Early Middle Ages
The Capetians
The Bourbons
The 19th century
The 20th Century
The history of Paris is inseparable from
that of the country of which it is the capital. What happens in the city is,
according to the period, the reflection or the forerunner of what is happening
throughout the country. The history of Paris
is intimately tied to that of France.
The originality of the city, with respect to the country, is that, from age to
age, we find it in conflict –latent, open or violent– with the central power.
Over the centuries, sovereigns and heads of state have had as much need of this
prestigious showcase for their power and the riches concentrated within it, as
they had been wary of its propensity to insubordination.
Antiquity
It was probably around the 3rd
century BC that a Celtic tribe, the Parisii, settled
down on what is today the Ile de la Cité. This gave birth to a fortified town, the size of a
village, successively called Lucotetia then Lutetia: Lutèce. A later
occupation of the Seine’s islands (there have been as many as a dozen,
disappeared during the dredging of the 19th century, undertaken to facilitate
navigation) is likely, but no vestige remains to confirm this with any certainty.During the Gaelic War, in 52 BC, one of Julius
Caesar’s lieutenants, Labienus, captured the city and
reconstructed it following Gaelic principles combined with Roman influences.
During the following century, the 1st century AD, the Gaelic-Roman city emerged
from the island and grew, particularly on the Seine’s
Left Bank. Thermae
were notably built there (visible today at the intersection of Boulevards
Saint-Michel and Saint-Germain), and arenas (whose
vestiges now serve as the public garden on Rue Monge
in the 5th arrondissement).In the middle of the 3rd century, Paris
Christianizes, and, in the image of the rest of France and Europe,
fills with churches. It is from this period that dates the martyrdom of the
city’s first bishop, Saint-Denis.In the 4th century,
360 AD to be exact, Julien the Apostate, Prefect of
the Gauls, was proclaimed emperor. This date is
capital for the city’s history: Lutèce becomes Paris.
Lutèce
Early Middle Ages
After the fall of the Roman Empire, threatened by the barbaric invasions, Paris underwent the same
unstable fate of the continent’s provinces. If some of the invaders spared the
city (this being the case of Attila’s Huns, in 451, repelled from Paris by sainte Geneviève who became the
patron saint of Paris; the shrine which enclosed her remains was laid to rest
in the Eglise Saint-Etienne-du-Mont),
others, on the contrary, seized hold of it. Such was the case, in 508, of the
Francs, come from eastern Europe under Clovis,
who established there their capital and leader’s residence. Over three
centuries, until the departure of Charlemagne from Aix-la-Chapelle, weakening
the city’s role and prestige, Paris was to remain in this position.In
885, for the fifth time, the Normands, sailing up the
Seine, laid siege to the city: Paris, which until then had submitted to these
invasions, was this time efficiently defended by Count Euders
who, shortly after his exploit, was elected “King of the Francs”.
Clovis, roi des Francs
A century later, in 987, a new
political reality came into being Hugues Capet: France.
Paris became
its capital.
The Capetians
They are the kings who made
France and Paris. This political function, associated with the development of
trade, led to the city’s incredible soar during the 11th and 12th centuries.
Several signs testify to these changes. Craftsmen and merchants are organized
into powerful corporations, highly active in the renewal of commerce (an
important role played by the “Water-tradesmen Guild” which for decades on end
was to be in charge of communal administration).?As of 1163, a
magnificent cathedral was built which was to be the Notre-Dame de Paris, emblem
of the city during the Middle Ages. Between 1180 and 1210, Philippe Auguste created a powerfull wall
–several vestiges of which are still visible today– around the city. This defense system was reinforced, upstream, by a barrage of
chains across the Seine, and downstream, by two fortifications: the Tour de Nesles, on the Left Bank, and, on the Right, the Dungeon of
the Louvre (which owed its name to a place where
wolves were hunted), first building block of the splendid palace which, over
the next eight centuries, was to be constantly enlarged and embellished.
Notre Dame de Paris
This soar was crowned, during
the 13th century, by several exemplary creations.?In
1220, the University of Paris is founded and installed in the Sorbonne (where,
in part, it still is to be found, but in premises radically modified by
Richelieu, on the one hand, and by Napoléon, on the
other; thus adding to the city’s political role, an intellectual and cultural
dimension. From 1226 to 1270, there is the construction, under the impulsion
and patronage of Louis IX (the becoming saint Louis), of the basilica Saint-Denis, the church
Saint-Chapelle (today encompassed in the inelegant,
pompous Palace of
Justice); and finally the
completion of the Notre-Dame. From 1300 to 1315, under the orders of Philippe le
Bel, was built the Conciergerie
whose Gens d’Armes room,
with 1800m2, is one of the largest in all France. This period constitutes one
of the summits –albeit unjustly unknown– in the capital’s life.The
following century, troubled on the international level, was characterized in Paris by many disorders.
