This article is about the capital of France. For other uses see Paris (disambiguation).

Paris

Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: It is tossed by the waves but does not sink) Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the foreground and the skyscrapers of La Dfense in the background City flag City coat of arms Paris Location within le-de-France region  Paris Administration Country France Region le-de-France Department Paris Mayor Bertrand Delano (PS) (20082014) Statistics Land area1 1 105.4 km2 (40.7 sq mi) Population2 2193031  (Jan. 20072)  - Ranking 1st in France  - Density 20807 /km2 (53890 /sq mi) Urban area 2723 km2 (1051 sq mi) (1999)  - Population 101976783 (Jan. 2007) Metro area 14518.3 km2 (5605.5 sq mi) (1999)  - Population 118369704 (Jan. 2007) Time zone CET (UTC +1) INSEE/Postal code 75056/ 75001-75020 75116 Website paris.fr 1 French Land Register data which excludes lakes ponds glaciers > 1 km (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 485124N 22103E / 48.856667N 2.350833E / 48.856667; 2.350833

Paris ( /prs/; French: pai ( listen)) is the capital and largest city in France situated on the river Seine in northern France at the heart of the le-de-France region (or Paris Region French: Rgion parisienne). The city of Paris within its administrative limits largely unchanged since 1860 has an estimated population of 2193031 (January 2007)2 but the Paris metropolitan area has a population of 11836970 (January 2007)4 and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe.5

An important settlement for more than two millennia Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres and its influences in politics education entertainment media fashion science and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities.67 In 20098 and 2010910 Paris was ranked among the three most important and influential cities in the world among the first three "European cities of the future" according to research published by the Financial Times 11 and among the top ten most liveable cities in the world according to the British review Monocle.12 Paris also ranks among the 10 greenest European cities in 2010.1314 Paris hosts the headquarters of many international organizations such as UNESCO the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the informal Paris Club.

Paris and the Paris Region with 552.1 bn in 2009 produces more than a quarter of the gross domestic product of France.15 According to 2008 estimates the Paris agglomeration is along with London Europe's biggest city economy and the sixth largest in the world.16 The Paris Region hosts 37 of the Fortune Global 500 companies17 in several business districts notably La Dfense the largest dedicated business district in Europe.18 According to the latest survey from Economist Intelligence Unit in 2010 Paris is the world's most expensive city in which to live.19 With about 42 million tourists per year20 (28 in city proper21 of which 17 million are foreign visitors22) Paris is the most visited city in the world. The city and its region contain 3800 historical monuments and four UNESCO World Heritage Sites.20 Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Merovingian and Feudal Eras 1.3 Middle Ages to 19th century 1.4 Nineteenth century 1.5 Twentieth century 1.6 Twenty-first century 2 Etymology 3 Geography 3.1 Climate 4 Cityscape 4.1 Architecture 4.2 Districts and historical centres 4.2.1 City of Paris 4.2.2 In the Paris area 4.3 Monuments and landmarks 4.4 Parks and gardens 4.5 Water and sanitation 4.6 Cemeteries 5 Culture 5.1 Entertainment and performing arts 5.2 Cuisine 5.3 Tourism 5.4 Sports 6 Economy 7 Sociology 8 Demographics 8.1 Density 8.2 Paris agglomeration 8.3 Immigration 9 Administration 9.1 Capital of France 9.2 City government 9.3 Municipal offices 9.4 Capital of the le-de-France rgion 9.5 Intercommunality 10 Education 10.1 Primary and secondary education 10.2 Higher-education 10.3 Universities 10.4 Grandes coles 10.5 Libraries 11 Transport 11.1 Cycling 12 Health 13 International relations 14 Gallery 15 See also 16 References 16.1 Notes 16.2 Bibliography 17 External links History Main article: History of Paris Origins The Gallo-Roman baths Thermes de Cluny at the Muse de Cluny in Paris Latin Quarter.

