Historical Evolution

of Paris
Muhammad Usman, Local Culture Report, May 5, 2014
University of Burgundy
T
he capital of France since 508, Paris is
one of the most beautiful and interest-
ing cities in the world. Paris is often
known as the city of romance and is a city
steeped in art and culture. It is also consid-
ered as fashion capital of world. Like many of
its neighbouring European cities, Paris is full
of beautiful architecture and museums show-
casing ne art from some of the worlds most
respected artists. Fortunately, I frequently
got chances to visit Paris in detail, which, also
arose my curiosity to know how such excel-
lence would have been achieved. So I choose
this topic, Historical Evolution of Paris, to
know more about city of Paris and to under-
stand how Paris, becomes what it is today.
When I surfed on internet there were huge
amount of details about this topic along with
some contradictions so I tried to nd a person
who is native to city and really knows about
history of the city, so that he could also help
me to understand and remove such contra-
dictions. Luckily I found Estelle Comte, she
is doing Ph.D. in Middle Age History from
Paris-Sorbonne University. She helped me a
lot in understanding various aspect of history
of the city, we also walked through "Ile de la
Cite", the birth place of Paris.
Figure 1: Paris
Birth of Paris:
It is believed that the site of modern day Paris has
been inhabited from Mesolithic Times (90,000 years),
but history of Paris really begins in 3rd century BC,
when a community of Celtic Gauls called parisii
settled on "Ile de la Cit", an island on Seine River.
This island provides a natural defence stronghold,
temperate climate and a favourable crossing over the
river which separates the two halves of Gaul. The
island also had a strategic position on the main trade
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route, via the Seine and the Rhone rivers, between
Britain and to the Roman colony of Provence and
the Mediterranean. The location and the fees for
crossing the bridge and passing along the river made
the new town prosperous, so much, that it was able
to mint its own gold coins, which were used for trade
across Europe.
Roman Conquest:
Acknowledging the strategic importance of location
for controlling river shipping and commerce, Julius
Caesar sent his troops to crush the Gauls. After
years of conict there comes the Revolt of 52 BC
when Vercingetorix led a Celtic uprising against Ro-
mans under Caesar. The town sided with Vercinge-
torix by contributing 8000 men to his army. The
Romans crushed the rebels and took control of the
entire region. Romans then built a new city on the
left bank of Seine, along the northern slope of Sainte
Genevive hill. The choice of left bank may came
from the fact that it was higher and less prone to
ood. By the end of same century le de la Cit
and Left Bank Sainte Genevive Hill became the cen-
tre of a new Roman settlement called Lutetia (from
the Latin for midwater dwelling, in French, Lutce)
with population of not more than 10,000 inhabitants.
Romans Lutetia:
Under the Roman rule Lutetia started to take shape
and grew considerably in size. At the end of the 1st
century AD, the Arnes de Lutce amphitheatre
and the Cluny public baths were constructed. The
baths were supplied with water from an aqueduct
alongside the Bivre, a river which has since been
buried under the city. This sixteen kilometres long
aqueduct was also used to provide fresh drinking wa-
ter to city. These types of buildings truly reect the
Roman Lifestyle of Lutetia. Despite of the commer-
cial and strategic importance of Lutetia, it was still a
medium-sized Roman city, considerably smaller than
Lyon or Sens, which was the capital of the Roman
province of Quatrieme Lyonnaise, where Lutetia was
located.
In the Middle of 3rd century AD, Christianity
was introduced in Paris. It is believed that it was
brought by Saint Denis the Bishop of Parisii who was
then later arrested and executed. Mount Mercury,
the hill where he was executed, later became the
Mountain of Martyrs and eventually Montmartre.
In the late 3rd century AD, due to invasions of
Figure 2: Roman Lutetia
Germanic tribes, residents of Left bank moved to le
de la Cit which was naturally safer than left bank.
Many monuments of left bank were abandoned
during the process and stones were used to build a
wall around le de la Cit, the rst city wall of Paris.
As a result le de la Cit was further developed by
building new basilica and baths. In the meantime,
name Lutetia was gradually replaced rst by "City
of the Parisii", and then simply Paris in 5th century.