In 1358, for example, Etienne Marcel, Prevost of the
Tradesman (by this title, he centralized the city’s administration and judicial
functions and today his statute stands in front of the façade of the Hôtel-de-Ville), rose up against the royal power. The
capital of France,
by this revolt, opened itself up to the King of Navarre and the English. This
first intrusion was, however, to be short lasted. Charles V, King of France,
took things in hand and protected the city with a new perimeter wall
(reinforced to the east by a fortress that was to become known as the
Bastille), while creating new communication axes allowing Paris to develop along its Right
Bank. It was from this period that dates the first public clock in
Paris which
still decorates –and still rings the capital’s hours, whether they be sad or
gay– the Conciergerie’s Clock Tower. The city’s
population, at the turn of 14th century, counted some 150,000 souls. Following
another revolt against those in power, in 1382, the city lost its ancient
franchises and the Tradesmen’s Provost –head of the municipal administration–
became a mere officer of the King.
Paris, an
English city
The Parisians’ revolt against
royal power coincided with France’s
long conflict with England
(the One Hundred Year War) and the Franco-French divisions accompanying it
(struggle of the Armagnacs and Burgundians).
These disorders led to the fall of Paris
in 1408 to the English. In 1429, in reaction to this humiliation, Charles VII,
King of France, tired to recapture his capital. During this operation, Joan of
Arc, the monarch’s muse and precious supporter, was wounded at Porte Saint-Honoré (a commemorative plate near today’s Porte de la Chapelle recalls this event). This attempt, however, proved
in vain, and the English were able to consecrate within the Notre-Dame “their”
King of France, Henri VI, who was to reign until 1437, when Charles VII, at
long last victorious, managed regain his place in his country’s capital.
Joan
of Arc
A bustling, prestigious Renaissance
The 16th century confirmed the
double role of Paris:
political capital and intellectual centre. It was under the reign of François
I, around 1530, that began the construction of the Hôtel-de-Ville
(today’s seat of the Mayor of Paris is only a 19th-century replica of this
monument, masterpiece of the Renaissance), and it was at this period that was
founded the College
of France (still in
existence today). The Louvre, at this time, ceased,
so to speak, to be a fortress and became a palace.Closely
associated –and even inseparable from it– to the history of France, Paris underwent many a
trial and tragic hour. This was the case at the end of the 16th century, when
the country plunged into mourning by the religious wars. Paris was Catholic and adhered to the League.
During the night of 23-24 August 1572, the bells of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois
sounded the signal for the beginning of the Saint-Barthélémy
Massacre. Over the course of these dramatic and bloody conflicts, the capital
imposed its will on the kings who quickly realized they stood no chance of
reigning until they were masters of the city. Henri IV, as well, followed this
lesson, converting to Catholicism (“Paris
is worth of a mass!” he declared) and stormed into Paris on 22 March 1594.
Henri
IV
The Bourbons
With the Bourbons, at the turn
of the 17th century, the city continued to spread and transform. Given such
developments, the first Charles IV, then Louis XIII enlarged to the west the
Middle-Ages wall so that it encompassed the Palace of the Tuileries.
The capital enriched itself with many new buildings, as it began to take on the
aspect we all now know. It was during the first half of the 17th century that
were created the Place des Vosges, Hôpital Saint-Louis (according to the wishes of Henri IV), Hôpital Salpétrière (surmounted
by one of the oldest domes in the capital), Luxembourg Palace (by Marie de Médicis) and the Palais Royal
(then the Palace Cardinal, by Richelieu). At the same time, the Ile Saint-Louis was divided into lots and developed, and
the Palais du Louvre, that prestigious symbol of royal power, was
enlarged while, ever striving to unify France and make Paris an intellectual Mecca for the arts and mind, Richelieu, in 1635, founded the French Academy.
Louis
XIV
Louis XIV, both wary of a
possible renewal of the Front and anxious to ward off a new confrontation with
the Parisian municipality, made in 1653 an original decision: moving the royal
court from Paris
to Versailles.
