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- Paris is one of the largest and grandest cities in Europe. A center for fashion, the arts, and culture. How did it become one of the most influential and consequential cities on the planet? Our story begins here along the Seine, at the Ile de la Cite. Initially, this area was a small Celtic settlement known as the Parisii within the Gaul region that encompassed most of Western Europe. This was a great location for a settlement as the Seine was widely used for trade routes already. The island made a great crossing point for routes perpendicular to the Seine, putting Paris at an important crossroads. Soon Parisii became an important trading center for many other small towns in the area. This area's importance was proved on the map by the Romans, who conquered the town around 52 BCE. At that time, the Romans were extending their control into current-day France and expanding their overall empire. While the capital of the Roman Gaul region was located in present-day Lyon, known then as Lugdunum, Roman Parisii was important for maintaining control of the northern part of the region. Before Roman rule, the town likely had a grid street pattern, which would've made it easier for Romans to adapt their traditional rectal linear system. They extended the settlement to the left bank and renamed the town Lutetia Parisiorum. Soon the town grew into a prosperous city full of temples, amphitheaters, and important government buildings. Bathhouses from this period can still be found in Paris within the Musee de Cluny. Water was applied to the growing city via an aqueduct, originating from the south, a facility that was used for the city well into the 1800s and floated into homes and bathhouses through central heating systems. The city even had an effective sewer system. However, this was unfortunately left in disrepair and unusable by the third century. Although the city was large for the area, it wasn't as important or nearly as large when compared to other cities in Gaul. Around this time, the city likely had a population of around 10,000, whereas Lyon, Reims, and other Gaul cities boasted between 20 to 30,000 residents. The city's trade-based economy did all right for a while, but by the third century, Roman power in the region began to decline, leading to attacks and raids on cities across Gaul. This in turn caused the fortification of the Ile de la Cite and surrounding areas. The urban fabric that came under Roman rule stayed largely intact. It was during this period that the trend of reusing materials from existing structures began. Stones from the Roman amphitheater of Lutetia were dismantled and used to create the fortifications around the city. Later in the 12th century, additional stone from the amphitheater was used for even more city walls. This dismantling and reassembling of building materials happened time and time again over Paris' history, which explains why archeological finds from the Gallic and Roman times are largely lacking in the Ile de la Cite. By the early fourth century, this fortification ended up working so well that Leticia became a main defense against invaders of Roman Gaul, and the capital of the region was moved there. The Romans reverted the city name back to Parisii or Paris as some called it, which has remained its name ever since. Unfortunately, for the Romans, their empire collapsed in the fifth century, giving opportunity to the Franks to take over the capital and impose dominance over Northern France. This shift gave rise to the popularity of Christianity in the area, which greatly affected the urban fabric over time, as churches often became a focal point of neighborhoods. From this point on, the Franks had control over Paris and most of the area that currently makes up France today under the Merovingian Dynasty. This shift united the country for the first time in history under a single ruler and set up the longstanding practice of kings ruling France. Under the Merovingian rule, Paris became the capital of the country. This trend continued in the Capetian dynasty, which unified the country under the name Francia. During the Middle Ages, Paris became the largest, most populated, and most wealthy city in France due to its importance in commerce, religion, and government functions. The Ile de la Cite, the initial place for settlement in the city, was now home to the royal palace, the Cathedrale Notre-Dame, which were the origins of the gothic style architecture that would permeate through the rest of Europe. The left bank featured many monasteries and major universities, whereas the right bank was the main commercial area and home to the Medieval Louvre Palace. Walls built around the city contained its growth and caused houses to grow up instead of out. Houses with two to four floors became common in the city. The bottom floor was usually a shop with residences above, which is generally how most Parisian apartment buildings are arranged today. Even wealthier nobles built townhouses in the city, but unlike other medieval neighborhoods and districts, houses were built with stone, wood beams, and plaster, which were much less likely to catch on fire. As a result, most buildings that remained from the Middle Ages were initially owned by the wealthy. While the streets of Paris are picturesque today, the same can certainly not be said for medieval streets. Chamber pots were routinely emptied into the streets, so most streets had a channel running down the center to carry wastewater into the city's open sewers in the Seine. Very narrow streets, only four meters wide, and most places were noisy, smelly, and had little to no street lighting. Two major bridge locations that connected the left and the right bank of the Seine at the Ile de la Cite were solidified in this period. These locations have been used for bridges on and off since the third century BCE when the Gauls lived in the area. And today, the Petit Pont and the Pont au Change stand in their place. The Middle Ages ended a period of tumultuous violence. Starting first with a hundred years war between France and England, followed by the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War, followed by the English and Burgundian occupation of Paris, which only ended in 1436. In addition to all of this, the bubonic plague claimed tens of thousands of lives in the city. This left many districts in ruins, causing around half the population to pack up and move elsewhere. French monarchs chose to reside in the Loire Valley until 1528 when they returned to Paris ready for change. When Royals returned to reside in Paris, they began to demolish and replace older medieval buildings with new ornate buildings and infrastructure to mimic improvements they had seen in Italian cities. And so began the Renaissance period in France. This period was categorized by widespread artistic, intellectual, and cultural changes in society across Europe that permeated French painting styles, architecture, literature, music, and social etiquette. The old Louvre palace was rebuilt in the Renaissance style, which is characterized by ornate architecture that prioritizes symmetry, specific proportions of buildings, and aesthetic harmony. Extensive urban development