The earliest archaeological signs of permanent settlements in the Paris area date from around 4200 BC.23 The Parisii a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones inhabited the area near the river Seine from around 250 BC.24 The Romans conquered the Paris basin in 52 BC23 with a permanent settlement by the end of the same century on the Left Bank Sainte Genevive Hill and the le de la Cit. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia but later Gallicised to Lutce. It expanded greatly over the following centuries becoming a prosperous city with a forum palaces baths temples theatres and an amphitheatre.25

The collapse of the Roman empire and the 5th-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline. By 400 AD Lutce largely abandoned by its inhabitants was little more than a garrison town entrenched into a hastily fortified central island.23 The city reclaimed its original appellation of "Paris" towards the end of the Roman occupation. Merovingian and Feudal Eras

The Paris region was under full control of the Germanic 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. The late 8th century Carolingian dynasty displaced the Frankish capital to Aachen; this period coincided with the beginning of Viking invasions that had spread as far as Paris by the early 9th century. Repeated invasions forced Parisians to build a fortress on the Ile de la Cit; one of the most remarkable Viking raids was on 28 March 845 when Paris was sacked and held ransom probably by Ragnar Lodbrok who left only after receiving a large bounty paid by the crown. The weakness of the late Carolingian kings of France led to the gradual rise in power of the Counts of Paris; Odo Count of Paris was elected king of France by feudal lords and the end of the Carolingian empire came in 987 when Hugh Capet count of Paris was elected king of France. Paris under the Capetian kings became a capital once more. Middle Ages to 19th century The Chteau de Vincennes with its 52m high keep was built between the 14th and 17th century. Paris's population was around 20000026 when the Black Death arrived in 1348 killing as many as 800 people a day; and 40000 died from the plague in 1466.27 During the 16th and 17th centuries plague visited the city for almost one year out of three.28 Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm during occupation of the English-allied Burgundians during the Hundred Years' War but regained its title when Charles VII of France reclaimed the city from English rule in 1436. Paris from then on became France's capital once again in title but France's real centre of power would remain in the Loire Valley29 until King Francis I returned France's crown residences to Paris in 1528. During the French Wars of Religion Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic party. In August 1572 under the reign of Charles IX while many noble Protestants were in Paris on the occasion of the marriage of Henry of Navarre the future Henry IV to Margaret of Valois sister of Charles IX the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre occurred; begun on 24 August it lasted several days and spread throughout the country.3031 In 1590 Henry IV unsuccessfully laid siege to the city in the Siege of Paris. During the Fronde Parisians rose in rebellion and the royal family fled the city (1648). King Louis XIV then moved the royal court permanently to Versailles a lavish estate on the outskirts of Paris in 1682. A century later Paris was the centre stage for the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 and the overthrow of the monarchy in September 1792.32 Nineteenth century Paris was occupied by Russian Cossack and Kalmyk cavalry units upon Napoleon's defeat on the 31 March 1814; this was the first time in 400 years that the city had been conquered by a foreign power.33 The ensuing Restoration period or the return of the monarchy under Louis XVIII (18141824) and Charles X ended with the July Revolution Parisian uprising of 1830. The new 'constitutional monarchy' under Louis-Philippe ended with the 1848 "February Revolution" that led to the creation of the Second Republic. 1889 Universal Exposition. Throughout these events cholera epidemics in 1832 and 1849 ravaged the population of Paris; the 1832 epidemic alone claimed 20000 of the population of 650000.34 The greatest development in Paris's history began with the Industrial Revolution creation of a network of railways that brought an unprecedented flow of migrants to the capital from the 1840s. The city's largest transformation came with the 1852 Second Empire under Napoleon III; his prfet Baron Haussmann levelled entire districts of Paris' narrow winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical faades that still make up much of modern Paris; the reason for this transformation was twofold as not only did the creation of wide boulevards beautify and sanitize the capital it also facilitated the effectiveness of troops and artillery against any further uprisings and barricades for which Paris was so famous.35 The Second Empire ended in the Franco-Prussian War (18701871) and a besieged Paris under heavy bombardment surrendered on 28 January 1871. The discontent of Paris' populace with the new armistice-signing government seated in Versailles resulted in the creation of the Paris Commune government supported by an army created in large part of members of the city's former National Guard that would both continue resistance against the Prussians and oppose the army of the "Versaillais" government. The Paris Commune ended with the Semaine Sanglante ("Bloody Week") during which roughly 20000 "Communards" were executed before the fighting ended on 28 May 1871.36 The ease with which the Versaillais army overtook Paris owed much to Baron Haussmann's renovations. Panorama of the seven bridges in 1895 France's late 19th-century Universal Expositions made Paris an increasingly important centre of technology trade and tourism.37 Its most famous were the 1889 Exposition universelle to which Paris owes its "temporary" display of architectural engineering progess the Eiffel Tower a structure that remained the world's tallest building until 1930; the 1900 Universal Exposition saw the opening of the first Paris Mtro line. Twentieth century During World War I Paris was at the forefront of the war effort having been spared a German invasion by the French and British victory at the First Battle of the Marne in 1914. In 19181919 it was the scene of Allied victory parades and peace negotiations. In the inter-war period Paris was famed for its cultural and artistic communities and its nightlife. The city became a gathering place of artists from around the world from exiled Russian composer Stravinsky and Spanish painters Picasso and Dal to American