The “Sun-King” did not for all that neglect the city itself. He worked both to
submit his administration to royal power and embellish its appearance. Under
the reign of Louis XIV, Paris
was to see many realizations: the development of the Marais
came to an end, while that of the Faubourg Saint-Germain began. The Paris Observatory and the Manufacture
des Gobelins were created, the Hôtel
des Invalides and the Hôpital
du Val-de-Grâce were
constructed. Some of the most remarkable squares in modern Paris equally came into being: Place Vendôme, by Jules Hardouin-Mansart;
Place des Victoires, by François Mansart,
uncle of the former; Place du Carrousel… Louis XIV
was, in a word, as generous with the city he loved as he was strict with the
one he feared.Louis XV, while maintaining the Court
in Versailles,
continued the work of beautifying Paris
commenced by his ancestors. It’s during the second half of the 18th century
that thus dates the construction of Ecole Militaire (architectural masterpiece by Jacques-Ange Gabriel), the Eglise Sainte-Geneviève (now the Panthéon, by Soufflot), the imposing Eglise
Saint-Sulpice, still uncompleted despite 134 years of
work (1646 to 1780!), and the development of the immense Place de la Concorde (the
obelisk which decorates it, a gift from Egypt to France, was added the
following century)…During this period, under the reign of Louis XVI, a new
perimeter wall was created, surrounding Paris with fifty-seven “barriers”,
levying city tolls on merchandise. This new fiscal rigor displeased, at the
time, the Parisians, but left their successors with several new elegant
buildings: the rotundas of the Villette and the Parc Monceau, works of Ledoux which were, in a way, also customs posts…
A very Parisian revolution
Most of the key events of the
French Revolution were set in Paris.
It was thus that on 14 July
1789, that the Bastille was taken (the prison, emblem of arbitrary
royal power, only housed on that day seven prisoners), symbolic beginning of
the vast upheaval of those years. It was there on 10 August 1792, that the Tuileries
were taken, marking the fall of the royalty. It was there on 21 September of
the same year that the Republic was proclaimed. It’s as well in Paris that Louis XVI was
assassinated the 21 January 1793.?And it was there, in 1793 and 1794,
during the Reign of Terror, that the “national razor”, as the guillotine was
aptly nicknamed, was at work full time… Many administrators of the commune,
still fearful of central power, whoever might have been in charge, fell victim
to it. The Revolution was characterized, in Paris, by a vast amount of destruction, in
particular of churches. In 1793, for example, the statues ornamenting the porch
of Notre-Dame were destroyed. Those that can be still seen today were due to
the restorations of Viollet-Leduc, and the heads of
those that ornament the Gallery of Kings, miraculously recovered in 1977 in a
construction site on the Chaussée d’Antin,
henceforth are conserved in the Musée des Thermes de Cluny.
The liberty guiding the people, by Eugene Delacroix
Napoléon
I, crowned Emperor on 2
December 1804 in Notre-Dame, pursued his predecessors’
embellishment of the capital. It was under the First Empire that Paris was
enriched with the Arc de Triomphe du
Carrousel, the Arc de l’Etoile, the bronze column on
Place Vendôme, the Eglise
de la Madeleine, the Colonnade du Palais
Bourbon, and the Palais Brongniart,
headquarters of the stock exchange. The Louvre
imperturbably continued to grow while gas began to be used to light the
streets. The city, according to the 1801 census, had some 550,000 inhabitants.
The 19th century
At the fall of the Empire in
1814, Paris,
for the first time in more than four centuries, was occupied by the Allies in a
coalition against France.
From the presence of Russian troops, it was said that the city conserved but
one word: bistro. It was by this call (bistro! bistro!), meaning “hurry”, that
the Cossacks would call the servants of the establishments where they’d stop
off. The restoration of the monarchy (Louis XVIII being succeeded by Charles X)
ended with three days of Parisian revolution, the “Trois
Glorieuses”, 27, 28 and 29 July 1830, during which the barricades
overturned Charles X and brought Louis-Philippe to power. Under the emblem of
the tricolored flag, this sovereign was to no longer
bear the title of “King of France”, but rather that of “King of the French”.
The reign of Louis-Philippe, coinciding with the industrial revolution, was
characterized by a considerable increase in the capital’s population (it being
the workers’ quarters which, in reaction to the triumph of the bourgeoisie, were
to drive forward the 1848 revolution, putting an end of the “July Monarchy”),
by the creation, motivated by the memory of 1814, of what was to be familiarly
known as the “fortifs” –fortifications, forts and
bastions to protect the capital– and, in 1837, by the launch of the first
railway line, linking the capital to Saint-Germain.