occurred all over Paris, including the construction of the city hall, new bridges, and symmetrical wider streets and boulevards. Improvements to the riverbanks and drinking fountains, as well as routine street cleaning and implementation of waste disposal services, improved public health and lowered the smell factor in the city. All of these areas of improvement attracted more and more wealthy families, creating desirable pockets within the city where luxury commerce flourished. Artisans were also in high demand, creating an economic boom that attracted even more people to the city. It was particularly during this time that the monarchy placed great emphasis on grand monumental public buildings throughout the city that show off the strength of the monarchy and Paris as a capital city. Triumphal arches and impressive public fountains began to dot the landscape of Paris. The city walls, previously a major piece of infrastructure, were torn down for the most part to be replaced with Grand Boulevards. Although some wall sections were incorporated into new buildings. Up until this point, streets were mostly used by pedestrians and some people on horseback. But the increasing popularity of using carriages as a mode of transportation meant that streets had to be cleaned more frequently. Streets became wider to accommodate the additional carriage traffic, and street cleaning programs were enacted throughout the city. The general sense of optimism and forward-thinking did not extend to the royal family at this time. The general unpopularity of the many King Louis by the mid-1700s coincided with the start of the Age of Enlightenment. This meant Parisians had new ideas about individual liberty, human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge, and the separation of church and state. Social and political unrest grew until it exploded into a period of revolutions and interstate wars from 1789 to 1799. The end of these revolutions saw the end of the monarchy with many beheadings, the declaration of the first French Republic, and a reduced role for the Catholic church. Then Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power in the 1800s, and he had a grand vision for Paris, as did his successors. He reorganized the city as it existed at the time into 12 arrondissements, each with a mayor, which is how they're governed today. Public gaslights were installed along several main roads and squares to make the city brighter and safer at night. Then in the 1850s came Baron Haussmann and his vision for a more modern Paris. His ambition made him widely admired, although others criticized his destructive work on historic Parisian neighborhoods. Haussmann oversaw a complete renovation of Paris that included adding parks, monuments, and most famously, a network of impressive diagonal boulevards that connected important buildings in the city, including newly constructed railroad stations. Paris' population doubled between 1800 and 1850 as a result of easier and more widespread train travel. And the city's already overflowing housing situation was bursting at the seams. Even the water and sewer systems that dated back to the Middle Ages were still widely in use and unable to keep up. Haussmann's work mainly occurred from 1853 to 1870, although some projects continued well into the 1920s. In just 17 years, Haussmann demolished around 20,000 buildings and countless streets and constructed 45,000 new buildings and 71 miles of new streets with over 100,000 trees. These long, seemingly unending straight boulevards were prioritized to showcase vistas of the city's new monuments, as well as to give future rebellions less of an opportunity to build barricades as they had in old Paris. Over 350,000 Parisians were evicted or displaced from their homes for Haussmann's projects. Sadly, many of those demolished neighborhoods were some of Paris' oldest and dated back to the Medieval and Renaissance times, including the Ile de la Cite, whose very dense housing and churches were almost entirely torn down. Haussmann ordered an unprecedented level of urban development for the city, which some disliked for its monotony. It did result in what we'd say today as a more harmonious streetscape. And he also built more public green space and new sewer and water facilities, which Paris desperately needed. The city boundary grew to twice it's previous size and the arrondissements were reconfigured into 20 parts in a snail configuration that we know today. The growth of the city meant the surrounding small villages, previously independent, were annexed into the city. Between 1871 and the start of World War I, Paris leaned into its lavish and modern image. Over 56,000 gaslights lit the city streets, all of which needed to be lit by hand at nightfall. By the 1870s, some of these streetlights were being converted to electric lights. But this process was slow at first and reserved only for the grandest of boulevards. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair, and the beginnings of the metro were constructed. And department stores exploded in popularity. Unfortunately, much of this modern momentum came to a halt during the world wars, which were not kind to the city. Parts of Paris were bombed in World War I, and Nazis subsequently took over the city until the end of World War II. Within the last century, Paris' urban fabric has continued to develop in ways that are beloved by some and criticized by others. Starting in the 1960s, and 1970s, President Georges Pompidou wanted to bring modern infrastructure to the city, which included projects like the Montparnasse Tower, a 56-story black modern monolith that looks shocking to many when compared to the style and size of the buildings around it. The new modern La Defense district also rose above the traditional buildings of Paris. And a new arch echoed the Arc de Triomphe, creating a symbolic link. Pompidou also wanted to bring car-centric infrastructure to Parisians, which prompted the highway-ization of the right bank and decades of automobile developments. Today, Paris is a wonderful combination of different architectural and street styles from different periods of its history. Although Haussmann and Pompidou spurred a lot of controversial and destructive development, around 15% of Paris' buildings that existed before Haussmann still remain. That said, the period of development between 1851 and 1914 makes up the majority of buildings still standing today at 37.5%. The city continues to change through progressive urban planning projects, many of which are attempting to undo the automobile accommodations of the post-war years, such as its bike-sharing program, closing the Le George Pompidou to vehicles in favor of pedestrians and bicyclists, and its 15-minute city program that aims to improve air pollution and livability within the city. Paris remains one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world and continues to be a major hub for the arts, fashion, and culture. Paris came to be known as the City of Light for its early adoption of gas street lamps, and also because it became the hub for some of the best thinkers in the world. It turns out that when you create an environment for supporting learning, you get some world-changing results