writer Hemingway.38 Liberation of Paris August 1944. On 14 June 1940 five weeks after the start of the Battle of France an undefended Paris fell to German occupation forces. The Germans marched past the Arc de Triomphe on the 140th anniversary of Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Marengo.39 German forces remained in Paris until the city was liberated in August 1944 after a resistance uprising two and a half months after the Normandy invasion.40 Central Paris endured World War II practically unscathed as there were no strategic targets for Allied bombers (train stations in central Paris are terminal stations; major factories were located in the suburbs). Also German General von Choltitz did not destroy all Parisian monuments before any German retreat as ordered by Adolf Hitler who had visited the city in 1940.41 In the post-war era Paris experienced its largest development since the end of the Belle poque in 1914. The suburbs began to expand considerably with the construction of large social estates known as cits and the beginning of the business district La Dfense. A comprehensive express subway network the RER was built to complement the Mtro and serve the distant suburbs while a network of freeways was developed in the suburbs centred on the Priphrique expressway encircling the city.424344 Since the 1970s many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the northern and eastern ones) have experienced deindustrialization and the once-thriving cits have gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of unemployment.4546 At the same time the city of Paris (within its Priphrique expressway) and the western and southern suburbs have successfully shifted their economic base from traditional manufacturing to high-value-added services and high-tech manufacturing generating great wealth for their residents whose per capita income is among the highest in Europe.474849 The resulting widening social gap between these two areas has led to periodic unrest since the mid-1980s such as the 2005 riots which were concentrated for the most part in the northeastern suburbs.50 Twenty-first century La Dfense. Paris is considered todayby whom to be one of the most beautiful and vibrant cities in Europe. In order to alleviate social tensions in the inner suburbs and revitalise the metropolitan economy of Paris several plans are currently underway. The office of Secretary of State for the Development of the Capital Region was created in March 2008 within the French government. Its office holder Christian Blanc is in charge of overseeing President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans for the creation of an integrated Grand Paris ("Greater Paris") metropolitan authority (see Administration section below) as well as the extension of the subway network to cope with the renewed growth of population in Paris and its suburbs and various economic development projects to boost the metropolitan economy such as the creation of a world-class technology and scientific cluster and university campus on the Saclay plateau in the southern suburbs. In parallel President Sarkozy also launched in 2008 an international urban and architectural competition for the future development of metropolitan Paris. Ten teams which bring together architects urban planners geographers and landscape architects will offer their vision for building a Paris metropolis of the 21st century in the Kyoto Protocol era and will make a prospective diagnosis for Paris and its suburbs that will define future developments in Greater Paris for the next 40 years. The goal is not only to build an environmentally sustainable metropolis but also to integrate the inner suburbs with the central City of Paris through large-scale urban planning operations and iconic architectural projects. Meanwhile in an effort to boost the global economic image of metropolitan Paris several skyscrapers (300 m (984 ft) and higher) have been approved since 2006 in the business district of La Dfense to the west of the city proper and are scheduled to be completed by the early 2010s. Paris authorities also stated publicly that they are planning to authorise the construction of skyscrapers within the city proper by relaxing the cap on building height for the first time since the construction of the Tour Montparnasse in the early 1970s. Etymology The name Paris derives from that of its earliest inhabitants the Gaulish 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 6th century but during the reign of Julian the Apostate (360363) the city was renamed Paris.51 It is considered that the name of the Parisii tribe comes from the Celtic Gallic word parisio meaning "the working people" or "the craftsmen."52 Since the mid-19th century Paris has been known as Paname53 (panam) in the Parisian slang called argot ( Moi j'suis d'Paname i.e. "I'm from Paname"). The singer Renaud repopularized the term amongst the young generation53 with his 1976 album Amoureux de Paname ("In love with Paname"). Paris has many nicknames but its most famous is "La Ville-Lumire" ("The City of Light" or "The Illuminated City")54 a name it owes first to its fame as a centre of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment and later to its early adoption of street lighting.55 Paris' inhabitants are known in English as "Parisians" and in French as Parisiens (paizj ( listen)). Parisians are often pejoratively called Parigots (paio ( listen)) a term first used in 190056 by those living outside the Paris region but now the term may be considered endearing by Parisians themselves. See Wiktionary for the name of Paris in various languages other than English and French. Geography Paris seen from Spot Satellite Main article: Topography of Paris Paris is located in the north-bending arc of the river Seine and includes two islands the le Saint-Louis and the larger le de la Cit which form the oldest part 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).57 Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes Paris covers an oval measuring 86.928 km2 (34 sq mi) in area.citation needed 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 (34 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 the present 105.39 km2 (41 sq mi).58 Climate Paris has the typical Western European oceanic climate which is affected by the North Atlantic Current. Over a year Paris' climate can be described as mild and moderately wet. Summer days are usually warm and pleasant with average temperatures hovering between 15 and 25 C and a fair amount of sunshine. Each year however there are a few days where the temperature rises above 32 C (90 F). Some years have even witnessed some 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 40 C (104 F) on some days and seldom cooled down at night. More recently the average temperature for July 2010 has been 21 C (70 F) with an average minimum temperature of 16 C (61 F) and an average maximum temperature of 27 C (81 F).59 Spring and autumn have on average mild days and fresh nights but are changing and unstable. Surprisingly warm or cool weather occurss frequently in both seasons. In winter sunshine is scarce; days are cold but generally above freezing with temperatures around 7 C. 