Germanic invasions of 5th century caused the
gradual collapse of Roman Empire which pushed
Paris into the period of decline. In 451, Attila the
Hun invaded the whole region, such proceedings
made Parisians fear that Paris would also be
attacked. The Parisians were planning to abandon
the city, but they were persuaded to resist by Saint
Genevive (422-502). Attila bypassed Paris and
attacked Orlans. In 461 the city was threatened
again by the Salian Franks. The siege of the city
lasted ten years. Once again Genevieve organised
the defence. She rescued the city by bringing wheat
to the hungry city from Brie and Champagne on
a otilla of eleven barges. She became the patron
saint of Paris.
In 486, the son of Childeric, Clovis I defeated the
last Roman armies and became the ruler of all of
Gaul. With the consent of Genevieve, he entered
Paris. In 508 he made Paris capital of Kingdom
of Francs (people who had migrated to the Roman
Empire from the East).
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Paris in the middle Ages:
In those times, Paris was a typical crowded medieval
city with timber buildings. In spite of suering from
disastrous re of 585, city grew beyond the bound-
aries of the le de la Cit. In 751, the death of
last Merovingian king, Childric II, paved way for
Carolingians. Francs declared Ppin as king in 751,
succeeded by Charlemagne, who moved the capital
to Aachen (today in Germany). Paris was twice at-
tacked by Vikings and it was during second attack
when Parisians asked for the assistance of Robert I of
France, and his brother Odo, Count of Paris. It was
Odos leadership under which Parisians successfully
defended ten-month Viking siege. Odo later became
co-ruler of the Empire with Charles the Simple. In
987 his grandnephew Hugh Capet was elected as king
of France. He made Paris as capital of his kingdom
and laid the foundation of Capetian dynasty.
The Capetians:
The area controlled by kings of France initially
was just Paris and the surrounding region, the
le-de-France, but they expanded considerably their
kingdoms territory and power over the next two
centuries. Paris itself developed and became the
political, economic, religious and cultural capital
of France. Around 1150, the cathedral school was
evolved into the University of Paris, which later
became the Sorbonne. It was one of the rst
universities in Europe and the system of faculty
governance introduced here was then followed in
later developed, north European universities.
In the meantime dierent parts of city (districts)
were becoming centres for particular type of
activities. The le de la Cit, on which the Cathedral
of Notre Dame building began in 1163 (until 1345),
was the centre of government and religious life, the
Left Bank was the centre of learning and the Right
Bank was the centre of commerce and nance.
Philip II Augustus, a great urban planner, who
took the throne in 1180 was responsible for the major
building works carried out in Paris. He left his mark
on Paris by surrounding it with walls (still visible
today with the path of lines number 2 and 6 of the
Parisian metro), construction of the Palais du Louvre,
as well as paving streets and establishing a covered
market at Les Halles (where it would remain until
1969). His grandson Louis IX established the city
as centre of pilgrimage in the 13th century with the
construction of the Sainte-Chapelle on the le de la
Cit, and the completion of the cathedral of Notre
Dame and the Denis. The Basilica of St Denis was
one of the nest medieval Gothic religious buildings
ever constructed and where the gothic style has
been invented.
Figure 3: Notre Dame
The Valois:
In the 13th century, Paris was the most populated
(approximately 200,000 inhabitants) and the richest
city in the West. The death of Charles IV in 1328
without male heirs ended the main Capetian line.
Edward III of England tried to claim the French
throne but was rejected by the French Barons who
supported the rival claim of Philippe of Valois.
This scenario triggered the Hundred Years War
(13371453).
In the 14th century, Paris, like the rest of France
witnessed outbreaks of plague, political violence
and popular uprisings. In Paris the plague lasted
through 1349, the reported death rate was 800 a day.
The total dead in Paris numbered 50,000 or half the
population.
In 1407, civil war broke out in France after Louis
of Valois was assassinated by the Burgundian John
the Fearless. Scue to control the capital started
between Burgundian and Armagnac parties. John
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the Fearless managed to take control, but in 1409, his
power in Paris came to an end although he again got
city in 1417, until his assassination in 1419. Planta-
genets captured Paris in 1420, Charles VII of France
tried but failed to retake the city. In 1431 Henry
VI of England was crowned king of France at Notre-
Dame. Paris was occupied by the English for sixteen
years until 1436, when French determination paid
o and Charles managed to retake the city of Paris.
Once again Paris became the Frances capital and the
succeeding monarchs decided to live in Loire Valley,
visiting Paris only on special occasions until King
Franois 1st, who nally returned the royal residence
to Paris in 1528.
