating 654 bus lines, the Métro, three tramway lines, and sections of the RER), the SNCF (operating suburban rails, one tramway line and the other sections of the RER) and the Optile consortium of private operators managing 1,070 minor bus lines.

Local Transport

Métro, RER, and tramway

The city's subway system, the Métro, was opened in 1900 and is the most widely used Transport system within the city proper, carrying 5.23 million passengers daily.^[185] It comprises 303 stations (385 stops) connected by 220 km (136.7 mi) of rails, and 16 lines, identified by numbers from 1 to 14, with two minor lines, 3bis and 7bis. An additional express network, the RER, with five lines (A, B, C, D, & E), connects to more-distant parts of the urban area, with 257 stops and 587 km (365 mi) of rails.^[186]

Over €26.5 billion will be invested over the next 15 years to extend the Métro network into the suburbs.^[186]

In addition, the Paris region is served by a light rail network of seven lines, the tramway: Line T1 runs from Asnières-Gennevilliers to Noisy-le-Sec, line T2 runs from Pont de Bezons to Porte de Versailles, line T3a runs from Pont du Garigliano to Porte de Vincennes, line T3b runs from Porte de Vincennes to Porte de la Chapelle, line T5 runs from Saint-Denis to Garges-Sarcelles, line T7 runs from Villejuif to Athis-Mons, all of which are operated by the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens,^[187] and line T4 runs from Bondy RER to Aulnay-sous-Bois, which is operated by the state rail carrier SNCF.^[186] Six new light rail lines are currently in various stages of development.

Cycling

There are 440 km (270 mi) of cycle paths and routes in Paris. These include piste cyclable (bike lanes separated from other traffic by physical barriers such as a kerb) and bande cyclable (a bicycle lane denoted by a painted path on the road). Some 29 km (18 mi) of specially marked bus lanes are free to be used by cyclists, with a protective barrier protecting against encroachments from vehicles.^[188] Cyclists have also been given the right to ride in both directions on certain one-way streets. Paris offers a bike sharing system called Vélib' with more than 20,000 public bicycles distributed at 1,800 parking stations,^[189] which can be rented for short and medium distances including one way trips.

National and International Transport

Rail

Paris is a central hub of the national rail network. The six major railway stations—Gare du Nord, Gare de l'Est, Gare de Lyon, Gare d'Austerlitz, Gare Montparnasse, Gare Saint-Lazare—and a minor one—Gare de Bercy—are connected to three networks: The TGV serving four high-speed rail lines, the normal speed Corail trains, and the suburban rails (Transilien).

By train, London is now just two hours and 15 minutes away.^[190]

Air

Paris is a major international air transport hub with the 5th busiest airport system in the world. The city is served by three commercial international airports: Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly and Beauvais-Tillé. Together these three airports recorded a traffic of 94.1 million passengers in 2013.^[192] There is also one general aviation airport, Paris-Le Bourget, historically the oldest Parisian airport and closest to the city center, which is now used only for private business flights and air shows.

Orly Airport, located in the southern suburbs of Paris, replaced Le Bourget as the principal airport of Paris from the 1950s to the 1980s.^[193] Charles de Gaulle Airport, located on the edge of the northern suburbs of Paris, opened to commercial traffic in 1974 and became the busiest Parisian airport in 1993.^[194] Today it is the 4th busiest airport in the world by international traffic, and is the hub for the nation's flag carrier Air France. ^[186] Beauvais-Tillé Airport, located 69 km (43 mi) north of Paris' city center, is used by charter airlines and low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.

In 2013 the main domestic and international destinations served by the three commercial airports of Paris were the following:

Busiest destinations from Paris (CDG, ORY, BVA)

Rank	Domestic destinations	Passengers (2013)[195]		Rank	International destinations	Passengers (2013)[196][197]
1	Toulouse	3,186,291		1	Italy	7,476,516
2	Nice	3,005,490		2	Spain	6,775,329
3	Marseille	1,689,900		3	United States	6,406,081
4	Bordeaux	1,598,183		4	Germany	4,628,913
5	Pointe-à-Pitre	1,215,145		5	United Kingdom	4,036,672
6	Saint-Denis (Réunion)	1,107,059		6	Morocco	3,193,684
7	Fort-de-France	1,070,514		7	Portugal	2,697,006
8	Montpellier	792,245		8	Algeria	2,161,354
9	Biarritz	690,722		9	China	2,112,530
10	Lyon	586,659		10	Switzerland	1,751,803