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 rare but the city sometimes sees light snow or flurries with or without accumulation. Recently notably in 2009 and 2010 cold waves brought repeated heavy snowfalls (15 cm (5.91 in) in 2010) and temperatures plummeting to 10 C (14 F) and 20 C (4 F) in the Paris suburbs. Rain falls throughout the year and although Paris is not a very rainy city it is known for heavy sudden showers. 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 (105 F) on 28 July 1948 and the lowest is a 23.9 C (11 F) on 10 December 1879.60 Climate data for Paris (19712000) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high C (F) 6.9 (44.4) 8.2 (46.8) 11.8 (53.2) 14.7 (58.5) 19.0 (66.2) 22.7 (72.9) 25.2 (77.4) 25.0 (77) 20.8 (69.4) 15.8 (60.4) 10.4 (50.7) 7.8 (46) 15.5 (59.9) Average low C (F) 2.5 (36.5) 2.8 (37) 5.1 (41.2) 6.8 (44.2) 10.5 (50.9) 13.3 (55.9) 15.5 (59.9) 15.4 (59.7) 12.5 (54.5) 9.2 (48.6) 5.3 (41.5) 3.6 (38.5) 8.5 (47.3) Precipitation mm (inches) 53.7 (2.114) 43.7 (1.72) 48.5 (1.909) 53 (2.09) 65 (2.56) 54.6 (2.15) 63.1 (2.484) 43 (1.69) 54.7 (2.154) 59.7 (2.35) 51.9 (2.043) 58.7 (2.311) 649.6 (25.575) Avg. precipitation days 10.2 9.3 10.4 9.4 10.3 8.6 8 6.9 8.5 9.5 9.7 10.7 111.5 Sunshine hours 62 80 122 147 203 189 211 229 159 114 69 46 1630 Source: Mto France Cityscape Panoramic view over the western side of Paris at dusk from the top of the Tour Montparnasse. Architecture See also: List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region Place Vendme. Much of contemporary Paris is the result of the vast mid-nineteenth century urban remodelling. For centuries the city had been a labyrinth of narrow streets and half-timber houses but beginning with Haussman's advent entire quarters were leveled to make way for wide avenues lined with neo-classical stone buildings of bourgeoisie standing. Most of this 'new' Paris is the Paris we see today. The building code has seen few changes since and the Second Empire plans are in many cases still followed. The "alignement" law is still in place which regulates building faades of new constructions according to a pre-defined street width. A building's height is limited according to the width of the streets it borders and under the regulation it is difficult to get an approval to build a taller building. Many of Paris' important institutions are located outside the city limits. The financial (La Dfense) business district; the main food wholesale market (Rungis); schools (cole Polytechnique; ESSEC; INSEAD; HEC); research laboratories (in Saclay or vry); the largest stadium (the Stade de France) and the government offices (Ministry of Transportation) are located in the city's suburbs. Districts and historical centres Place de la Concorde The Sacr-Cur Basilica. Galeries Lafayette department store in boulevard Haussmann during Christmas Main article: Paris districts City of Paris Place de la Bastille (4th 11th and 12th arrondissements right bank) is a district of great historical significance for not just Paris but also all of France. Because of its symbolic value the square has often been a site of political demonstrations. Place de la Concorde (8th arrondissement right bank) is at the foot of the Champs-lyses built as the "Place Louis XV" site of the infamous guillotine. The Egyptian obelisk is Paris' "oldest monument". On this place on either side of the Rue Royale there are two identical stone buildings: The eastern one houses the French Naval Ministry the western the luxurious Htel de Crillon. Nearby Place Vendme is famous for its fashionable and deluxe hotels (Htel Ritz and Htel de Vendme) and its jewellers. Many famous fashion designers have had their salons located here. Champs-lyses (8th arrondissement right bank) is a 17th century garden-promenade-turned-avenue connecting Place de la Concorde and Arc de Triomphe. It is one of the many tourist attractions and a major shopping street of Paris. Les Halles (1st arrondissement right bank) was formerly Paris' central meat and produce market and since the late 1970s is a major shopping centre around an important metro connection station (Chtelet-Les Halles the biggest in the World). The old Les Halles was destroyed in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles. The central market of Paris the biggest wholesale food market in the world was transferred to Rungis in the southern suburbs. Le Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements) is a trendy Right Bank district. It is architecturally very well-preserved and some of the oldest houses and buildings of Paris can be found there. It is a very culturally open place. It is also known for its Chinese Jewish and gay communities. Avenue Montaigne (8th arrondissement) next to the Champs-lyses is home to luxury brand labels such as Chanel Louis Vuitton (LVMH) Dior and Givenchy. Montmartre (18th arrondissement right bank) is a historic area on the Butte home to the Basilique du Sacr-Cur. Montmartre has always had a history with artists and has many studios and cafs of many great artists in that area. Montparnasse (14th arrondissement) is a historic Left Bank area famous for artists' studios music halls and caf life. The large Montparnasse Bienvene mtro station and the lone Tour Montparnasse skyscraper are located there. Avenue de l'Opra (9th arrondissement right bank) is the area around the Opra Garnier and the location of the capital's densest concentration of both department stores and offices. A few examples are the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette grands magasins (department stores) and the Paris headquarters of financial giants such as BNP Paribas and American Express. Quartier Latin (5th and 6th arrondissements left bank) is a 12th-century scholastic centre formerly stretching between the Left Bank's Place Maubert and the Sorbonne campus. It is known for its lively atmosphere and many bistros. Various higher-education establishments such as Sciences Po Paris the cole Normale Suprieure TELECOM ParisTech and the Jussieu university campus make it a major educational centre in Paris. Faubourg Saint-Honor (8th arrondissement right bank) is one of Paris' high-fashion districts home to labels such as Herms and Christian Lacroix. Avenue des Champs-lyses at Christmas 2008. In the Paris area La Dfense (straddling the communes of