16th Century Paris:
By the start of 16th century, Paris had recovered
its old prosperity and the population once again
boomed to 250,000. In the middle of the 16th
century, under the reign of Franois 1st, the capital
grew in beauty with Renaissance constructions, such
as the new Louvre and the Htel de Ville (nished
in 1628). The rst Renaissance church in Paris, the
church of Saint Eustache, was designed by Cortana,
an Italian architect in 1532. The construction of rst
Renaissance house in Paris, the Hotel Carnavalet,
begun in 1545. It is now the Museum of Paris
History. It was Franois I who established the
position of Paris as a centre of learning and during
16th century, Paris (or Lyon according to some
references) became rst for book publishing in
Europe. In 1530, new faculty at the University of
Paris was created by Franois I with the mission
of teaching Hebrew, Greek and mathematics. It
became the College de France. After the death of
Francois I in 1547, his son, Henry II, continued the
decoration of Paris in the French Renaissance style.
His nest contributions were the nest Renaissance
fountain in the city, the Fontaine des Innocents and
a new wing for the Louvre, Pavillon du Roi. Henry
II died on 10 July 1559, his widow, Catherine de
Medicis, ordered to demolish the old residence in
1563. A new royal residence, the Tuileries Palace
perpendicular to the Seine, was constructed between
1564 and 1572. She also ordered to construct a large
Italian style park, which later became the Jardin
des Tuileries.
The 16th century also marked the beginning
of new division within Paris between the estab-
lished Catholic Church, Protestant Calvinism
and Renaissance humanism. The Sorbonne and
Figure 4: The old medieval Louvre (background) and the
Tuileries (foreground),1615
University of Paris were major fortresses of Catholic
orthodoxy and both got involved in forceful attacks
on Protestant and humanist doctrines. Repression
and massacres of Protestants in Paris started in
1562 later triggered French Wars of Religion. Paris
was a stronghold of the Catholic party. Targeted
assassination of prominent protestant leaders was
planned on 24 August 1572, when many prominent
Protestants were in Paris, on the occasion of the
marriage of Henri of Navarre. The target killing
quickly turned into general slaughter of Protestants,
known as St. Bartholomews Day massacre. This
war, which started in Paris, spread to the rest of the
country.
On 25 July 1593, Henri IV formally abandoned
Protestantism. He was crowned at Chartres on 29
February 1593, and was welcomed to Paris as King
on 22 March 1594.
17th Century Paris:
Paris had suered a lot during the wars of religion,
most of houses were destroyed and grand projects
like Louvre, the Hotel de Ville, and the Tuileries
Palace were all unnished. Henry IV resumed
construction of all the building projects, and also
initiated the project of making the Louvre into a
single great palace which went on for next three
hundred years. He also ordered to complete the
construction of Pont Neuf, which was the rst
Paris Bridge without houses and with sidewalks.
His nal project was a new residential triangle,
Place Dauphine, near the end of le de la Cit,
which he started in 1607. He was assassinated
by a Catholic extremist on 14 May 1610. His
widow, Marie de Medicis, built her own residence,
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the Luxembourg Palace (16151630), today the
place where the French Senate is gathering. Water
scarcity of Left bank was a major reason for that
part of city grown slowly than the Right Bank. She
ordered to reconstruct the old Roman aqueduct
to provide water for her palace gardens and fountains.
After Henri IV, Louis XIII continued the Louvre
project by creating a square courtyard in the heart
of the Louvre. In 1624, he started constructing the
Palais-Cardinal, a new residence for himself, now
known as Palais-Royal.
The population of Paris got doubled, nearly
400,000, in the rst half of 17th century. Louis XIII
built ve new bridges over the Seine, to provide
better connectivity between Left and Right bank.
New style of residences were built, having two
specialized additional rooms, the dining room and
the salon. The only left good example in its original
form is Hotel de Sully (16251630), can be seen today.
It was under Louis XIII reign, when two small
islands in the seine, the le Notre-Dame and the
le-des-vaches, which were primarily being used for
cattle grazing and storing rewood, were combined
to make the le Saint-Louis. Due to eorts of
Louis XIII, Paris boomed its reputation as cultural
capital of Europe. Thanks to the landmark projects
initiated like Galerie of the Louvre, Academie
Francaise, Academy of Painting and Sculpture and
later the Academy of Fine Arts. First botanical
garden in France (Jardin des Plantes) was founded
in 1633, both as a conservatory of medicinal plants
and for botanical research. It was the rst public
garden in Paris. Inside Palais-Cardinal (today called
Palais Royal), the rst permanent theatre in Paris
was created by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635.