In 1840, the return of Napoléon’s ashes provided the
occasion for a magnificent ceremony and the creation, by the architect Visconti, of the impressive marble tomb where the Emperor
was interred in the Invalides.
Louis
Philippe
The Second
Empire, which succeeded the Second Republic,
was characterized in Paris
by vast urban works, undertaken under the direction of Baron Haussmann, Prefect of Paris. It was at this time, one of high
industrial and financial prosperity, that were constructed or developed the
stations, the Halles, the Opéra
Garnier, the Parc des
Buttes-Chaumont, the Bois de Vincennes and Boulogne,
as well as the creation of the great boulevards and the planning of the Plain
Monceau. Metallic architecture triumphed (Eglise Saint-Eugène, copula of the
Galeries Lafayette, passages…). These important
constructions, reflections of the philosophy of their day, resulted in, within
the population, a regrettable segregation, which the past centuries had intelligently
managed to avoid. It was from the 19th century that dates the birth of what
was to be known as the “chic quarters”, while the “labor classes”, over the years, were cast to the outskirts.
Confronted with the same difficulties as the preceding regimes (opposition
of municipal power to central power), the Second Empire
was to eat away even more at the attributions of the Mayor of Paris. It was
from this period that dates the division of the city into twenty arrondissements,
while most of the municipal powers were confided in two Prefects (one for
general administration and one for the police, which still exists today),
named by the government. At the end of the Empire, the city numbered 1,850,000
inhabitants.In 1870, after the Sedan
disaster, which saw the Empire collapse, the Third Republic
was proclaimed on 4 September. Faced with the Prussian invasion, the government
fell back to Versailles,
and Paris,
faithful to its tradition of insubordination and revolt, proclaimed in March
1871 an insurrectional regime known as the “Paris Commune”. The bloody repression,
which in May closed this episode, resulted in, in addition to the execution
and deportation of labor-class leaders, the destruction
of a great number of buildings: Palais des Tuileries,
Hôtel-de-Ville, Cour des
Comptes… With the exception of the Tuileries,
too clearly linked to the memory of the former monarchies, all were to be
identically reconstructed.The great urban-renewal
projects, commenced under the Second Empire,
continued under the Third (completion of the Avenue du Bois, today Avenue Foch, Avenue
de l’Opéra…). The government, now back in Paris, took possession of
the city. The Senate moved into the Luxembourg
Palace, and the Chamber
of Deputies into the Bourbon
Palace. The new Hôtel-de-Ville was inaugurated in 1882. Between 1876 and 1914,
the very ugly Basilique du
Sacré-Cœur was constructed at the summit of the
Butte Montmartre. The 1889 and 1900 World Fairs
gave the city the occasion to complete its patrimony: the Eiffel Tower, the
Petit and Grand Palais were to be part, henceforth,
of the Parisian landscape, as was Pont Alexandre
III, built at the same period in homage to the Czar
whose liberalities had led to the creation on Rue Daru
of the magnificent Cathédrale Saint-Alexandre-Newski.In
the carefree euphoria of what was known as the “Belle-Epoque”
(which was only really “beautiful” for the triumphant bourgeoisie, while for
the working class, it proved particularly hard), the city became drowned with
dens of pleasure: cabarets, cafés-concerts (more than a thousand in number
at the turn of the century), theaters, etc. It was
again around the end of the 19th century that date, for the most part, many
of the headquarters of the great banking establishments, still visible on
the Grands Boulevards, in the vicinity of the Bourse (Paris Stock
Exchange).In July 1900 the first Métropolitain line
was inaugurated, designed and constructed by the engineer Fulgence Bienvenüe, whose name was
aptly joined to that of Montparnasse as the name
of one such Métro station. The decoration of the
stations made mammoth use of metal and the “noodle” style of ornaments designed
by Hector Guimard.At the turn of the 20th century,
a new material appeared on the Paris
landscape: concrete. It was used in particular in 1912 by the Perret Brothers for the construction of Théâtre
des Champs-Elysées.
The
20th century
During WWI (1914-1918) the government was forced to retreat from the
capital to Bordeaux. Saved by the Battle
of the Marne (to which the Parisian taxi-drivers made a decisive contribution),
the city nevertheless didn’t overly suffer from the hostilities, except for
a few light bombardments.The postwar era was known as the “mad years”, characterized in
Paris by an intoxication for wild new music and dances. This was the period
of the triumph of jazz, from the tomboy with short hair to a whole series
of innovations in intellectual, artistic and social life.