Domestically, air travel between Paris and some of France's largest cities such as Lyon, Marseille, or Strasbourg has been in a large measure replaced by high-speed rail due to the opening of several high-speed TGV rail lines from the 1980s. For example, after the LGV Méditerranée opened in 2001, air traffic between Paris and Marseille declined from 2,976,793 passengers in 2000 to 1,689,900 passengers in 2013.^[195] After the LGV Est opened in 2007, air traffic between Paris and Strasbourg declined from 1,006,327 passengers in 2006 to 188,015 passengers in 2013.^[195]

Internationally, air traffic has increased markedly in recent years between Paris and the Gulf airports, the emerging nations of Africa, Russia, Turkey, Portugal, Italy, and mainland China, whereas noticeable decline has been recorded between Paris and the British Isles, Egypt, Tunisia, India, and Japan.^[196][197]

Roads

The city is also the most important hub of France's motorway network, and is surrounded by three orbital freeways: the Périphérique,^[66] which follows the approximate path of 19th-century fortifications around Paris, the A86 motorway in the inner suburbs, and finally the Francilienne motorway in the outer suburbs. Paris has an extensive road network with over 2,000 km (1,243 mi) of highways and motorways.

By road, Brussels can be reached in three hours, Frankfurt in six hours and Barcelona in 12 hours.

Waterways

The Paris region is the most active water transport area in France, with most of the cargo handled by Ports of Paris in facilities located around Paris. The Loire, Rhine, Rhone, Meuse and Scheldt rivers can be reached by canals connecting with the Seine, which include the Canal Saint-Martin, Canal Saint-Denis, and the Canal de l'Ourcq.^[198]

Culture

Art

Painting and sculpture

For centuries, Paris has attracted foreign artists arriving in the city to share their creativity, educate themselves, or seek inspiration from its vast pool of artistic resources and galleries. As a result, Paris has acquired a reputation as the "City of Art".^[199] Italian artists were a profound influence on the development of art in Paris in the 16th and 17th centuries, particular in sculpture and reliefs. In 1648, the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) was established to accommodate for the dramatic interest in art in the capital. This served as France's top art school until 1793.^[200] Painting and sculpture became the pride of the French monarchy, and the French royals and wealthy aristocrats commissioned French (and foreign) artists to adorn their palaces during the French Baroque and Classicism era. Sculptors such as François Girardon, Antoine Coysevox, Nicolas Coustou, Edmé Bouchardon, were among the finest at the royal court in 17th and 18th centuries France. Nicolas Poussin, Charles Le Brun and Pierre Mignard succeeded one another as Premier peintre du Roi ("First Painter to the King") to Louis XIV. At the end of the 18th century, the French Revolution, which brought political and social changes in France, had a profound influence on art in the capital. Paris was in its artistic prime in the 19th century and central to the development of Romanticism in art, with painters such as Géricault, ^[200] Ingres, Jean-Baptiste Isabey and Eugène Isabey, father and son, Fantin-Latour. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Paris had a colony of artists established in the city, with art schools associated with some of the finest painters of the times - Manet, Monet, Berthe Morisot, Gauguin, Albert Gleizes, Renoir and so many more - when Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism and Cubism movements evolved. ^[200] In the late 19th century, artists from the French provinces and worldwide flocked to Paris to exhibit their works in the numerous salons and expositions, and to make a name for themselves.^[201] Painters such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Jean Metzinger, María Blanchard, Henri Rousseau, Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani (painter and sculptor), Bernard Buffet and many others became associated with Paris. Montparnasse and Montmartre became centers for artistic production. The most prestigious names of French and foreign sculptors, who made their reputation in Paris in the modern era, are Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (Statue of Liberty), Auguste Rodin, Camille Claudel, Paul Landowski (statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro), Aristide Maillol. The Golden Age of the Paris School ended with World War II, but Paris remains extremely important to the art world and art schooling, with institutions ranging from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the former Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, to the American Paris College of Art.