Cardinal Richelieu died in 1642 and Louis XIV
was only ve years old when Louis XIII died in 1643.
Richelieus successor, Cardinal Mazarin tried to im-
pose a new tax upon the Parliament of Paris which
resulted in long uprising of the Paris nobility against
the royal authority, which lasted from 1648 to 1653,
called in French history, La Fronde. Louis XIV and
his mother suered lot of diculties but Paris con-
tinued to grow and prosper.
Royalist France achieved its greatest heights un-
der Louis XIV, the "Sun King". Pariss infrastruc-
ture continued to improve during Louis XIVs reign.
The most important additions were College of the
Four Nations (16621672), a new hospital named
Figure 5: Jardin des Plantes, Paris
La Salptrire and hospital complex for wounded
soldiers called Les Invalides (1674). Louis XIV con-
sidered Paris secure, thus ordered to demolish the
main city walls. This created the space which later
became the Grand Boulevards. Two small arches of
triumph, Porte Saint-Denis (1672) and Porte Saint-
Martin (1676) were built to celebrate the destruction
of old walls. In 1681, Louis XIV also contributed to
the citys culture by creating most famous theatre
of future Paris, the Comedie Francaise. Life was not
the same for the poor in Paris. Bad infrastructure
and crime rate was the main reason for dicult liv-
ing conditions of poor people in Pairs. Thanks to
Colbert who increased the number of archers to four
hundred as they also acted as night watchmen in the
city. Lanterns were introduced in the streets of Paris
and Gabriel Nicolas de la Reyie was appointed the
rst lieutenant-general of police of Paris in 1667.
Paris during the Enlightenment,
18th century
Louis XIV died on 1 September 1715 and his
grandson Louis XV, at the age of only ve became
king, with his nephew Philip dOrlans serving
as regent. The Royal residence returned to Paris.
Phillip quickly loosed his stature owing to corruption,
debauchery and involvement in the nancial scandal
of the South Sea Bubble in 1720. Louis XV moved
the court back to Versailles.
In July 1725, several riots took place owing to
the shortage of bread, but ocials took actions and
established a system of granaries to cope with such
situation, which worked for next fty years. Every
religious, hospital, public assistance and educational
community was directed to maintain a stock of
grain for three years. This cheap and decentralized
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system worked well to solve the occasional food
shortage problem. Meanwhile, middle classes of
Paris, anticipating the situation, switched from
bread to meat which was supplied by network of
butchers. The granary system collapsed in the
1780s, paving way for the era of Revolution which
was evident from the riots over food shortages.
Paris became the intellectual and cultural capital
of the Western world in the latter half of 18th
century. It became the main centre of the Enlighten-
ment due to its many diverse philosophers with its
salons transformed into centre of new intellectual
thinking, the "Age of Reason (Les Lumires, in
french). Fortunately state was proving to be catalyst
in this whole new transformation, with Louiss
mistress Madame de Pompadour supporting the
citys intellectuals. The Caf Procope, the rst
caf in Paris was established by Franois Procope
in 1686. In just next thirty four years, number
of cafs boomed to 400, but Caf Procope in
particular became the centre of Enlightenment.
Robert Darnton after his study about these cafs
proved that how these cafs became "nerve centres"
for rumour. Such was importance of those cafs
that these rumours were trusted more than the
newspapers available at that time.
Louis XVI reign provided Paris new heights of
excellence as a centre of the arts, sciences and
philosophy. In 1666, French Academy of Sciences
was founded in Paris to cope with the scarcity of
scientists government was having at those times. Its
main purpose was to help promote and organize new
disciplines as well as to train new scientists.
French state went virtually bankrupt by 1770,
mostly because of Seven Years War (175563) and
the French intervention in the American Revolution
(177883). As a result state decided to increase tax-
ation thus a new wall was built around Paris to
provide customs barrier for taxation. It went highly
unpopular. In 1788, the disastrous harvest worsens
the situation, with large scale famine and hunger
across the France and food riots in Paris.