Paris in the 1930’s
Many Russians, having fled the
Bolshevik Revolution, came to settle down in Paris. In their taxis, restaurants and places
of worship, they kept the fire of Holy Russia’s soul burning. America, at the
same time, started to exercise its fascination, both in the dufflebags
of the American soldiers who debarked in 1917, and in music imported from
across the Atlantic, the consumer’s society
made its appearance. The city’s population, at this time, was record breaking:
3 million inhabitants. While no one was yet thinking of the Great Depression
–that of the 1930’s– which was to conclude this carefree period, an unknown
soldier in 1920 was interred under the Arc de Triomphe
at the Place de l’Etoile. Since this date, the flame
which watches over it, has constantly flickered. The 1930’s were marked by
great popular manifestations: the anti-parliamentary ones of February 1934,
which ended in blood, and those of 1936, which accompanied the birth of the
Popular Front.
Demonstrations of February 6th 1934
After the debacle of June
1940, Paris,
occupied by the German army, lost, with the installation of the government in Vichy, its status as the
political capital. Those dark years (bombardments, raids, execution of
hostages, food restrictions, police regimes, etc.) came to an end on 25 August 1944 with the
insurrection of the Interior French Forces and the arrival of General Leclerc’s troops (2nd Armored
Division), leading to the capitulation of the occupying armies and the
Liberation of Paris. The following day, General de Gaulle was able to
triumphantly descend the Champs-Elysées: “Paris
martyred, but Paris
liberated,” to quote the leader of Free France. Paris, once again, was
simultaneously witness and actor on the historical stage of which it was the capital.Unlike the preceding regime (the 4th Republic
started in October 1946 and ended in 1958), which had to cope with the
country’s urgent reconstruction (Paris itself did not have to deplore
considerable damage because of the war), the 5th Republic was to considerably
transform the capital.
Paris liberation
The end of the 20th century
was to see as well the birth of: Unesco’s
headquarters, the Maison de la Radio (today,
Radio-France), the CNIT and La Défense complex, the
Boulevard Périphérique (“ring road”), the Tour Montparnasse, the Seine’s Front Quarter, the Bastille
Opera, the Finance Ministry at Bercy, the City of
Sciences and Techniques and the Parc de la Villette, the Arche de la Défense, the French National Library… Meanwhile, a museum
was set up in the former Gare d’Orsay
while the Palais du Louvre, which partly housed offices, was entirely
transformed into a museum (“Operation Grand Louvre”
with, in particular, the creation of the stunning pyramid, designed by the
Chinese architect Pei). The city equally equipped
itself in the field of sports (renovation of the Parc
des Princes, creation of the Stade de France and the Bercy Omnisports Palace…) and
culture (creation of the Georges Pompidou Centre, the Arab World Institute, the
Zénith, the City of Music…).At the same time,
independently of these monumental aspects, the city modernized and spread:
renovation of numerous quarters (including the renowned “Front de Seine,”
juxtapositions of towers and contemporary buildings, creation of the Regional
Express Network (RER), halfway between train and subway, whose name gives an
idea of the city’s extension, the creation in Roissy
to the north of Paris of a third international airport, and along the banks of
the river the Seine’s expressways. As for the Parisians, they were able to take
advantage of a large number of small landscape renovations which rendered the
city’s life even more pleasant: creation of public gardens (parks Georges Brassens and André Citroën, and
the former Bercy Halles…),
strolls (the “ Coulée Verte
” – Promenade Plantée – connecting the Place de la
Bastille and the Bois de Vincennes along a former railway viaduct), renovation
of the pedestrian quarters (around Rue de la Huchette
and the Halles).
The Arch of La Défense
Paris, at the end of the 20th
century, had lost nothing of its traditional functions: the city was thus, for
example, seat of the “events of May ‘68”, a revolt which, starting with a
student movement, paralyzed France several weeks running, and the place of
great national demonstrations (commemoration of the bicentennial of the French
Revolution) and international (football World’s Cup in 1998).After centuries of
wariness of central power, the Parisians –who numbered 2,126,000, while the
agglomeration itself had more than 10 million– could finally, as of 1977, like
the other French citizens, elect their mayor by universal suffrage: Jacques
Chirac, Jean Tiberi and Bertrand Delanoë
were successively elected to this prestigious office.
Book
a hotel in Paris
Know more about a neighbourhood of Paris,
Edition Marcus editions.marcus@libertysurf.fr
Know more about Paris,
Edition Marcus editions.marcus@libertysurf.fr