Museums

The Louvre was the world's most visited art museum in 2013 ^[13] and is the home of masterpieces including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue.^[202] Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the number two most visited art museum in Paris, also known as Beaubourg, houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne. The Musée D'Orsay, in a former railroad station, was the third-most visited museum in the city in 2013;^[13] it displays French art of the nineteenth century, including major collections of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. The Musée du quai Branly was the fourth most visited national museum in Paris in 2013.^[13] it displays art objects from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The Musée national du Moyen Âge, or Cluny Museum, presents Medieval art, including the famous tapestry cycle of The Lady and the Unicorn. The Guimet Museum, or Musée national des arts asiatiques, has one of the largest collections of Asian art in Europe. There are also notable museums devoted to individual artists, including the Picasso Museum the Rodin Museum, and the Musée national Eugène Delacroix, while the artistic community of Montparnasse is chronicled at the Musée du Montparnasse.

Paris hosts the largest science museum in Europe, the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie at La Villette. The The National Museum of Natural History, on the Left Bank, is famous for its dinosaurs, mineral collections, and its Gallery of Evolution. The military history of France, from the Middle Ages to World War II is vividly presented by displays at the Musée de l'Armée at Les Invalides, near the tomb of Napoleon.

In addition to the national museums, run by the French Ministry of Culture, the City of Paris operates fourteen museums, including the Carnavalet Museum on the history of Paris; the Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris; the House of Victor Hugo and House of Balzac, and the Catacombs of Paris.^[203]

Photography

Paris was the birthplace of modern photography, with the invention of the Daguerreotype by Louis Daguerre in the 1830s. Since then it has attracted communities of photographers, and was an important centre for the development of photography. Numerous photographers achieved renown for their photography of Paris, including Eugène Atget, noted for his depictions of early-19th-century street scenes; the early 20th-century surrealist movement's Man Ray; Robert Doisneau, noted for his playful pictures of 1950s Parisian life; Marcel Bovis, noted for his night scenes, and others such as Jacques-Henri Lartigue and Cartier-Bresson.^[200] Paris also become the hotbed for an emerging art form in the late 19th century, poster art, advocated by the likes of Gavarni.^[200]

Literature

The first book printed in France, Epistolae ("Letters"), by Gasparinus de Bergamo (Gasparino da Barzizza), was published in Paris in 1470 by the press established by Johann Heynlin. Since then, Paris has been the center of the French publishing industry, the home of some of the world's best-known writers and poets, and the setting for many classic works of French literature.

Almost all the books published in Paris in the Middle Ages were in Latin, rather than French. Paris did not become the acknowledged capital of French literature until the 17th century, with authors such as Boileau, Corneille, La Fontaine, Molière, Racine, several coming from the provinces, and the foundation of the Académie française.^[204] In the 18th century, the literary life of Paris revolved around the cafes and salons, and was dominated by Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Pierre de Marivaux, and Beaumarchais.

During the 19th century, Paris was the home and subject for some of France's greatest writers, including Charles Baudelaire, Stéphane Mallarmé, Mérimée, Alfred de Musset, Marcel Proust, Emile Zola, Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant and Honoré de Balzac. Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame inspired the renovation of its setting, the Notre-Dame de Paris.^[205] Another of Victor Hugo's works, Les Misérables, written while he was in exile outside of France during the Second Empire, described the social change and political turmoil in Paris in the early 1830s.^[206] One of the most popular of all French writers, Jules Verne, worked at the Theatre Lyrique and the Paris stock exchange, while he did research for his stories at the National Library.

In the 20th century, the Paris literary community was dominated by André Malraux, Colette, André Gide, Albert Camus, and, after World War II, by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre; Between the wars it was the home of many important expatriate writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett, and, in the 1970s, Milan Kundera.

The winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature, Patrick Modiano, was born in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, attended the Lycée Henri-IV, and lives in Paris today.