The French Revolution:
French Revolution is marked as a period of radical
social and political upheaval in France. It immensely
aected French and modern history, marking the
decline of powerful monarchies and churches and the
rise of democracy and nationalism. Paris became
Figure 6: Cafe Procope, Paris
the centre stage for the French Revolution. On
13 July 1789, huge crowds of Parisians occupied
the Hotel de Ville, and to defend the city, Marquis
de Lafayette assembled a National Guard. On
14 July 1789, the crowds attacked the Bastille, a
symbol of royal authority. A brief battle followed
in which 87 revolutionaries were killed before
the fortress surrendered. This event proved to
be the rst real indication of the Revolution,
and the decline of the divine right of monarchs
in France. It is still marked in France as Bastille Day.
All revolutionary proceedings badly disrupted
the food supplies and in October an angry crowd
marched to Versailles to protest. Whereupon legend
holds that Marie Antoinette, told the people had no
bread, arrogantly dismissed them with her famous
remark, "Let them eat cake". (It is believed with
high certainty that she never said this) As a result
furious crowd attacked the palace and were only
placated when Louis himself appeared and agreed
to return to Paris with his family. The royal family
were reduced to virtual prisoners in the Tuileries.
They tried their best to escape but were caught and
returned to Paris as prisoners.
On 17 July, the national tricolour ag with the
colours of Paris (blue and red) and of the King (white)
was adopted at the Htel de Ville by Louis XVI.
Jean-Sylvain Bailly, the rst Mayor, was elected on
15 July 1789. The Republic was declared for the
rst time in 1792. In 1793, Louis XVI and Queen
Marie-Antoinette were executed on the Place de la
Concorde. The Reign of Terror took hold. Then,
a takeover by Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the
French Directory and put an end to the Revolution.
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The 19th Century:
Paris established itself as the capital of an empire
and a great military power during the reign of
Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was crowned
emperor in Notre-Dame cathedral in 1804. In 1812,
Napoleon initially met with great success as he was
able to capture Moscow in his war against Britain
and its allies but hubris, where overcondence and
poor planning caused the annihilation of his army
in the depths of a Russian winter. Russian and
Austrian armies recovered from their early defeats
and invaded France in 1814 and it was 31 March
1814, when Paris fell to the invaders and Napoleon
was exiled. This was the rst time in 400 years that
the city had been conquered by a foreign power.
In 1814, after the fall of Napoleon the Bourbons
Figure 7: Arch de Triumph
returned with kings Louis XVIII (18141824)
and Charles X (18241830). They once again
proved themselves incompetent and in 1830 another
revolution took place in Paris and Louis Philippe
became constitutional monarch of France.
The population of Paris got nearly doubled in
the rst half of 19th century. The inauguration of
Railway system in the 1850s triggered industrial
revolution in France, created plenty of new jobs as
number of industries expanded across the country.
Paris became the continental centre for art, music,
upscale fashion and luxury crafts of all sorts. There
was no mayor for the city, the Prefect of the Seine
appointed by the national government had charge of
public aairs. In 1850, after getting more than one
million inhabitants, Paris became the second largest
city in Europe after London, the third largest city in
the world. The greatness of city was reected in the
construction of extravagant new monuments, such
as Arch de Triumph (initiated by Napoleon) and the
Eglise du Dme. However common Parisians were
still living in same crowded unsanitary conditions
and thus 19,000 people were killed by cholera
outbreak in 1831. In 1848 discontent in Paris
resulted in another revolution and Napoleon III took
power in France. He was the rst elected president
of France. In 1853 a gigantic public works program
was launched by Napoleon III, under the direction
of his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann, to
bring clean water, light and open space to the centre
of the city.
These were eorts of Napoleon III and Haussmann
Figure 8: NapoleonIII and Haussmann
during the next seventeen years which completely
transformed the appearance of Paris. Old neigh-
bourhoods on the le de la Cit were replaced by
government buildings and a new hospital. Wide new
boulevards were built to improve trac circulation.
Haussmann also imposed strict standards on the
new buildings being constructed along the new
boulevards; they had to be the same height, to
follow the same basic design, and to be faced in a
creamy white stone called pierre de Paris. These
standards gave Paris the special look it still has
today. One can still see the letters N or E or both
on the oldest buildings of le de la Cit, representing
the construction of building carried out in time of
Napoleon III.
Napoleon III wanted to provide all classes of
Parisians, access to green space for recreation and
relaxation. He carried out the construction of four
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large parks at the four cardinal points of the compass
around the city, plus many smaller parks around the
city, so that no neighbourhood was more than a ten
minute walk from a park. Two new train stations,
Gare de Lyon and Gare de Nord were constructed
in order to connect Paris to rest of France. He
developed an approximately 500-km-long sewerage
network. He also built a new reservoir and aqueduct
to increase the supply of fresh water. The rst de-
partment store in Paris, Bon March, opened in 1852.