Courbevoie Puteaux and Nanterre 2.5 km (2 mi) west of the city proper) is a key suburb of Paris and one of the largest business centres in the world. Built at the western end of a westward extension of Paris' historical axis from the Champs-lyses La Dfense consists mainly of business high-rises. Initiated by the French government in 1958 the district hosts 3500000 m2 (37673686 sq ft) of offices making it the largest district in Europe developed specifically for business. The Grande Arche (Great Arch) of la Dfense housing a part of the French Transports Minister's headquarters ends at the central Esplanade around which the district is organised. Val de Seine Plaine Saint-Denis (straddling the communes of Saint-Denis Aubervilliers and Saint-Ouen immediately north of the 18th arrondissement across the Priphrique ring road) is a former derelict manufacturing area that has undergone large-scale urban renewal in the last 10 years. It now hosts the Stade de France around which is being built the new business district of LandyFrance with two RER stations (on RER line B and D) and possibly some skyscrapers. In the Plaine Saint-Denis are also located most of France's television studios as well as some major movie studios. Val de Seine (straddling the 15th arrondissement and the communes of Issy-les-Moulineaux and Boulogne-Billancourt to the southwest of central Paris) is the new media hub of Paris and France hosting the headquarters of most of France's TV networks (TF1 in Boulogne-Billancourt France 2 in the 15th arrondissement Canal+ and the international channels France 24 and Eurosport in Issy-les-Moulineaux) as well as several telecommunication and IT companies such as Neuf Cegetel in Boulogne-Billancourt or Microsoft's Europe Africa & Middle East regional headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux. Monuments and landmarks Main article: List of visitor attractions in Paris Panorama of Paris which shows some of its landmarks Three of the most famous Parisian landmarks are the 12th-century cathedral Notre Dame de Paris on the le de la Cit the Napoleonic Arc de Triomphe and the 19th-century Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was a "temporary" construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition but the tower was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris. The Historical axis is a line of monuments buildings and thoroughfares that run in a roughly straight line from the city-centre westwards: The line of monuments begins with the Louvre and continues through the Tuileries Gardens the Champs-lyses and the Arc de Triomphe centred in the Place de l'toile circus. From the 1960s the line was prolonged even farther west to the La Dfense business district dominated by a square-shaped triumphal Grande Arche of its own; this district hosts most of the tallest skyscrapers in the Paris urban area. The Invalides museum is the burial place for many great French soldiers including Napoleon; and the Panthon church is where many of France's illustrious men and women are buried. The former Conciergerie prison held some prominent Ancien Rgime members before their deaths during the French Revolution. Another symbol of the Revolution are the two Statues of Liberty located on the le aux Cygnes on the Seine and in the Luxembourg Garden. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to America in 1886 and now stands in New York City's harbour. The Palais Garnier built in the later Second Empire period houses the Paris Opra and the Paris Opera Ballet while the former palace of the Louvre now houses one of the most renowned museums in the world. The Sorbonne is the most famous part of the University of Paris and is based in the centre of the Latin Quarter. Apart from Notre Dame de Paris there are several other ecclesiastical masterpieces including the Gothic 13th-century Sainte-Chapelle palace chapel and the glise de la Madeleine. Parks and gardens Main article: List of parks and gardens in Paris Jardin du Luxembourg. Two of Paris' oldest and famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden created in the 16th century for a palace on the banks of the Seine near the Louvre and the Left bank Luxembourg Garden another former private garden belonging to a chteau built for Marie de' Medici in 1612. The Jardin des Plantes created by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the cultivation of medicinal plants was Paris' first public garden. A few of Paris' other large gardens are Second Empire creations: The former suburban parks of Montsouris Parc des Buttes Chaumont and Parc Monceau (formerly known as the "folie de Chartres") are creations of Napoleon III's engineer Jean-Charles Alphand. Another project executed under the orders of Baron Haussmann was the re-sculpting of Paris' western Bois de Boulogne forest-parklands; the Bois de Vincennes on the city's opposite eastern end received a similar treatment in years following. Newer additions to Paris' park landscape are the Parc de la Villette built by the architect Bernard Tschumi on the location of Paris' former slaughterhouses; the Parc Andr Citron and gardens being laid to the periphery along the traces of its former circular "Petite Ceinture" railway line: Promenade Plante. Water and sanitation Seine. View from Pont Neuf Canal Saint-Martin. Paris in its early history had only the Seine and Bivre rivers for water. Later forms of irrigation were a 1st-century Roman aqueduct from southerly Wissous (later left to ruin); sources from the Right bank hills from the late 11th century; from the 15th century an aqueduct built roughly along the path of the abandoned Wissous aqueduct; also from 1809 the canal de l'Ourcq providing Paris with water from less-polluted rivers to the northeast of the capital and "God's Tears" a bi-annual rainstorm which stopped in the early 20th century as a natural phenomenon. Paris would have its first constant and plentiful source of drinkable water only from the late 19th century: From 1857 the civil engineer Eugne Belgrand under Napoleon III's Prfet Haussmann 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. 