Paris is a city of books and bookstores. In the 1970s, eighty percent of French-language publishing houses were found in Paris, almost all on the Left Bank in the 5th, 6th and 7th arrondissements. Since that time, because of high prices, some publishers have moved out to the less expensive suburbs.^[207] It is also a city of small bookstores; There are about one hundred fifty bookstores in the 5th arrondissement alone, plus another two hundred fifty book stalls along the Seine. Small Paris bookstores are protected against competition from discount booksellers by French law; books, even e-books, cannot be discounted more than five percent below their publisher's cover price.^[208]

Entertainment and performing arts

Theatre

The largest opera houses of Paris are the 19th-century Opéra Garnier (historical Paris Opéra) and modern Opéra Bastille; the former tends towards the more classic ballets and operas, and the latter provides a mixed repertoire of classic and modern.^[209] In the middle of the 19th century, there were three other active and competing opera houses: the Opéra-Comique (which still exists), Théâtre-Italien, and Théâtre Lyrique (which in modern times changed its profile and name to Théâtre de la Ville).

Theatre traditionally has occupied a large place in Parisian culture. This still holds true today, and many of its most popular actors today are also stars of French television. Some of Paris' major theatres include Bobino, the Théâtre Mogador, and the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse.^[210] Some Parisian theatres have also doubled as concert halls. Many of France's greatest musical performers, such as Édith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Georges Brassens, and Charles Aznavour, found their fame in Parisian concert halls such as Le Lido, Bobino, l'Olympia and le Splendid.

Music

In the late 12th century, a school of polyphony was established at the Notre-Dame. A group of Parisian aristocrats, known as Trouvères, became known for their poetry and songs. During the reign of François I, the lute became popular in the French court, and a national musical printing house was established.^[200] During the Renaissance era, the French royals "disported themselves in masques, ballets, allegorical dances, recitals, opera and comedy", and composers such as Jean-Baptiste Lully became popular.^[200] The Conservatoire de Musique de Paris was founded in 1795.^[211] By 1870, Paris had become the most important centre for ballet music, and composers such as Debussy and Ravel contributed much to symphonic music.^[200] Bal-musette is a style of French music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1870s and 1880s; by 1880 Paris had some 150 dance halls in the working-class neighbourhoods of the city.^[212] Patrons danced the bourrée to the accompaniment of the cabrette (a bellows-blown bagpipe locally called a "musette") and often the vielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy) in the cafés and bars of the city. Parisian and Italian musicians who played the accordion adopted the style and established themselves in Auvergnat bars especially in the 19th arrondissement,^[213] and the romantic sounds of the accordion has since become one of the musical icons of the city. Paris became a major centre for jazz, and still attracts jazz musicians from all around the world to its clubs and cafes.^[214]

Paris is the spiritual home of gypsy jazz in particular, and many of the Parisian jazzmen who developed in the first half of the 20th century began by playing Bal-musette in the city.^[213] Django Reinhardt rose to fame in Paris, having moved to the 18th arrondissement in a caravan as a young boy, and performed with violinist Stéphane Grappelli and their Quintette du Hot Club de France in the 1930s and 40s.^[215] Some of the finest manouche musicians in the world are found here playing the cafes of the city at night.^[215] Some of the more notable jazz venues include the New Morning, Le Sunset, La Chope des Puces and Bouquet du Nord.^[214][215] Several yearly festivals take place in Paris, including the Paris Jazz Festival and the rock festival Rock en Seine.^[216] The Orchestre de Paris was established in 1967.^[217]

Cinema

On 28 December 1895, the first public projection of a motion picture, made by the Lumière Brothers, took place in the basement of the Grand Cafe, on the corner of Rue Scribe and boulevard des Cappucines. Thirty-eight persons attended, including the future director of the first science fiction film, Georges Méliès.^{[218][219][220]} Many of Paris' concert/dance halls were transformed into movie theatres when the cinema became popular beginning in the 1930s. Later, most of the largest cinemas were divided into multiple, smaller rooms. Paris' largest cinema today is by far Le Grand Rex theatre with 2,800 seats,^[221] whereas other cinemas all have fewer than 1,000 seats. There is now a trend toward modern multiplexes that contain more than 10 or 20 screens.