Most of the Napoleon IIIs projects were still un-
nished when he declared a Franco-Prussian War
in July 1870. The outnumbered French army was
defeated, Napoleon III was captured, and was swiftly
removed from oce by the French parliament, which
proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 at the
Htel de Ville. The Prussians invaded Paris. The
Paris Commune was crushed during the bloody week
and the outcome was 20 to 30,000 victims, a third of
the city was burned down and the Htel de Ville de-
stroyed. Paris, under siege, lost its status as capital
of France for a time.
The Golden Age:
Paris was governed by a national government after
the fall of La Commune. On 23 July 1873, the Na-
tional Assembly endorsed the project of building
basilica on the place where the uprising began, in-
tended mainly to compensate the suerings of Paris
during the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Com-
mune. The Basilica of Sacr Coeur was built in the
neo-Byzantine style. After getting completed in 1919,
it quickly became most prominent landmark in Paris.
The population grew steadily and reached nearly
Figure 9: Sacr Coeur
3 million by 1914. The third republic delivered a
golden age for Paris. Many distinctive new mon-
uments were acquired including the Eiel Tower,
constructed for the World Exhibition of 1889. In
January 1910, Paris was once again ooded when
the Seine burst its banks in its hundred-year cycle.
The 1910 Great Flood of Paris was the worst the city
had seen since 1658.
Paris in 20th Century:
In World War One, Paris was saved from the Ger-
man oensive by the Battle of the Marne also known
as Miracle of Marne. However, the city could not
escape German occupation from 1940 to 1944. The
government agreed an armistice with the invaders
and moved south to Vichy. In London, the free
France organised its forces led by General de Gaulle.
In 1942, 12,000 Jews were arrested and gathered
together at the Vlodrome dHiver to be deported.
Paris was liberated on 25 August 1944. The following
day, General de Gaulle paraded down the Champs-
lyses. The city was saved thanks to the German
commander Dietrich von Choltitz, in charge of de-
fence in Paris, disobeyed Hitlers order to demolish
the capitals historic buildings.
In 1946, after the Fourth Republic was proclaimed
Figure 10: Montparnasse Tower, Paris
and civilian rule was restored, Paris made a rapid
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recovery thanks to the very small damage it had en-
dured during the war. Paris received large amounts
of immigrants after Algeria was granted indepen-
dence in 1962. In response to the immigrant inux,
the government built huge new residential suburbs.
In May 1968, due to growing social unrest and de
Gaulles somewhat authoritarian style of government,
a student revolution took place around the Sorbonne
University (5th arrondissement). Although this un-
rest diminishes after sometime but it did contribute
to the de Gaulles retirement and the implementation
of socially liberal policies. Paris infrastructure kept
on improving as in the early 1970s, the Paris ring
road, the Montparnasse tower and the Palais des
Congrs convention centre were completed. In 1977,
Jacques Chirac was elected Mayor of Paris: the rst
mayor since 1871. The most famous project of that
time is probably the Grand Louvre: the transforma-
tion of the old Louvre Museum into that modern
space with the Pyramid, 1990.
Paris in the 21st Century:
In March 2001, Paris voted for a left-wing mayor
for the rst time since 1871. In December 2006, the
tramway made a comeback in the south of Paris, the
rst to be operated in the capital in 69 years. Pres-
ident Nicolas Sarkozy launched in 2007, a massive
urban renewal project, the Grand Paris. It includes
various economic, cultural, housing, transport and
environmental projects to obtain better integration
of the territories and to boost the metropolitan econ-
omy. The most symbolic project is the construction
of a new automatic metro, includes 200 kilometres
(120 mi) of rapid-transit lines connecting the Grand
Paris regions to one another. The net worth of
project is 26.5 billion Euro and it will be completed
by 2030. On April 5, 2014, Paris got its rst ever
women mayor, Anne Hidalgo of the Socialist Party.
Figure 11: Paris
References
[1] www.Wikipedia.org
[2] www.paris.fr
[3] www.paris-city.fr
[4] www.worlding.weebly.com
[5] www.localhistories.org/paris.html
[6] www.parisdigest.com
[7] www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris
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