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. Paris has over 2400 km of underground passageways61 dedicated to the evacuation of Paris' liquid wastes. Most of these date from the late 19th century a result of the combined plans of the Prfet Baron Haussmann and the civil engineer Eugne Belgrand to improve the then-very unsanitary conditions in the Capital. Maintained by a round-the-clock service since their construction only a small percentage of Paris' sewer rseau has needed complete renovation.citation needed In 1982 then mayor Jacques Chirac introduced the motorcycle-mounted Motocrotte to remove dog faeces from Paris streets.62 The project was abandoned in 2002 for a new and better enforced local law which now fines dog owners up to Euros 500 for not removing their dog faeces. It was estimated at the time of their removal that the fleet of 70 Motocrottes were cleaning up only 20% of dog faeces on Parisian street at an annual cost of 3million.63 Cemeteries The Catacombs Paris' main cemetery was located to its outskirts on its Left Bank from the beginning of its historycitation needed but this changed with the rise of Catholicism and the construction of churches towards the city-centre many of them having adjoining burial grounds for use by their parishes. Generations of a growing city population soon filled these cemeteries to overflowing creating sometimes very unsanitary conditions. Condemned from 1786 the contents of all Paris' parish cemeteries were transferred to a renovated section of Paris' then suburban stone mines outside the Left Bank "Porte d'Enfer" city gate (today 14th arrondissement's place Denfert-Rochereau). After a tentative creation of several smaller suburban cemeteries Napoleon Bonaparte provided a more definitive solution in the creation of three massive Parisian cemeteries outside the city tax wall called the Wall of the Farmers-General. Open from 1804 these were the cemeteries of Pre Lachaise Montmartre Montparnasse and later Passy. When Paris annexed all communes to the inside of its much larger ring of suburban fortifications in 1860 its cemeteries were once again within its city walls. New suburban cemeteries were created in the early 20th century: The largest of these are the Cimetire Parisien de Saint-Ouendisambiguation needed the Cimetire Parisien de Bobigny-Pantin the Cimetire Parisien d'Ivrydisambiguation needed and the Cimetire Parisien de Bagneuxdisambiguation needed. Culture Main article: Culture of Paris Entertainment and performing arts See also: List of films set in Paris The Opra Garnier. The largest opera houses of Paris are the 19th century Opra Garnier (historical Paris Opra) and modern Opra Bastille; the former tends towards the more classic ballets and operas and the latter provides a mixed repertoire of classic and modern. In middle of 19th century there were two other active and competing opera houses: Opra-Comique (which still exists to this day) and Thtre Lyrique (which in modern times changed its profile and name to Thtre 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 Thtre Mogador and the Thtre de la Gat-Montparnasse. Some Parisian theatres have also doubled as concert halls. Many of France's greatest musical legends such as dith Piaf Maurice Chevalier Georges Brassens and Charles Aznavour found their fame in Parisian concert halls: Legendary yet still-showing examples of these are Le Lido Bobino l'Olympia and le Splendid. The lyses-Montmartre much reduced from its original size is a concert hall today. The New Morning is one of few Parisian clubs still holding jazz concerts but the same also specialises in 'indie' music. In more recent times the Le Znith hall in Paris La Villette quarter and a "parc-omnisports" stadium in Bercy serve as large-scale rock concert halls. Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1876). Several yearly festivals take place in Paris such as Rock en Seine. 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 (ralisateurs) such as Claude Lelouch Franois 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. A specialty of Paris is its very large network of small movie theatres. In a given week the movie fan has the choice between around 300 old or new movies from all over the world. Many of Paris' concert/dance halls were transformed into movie theatres when the media 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 2800 seats whereas other cinemas all have fewer than 1000 seats. There is now a trend toward modern multiplexes that contain more than 10 or 20 screens. Cuisine Caf Les Deux Magots in Saint-Germain-des-Prs. See also: French Cuisine Paris' culinary reputation has its base in the diverse origins of its inhabitants. In its beginnings it owed much to the 19th-century organisation of a railway system that had Paris as a centre making the capital a focal point for immigration from France's many different regions and gastronomical cultures. This reputation continues through today in a cultural diversity that has since spread to a worldwide level thanks to Paris' continued reputation for culinary finesse and further immigration from increasingly distant climes. Hotels were another result of widespread travel and tourism especially Paris' late-19th-century Expositions Universelles (World's Fairs). Of the most luxurious of these the Htel Ritz appeared in the Place Vendme in 1898 and the Htel de Crillon opened its doors on the north side of the Place de la Concorde starting in 1909. Tourism Paris Banks of the Seine* UNESCO World Heritage Site Notre Dame de Paris on the le de la Cit on the River Seine. Country  France Type Cultural Criteria i ii iv Reference 600 Region** Europe and North America Inscription history Inscription 1991  (15th Session) * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. Main article: List of museums in Paris Since 1848 Paris is a popular destination by rail network with Paris at its centre. Among Paris' first mass attractions drawing international interest were the above-mentioned Expositions Universelles that were the origin of Paris' many monuments namely the Eiffel Tower from 1889. These in addition to the capital's Second Empire embellishments did much to make the city itself the attraction it is today. Paris' 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 most prized museum the Louvre welcomes over 8 million visitors a year being by far the world's most-visited art museum. The city's cathedrals are another main attraction: Notre Dame de Paris and the Basilique du Sacr-Coeur receive 12 million and eight million visitors respectively. The Eiffel Tower by far Paris' most famous monument averages over six million visitors per year and more than 200 million since its construction. Disneyland 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. The Louvre is one of the world's largest and most famous museums housing many works of art including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue. Works by Pablo Picasso and Auguste Rodin are found in Muse Picasso and Muse Rodin respectively while the artistic community of Montparnasse is chronicled at the Muse du Montparnasse. Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior the Centre Georges Pompidou also known as Beaubourg houses the Muse National d'Art Moderne. Art and artifacts from the Middle Ages and Impressionist eras are kept in Muse Cluny and Muse d'Orsay respectively the former with the prized tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn. Paris' newest (and third-largest) museum the Muse du quai Branly opened its doors in June 2006 and houses art from Africa Asia Oceania and the Americas. Many of Paris' once-popular local establishments have come to cater to the tastes and expectations of tourists rather than local patrons. Le Lido the Moulin Rouge cabaret-dancehall for example is a staged dinner theatre spectacle a dance display that was once but one aspect of the cabaret's former atmosphere. All of the establishment's former social or cultural elements such as its ballrooms and gardens are gone today. Much of Paris' hotel restaurant and night entertainment trades have become heavily dependent on tourism. Sports Stade de France. Paris' most popular sport clubs are the association football club Paris Saint-Germain F.C. the basketball team Paris-Levallois Basket and the rugby union club Stade Franais. The 80000-seat Stade de France built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup is located in Saint-Denis. It is used for football rugby union and track and field athletics. It hosts annually French national rugby team's home matches of the Six Nations Championship French national association football team for friendlies and major tournaments qualifiers and several important matches of the Stade Franais rugby team. In addition to Paris Saint-Germain F.C. the city has a number of other amateur football clubs: Paris FC Red Star RCF Paris and Stade Franais Paris. The last is the football section of the omnisport club of the same name most notable for its rugby team. The Paris region currently boasts two teams in the top level of French rugby union Top 14. Currently the most prominent side is Stade Franais which is also the only one of the two to be based in the city proper. The other Top 14 team in the region is Racing Mtro 92 currently based in the western suburb of Colombes. Racing Mtro is the successor to Racing Club de France which contested the first-ever French championship final against Stade Franais in 1892. Paris also 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. 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-Elyses. 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 near the Bois de Boulogne is one of the four Grand Slam events of the world professional tennis tour. The 2006 UEFA Champions League Final between Arsenal and FC Barcelona was played in the Stade de France. Paris hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup final at Stade de France on 20 October 2007. Economy Main article: Economy of Paris With a 2009 GDP of 552.1 billion15 (US$768.9 billion) the Paris region has one of the highest GDPs in Europe making it an engine of the global economy: Were it a country it would rank as the seventeenth-largest economy in the world almost as large as the Dutch economy.64 The Paris Region is France's premier centre of economic activity: While its population accounted for 18.8% of the total population of metropolitan France in 200965 its GDP accounted for 29.5% of metropolitan France's GDP.15 Activity in the Paris urban area though diverse does not have a leading specialised industry (such as Los Angeles with entertainment industries or London and New York with financial industries in addition to their other activities). Recently the Paris economy has been shifting towards high-value-added service industries (finance IT services etc.) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics optics aerospace etc.). The Paris region's most intense economic activity through the central Hauts-de-Seine dpartement and suburban La Dfense business district places Paris' economic centre to the west of the city in a triangle between the Opra Garnier La Dfense and the Val de Seine. Paris' administrative borders have little consequences on the limits of its economic activity: Although most workers commute from the suburbs to work in the city many commute from the city to work in the suburbs. Although 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. Over recent decades the local economy has moved towards high-value-added activities in particular business services. The 1999 census indicated that of the 5089170 persons employed in the Paris urban area 16.5% worked in business services 13.0% in commerce (retail and wholesale trade) 12.3% in manufacturing 10.0% in public administrations and defence 8.7% in health services 8.2% in transportation and communications 6.6% in education and the remaining 24.7% in many other economic sectors. In the manufacturing sector the largest employers were the electronic and electrical industry (17.9% of the total manufacturing workforce in 1999) and the publishing and printing industry (14.0% of the total manufacturing workforce) with the remaining 68.1% of the manufacturing workforce distributed among many other industries. Tourism and tourist related services employ 6.2% of Paris' workforce and 3.6% of all workers within the Paris Region.66 Unemployment in the Paris "immigrant ghettos" ranges from 20 to 40% according to varying sources.67 Business district of La Dfense. Sociology Main articles: Paris Ouest Rive Droite (Paris) and Rive Gauche (Paris) Paris Ouest ( ie: Western Paris) is an expression referring to the wealthiest most exclusive and prestigious residential area of France. Located in the central and western part of Paris it roughly follows Paris' Voie Royale (Royal Way) or Axe historique (historical axis): a line of monuments buildings and thoroughfares that extends from the former royal Palace of the Louvre through the Tuileries the Place de la Concorde the Champs lyses the Place de l'Etoile and all the way to Neuilly-sur-Seine. Paris Ouest has long been known as French high society's favorite place of residence comparable to New York's Upper East Side L.A.'s Beverly Hills68 or London's Mayfair and Belgravia to such an extent that the phrase "Paris Ouest" has been associated with great wealth elitism and social hegemony in French popular culture as well as in some masterpieces of French literature such as Balzac's La comdie humaine or Proust's In Search of Lost Time. The cultural social and economic influence69 of the area has played a prominent role throughout French history and is still highly vivid in nowadays' French elite. Paris Ouest's standards of life were also highly influential in educating foreign elites especially in Europe Russia and Northern America (see Frick Collection). As so Paris Ouest should not only be seen as a geographic area but also as a social attitude70 symbolized by French high society's habits and way of life. The "Rive Gauche" (Left Bank of the Seine) generally implies a sense of bohemianism and creativity as it was the Paris of artists writers philosophers and students. The counterpart of the Rive Gauche of Paris is the Rive Droite (Right Bank) a term used to refer to a level of elegance and sophistication not found in the more bohemian Left Bank. Demographics Demographics within the Paris Region (according to the INSEE 2007 census) Ile-de-France dpartements Areas Population 2007 census Area Density 1999-2007 pop. growth City of Paris (dpartement 75) 2193031 105 km2 (41 sq mi) 20807 /km2 (53890 /sq mi) +0.40%/year Inner ring (Petite Couronne) (Depts. 