Parisians tend to share the same movie-going trends as many of the world's global cities, that is to say with a dominance of Hollywood-generated film entertainment. French cinema comes a close second, with major directors (réalisateurs) such as Claude Lelouch, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, and Luc Besson, and the more slapstick/popular genre with director Claude Zidi as an example. European and Asian films are also widely shown and appreciated.^[222] On 2 February 2000, Philippe Binant realised the first digital cinema projection in Europe, with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments, in Paris.^{[223][224][225]}

Cuisine

Paris is renowned for its haute cuisine, food meticulously prepared and presented, often accompanied by fine wines, served and celebrated by expensive restaurants and hotels. A city of culinary finesse, as of 2013 Paris has 85 Michelin-starred restaurants, second in the world to only Tokyo,^[226] and many of the world's leading chefs operate restaurants serving French cuisine in Paris such as Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon.^[227] As of 2013, Paris has ten 3-Michelin-star restaurants, the most coveted award in the restaurant business; these include Ducasse's Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, Alain Passards's L'Arpège, Yannick Alleno's Le Meurice in the Hôtel Meurice, Eric Frechon's restaurant at Hotel le Bristol, and Pierre Gagnaire.^[227] Joël Robuchon, the chef with the most Michelin stars worldwide, runs L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon and La Table de Joël Robuchon in Paris, both of which are 2 Michelin-star restaurants.^[227]

The growth of the railway in the late 19th century led to the capital becoming a focal point for immigration from France's many different regions and gastronomical cultures. As a result, cuisine in the city is diverse, and almost any cuisine can be consumed in the city, with over 9,000 restaurants.^[228] Hotel building was another result of widespread travel and tourism in the 19th century, especially Paris' late-19th-century Expositions Universelles (World's Fairs). Of the most luxurious of these, the Hôtel Ritz appeared in the Place Vendôme in 1898,^[229][230] and the Hôtel de Crillon opened its doors on the north side of the Place de la Concorde, starting in 1909.

Fashion

Paris is a global hub of fashion and has been referred to as the "international capital of style".^[231] It ranks alongside New York, Milan and London as a major centre for the fashion industry. Paris is noted for its haute couture tailoring, usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. The twice-yearly Paris Fashion Week, an apparel trade show, is one of the most important events on the fashion calendar and attracts fashion aficionados from all around the world. Established in 1976, the Paris Fashion Institute offers courses in design, manufacturing, marketing, merchandising, and retailing.^[232] International Fashion Academy Paris is an international fashion school, established in 1982 and headquartered in Paris, with branches in Shanghai and Istanbul.^[233]

Paris has a large number of high-end fashion boutiques, and many top designers have their flagship stores in the city, such as Louis Vuitton's store, Christian Dior's 1200 square foot store and Sephora's 1500 square foot store.^[234] Printemps has the largest shoe and beauty departments in Europe.^[234] Sonia Rykiel is considered to the "grand dame of French fashion" and "synonymous with Parisian fashion", with clothes which are embraced by "left bank fashionistas".^[234] Petit Bateau is cited as one of the most popular high street stores in the city,^[234] the Azzedine Alaïa store on the Rue de Moussy has been cited as a "shoe lover's haven",^[234] and Colette is noted for its "brick-and-click" clothing and fashion accessories. The jeweller Cartier, with its flagship boutique near Paris' place Vendôme, has a long history of sales to royalty and celebrities:^[235] King Edward VII of England once referred to Cartier as "the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers."^[236] Guerlain, one of the world's oldest existing perfumeries, has its headquarters in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret.

Festivals

The earliest grand festival held on 14 July 1790 was the Federation of July festival at the Champ de Mars. Since then many festivals have been held such as the Festival of Liberty in 1774, the Festival for the Abolition of Slavery in 1793, the festival of Supreme Being in 1794, and the 1798 funeral festival on the death of Hoche. On every anniversary of the Republic, the Children of the Fatherland festival is held.^[237] Bastille day, a celebration of the storming of the Bastille in 1789, is the biggest festival in the city, held every year on 14 July. This includes a parade of colourful floats and costumes along with armed forces march in the Champs Élysées which concludes with a display of fireworks.^[238] The Paris Beach festival known as the "Paris Plage" is a festive event, which lasts from the middle of July to the middle of August, when the bank of the River Seine is converted into a temporary beach with sand and deck chairs and palm trees.^[238]

Twin towns and sister cities

Due to the motto "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris";^[239][240] the only sister city Paris in France will ever have is Rome in Italy^[241] and vice-versa. However, both Paris and Rome has partnered with several cities while not technically becoming sister cities.

Paris is twinned with:

• Rome, Italy, since 1956^{[242][243][244]}