92 93 94) 4349640 657 km2 (254 sq mi) 6622 /km2 (17150 /sq mi) +0.95%/year Outer ring (Grande Couronne) (Depts. 77 78 91 95) 5056173 11250 km2 (4344 sq mi) 449 /km2 (1160 /sq mi) +0.70%/year Ile-de-France (entire rgion) 11598844 12012 km2 (4638 sq mi) 966 /km2 (2500 /sq mi) +0.74%/year Statistical Growth (INSEE 2007 census) Areas Population 2007 census Area Density 1999-2007 pop. growth Urban area (Paris agglomeration) 10197678 2723 km2 (1051 sq mi) 3745 /km2 (9700 /sq mi) +0.72%/year Metro area (Paris aire urbaine) 11836970 14518 km2 (5605 sq mi) 815 /km2 (2110 /sq mi) +0.74%/year Main article: Demographics of Paris The population of the city of Paris was 2125246 at the 1999 census lower than its historical peak of 2.9 million in 1921. The city's population loss mirrors the experience of most other core cities in the developed world that have not expanded their boundaries. The principal factors in the process are a significant decline in household size and a dramatic migration of residents to the suburbs between 1962 and 1975. Factors in the migration include de-industrialisation high rent the gentrification of many inner quarters the transformation of living space into offices and greater affluence among working families. The city's population loss was one of the most severe among international municipalities and the largest for any that had achieved more than 2000000 residents. These losses are generally seen as negative for the city; the city administration is trying to reverse them with some success as the population estimate of July 2004 showed a population increase for the first time since 1954 reaching a total of 2144700 inhabitants. Density Paris is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Its density excluding the outlying woodland parks of Boulogne and Vincennes was 24448 inhabitants per square kilometre (63320/sq mi) in the 1999 official census which could be compared only with some Asian megapolis. Even including the two woodland areas its population density was 20164 inhabitants per square kilometre (52224.5/sq mi) the fifth-most-densely populated commune in France following Le Pr-Saint-Gervais Vincennes Levallois-Perret and Saint-Mand all of which border the city proper. The most sparsely populated quarters are the western and central office and administration-focussed arrondissements. The city's population is densest in the northern and eastern arrondissements; the 11th arrondissement had a density of 40672 inhabitants per square kilometre (105340/sq mi) in 1999 and some of the same arrondissement's eastern quarters had densities close to 100000/km (260000/sq mi) in the same year. Paris agglomeration The city of Paris covers an area much smaller than the urban area of which it is the core. At present Paris' real urbanisation defined by the ple urbain (urban area) statistical area covers 2723 km2 (1051 sq mi)71 or an area about 26 times larger than the city itself. The administration of Paris' urban growth is divided between itself and its surrounding dpartements: Paris' closest ring of three adjoining departments or petite couronne ("small ring") are fully saturated with urban growth and the ring of four departments outside of these the grande couronne dpartements are only covered in their inner regions by Paris' urbanisation. These eight dpartements form the larger administrative le-de-France rgion; most of this region is filled and overextended in places by the Paris aire urbaine. The Paris agglomeration has shown a steady rate of growth since the end of the late 16th century French Wars of Religion save brief setbacks during the French Revolution and World War IIcitation needed. Suburban development has accelerated in recent years: With an estimated total of 11.4 million inhabitants for 2005 the le-de-France rgion shows a rate of growth double that of the 1990s.7273 Immigration By law French censuses do not ask questions regarding ethnicity or religion but do gather information concerning one's country of birth. From this it is still possible to determine that Paris and its aire urbaine (metropolitan area) is one of the most multi-cultural in Europe: At the 1999 census 19.4% of its total population was born outside of metropolitan France.74 At the same census 4.2% of the Paris aire urbaine's population were recent immigrants (people who had immigrated to France between 1990 and 1999)75 in their majority from Asia and Africa.76 37% of all immigrants in France live in the Paris region.67 The first wave of international migration to Paris started as early as 1820 with the arrivals of German peasants fleeing an agricultural crisis in their homeland. Several waves of immigration followed continuously until today: Italians and central European Jews during the 19th century; Russians after the revolution of 1917 and Armenians fleeing genocide in the Ottoman Empire;77 colonial citizens during World War I and later; Poles between the two world wars; Spaniards Italians Portuguese and North Africans from the 1950s to the 1970s; North African Jews after the independence of those countries; Africans and Asians since then.78 The Paris metropolitan region or "aire urbaine" is home to some 1.7 million Muslims of all races making up between 10%15% of the areas population. According to the North American Jewish Data Bank an estimated 284000 Jews also live in Paris and the surrounding le-de-France region an area with a population of 11.7 million inhabitants. Paris has historically been a magnet for immigrants hosting one of the largest concentrations of immigrants in Europe today.798081 Administration Paris its administrative limits unchanged since 1860 (save for the addition of two large parks) is one of a few cities that have not evolved politically with its real demographic growth; this issue is at present being discussed in plans for a "Grand Paris" (Greater Paris) that will extend Paris' administrative limits to embrace much more of its urban tissue.82 Capital of France As the capital 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 lyse Palace in the 8th arrondissement while the Prime Minister's seat is at the Htel Matignon in the 7th arrondissement. Government ministries are located in various parts of the city; many are located in the 7th arrondissement near the Matignon. The lyse Palace. The two houses of the French Parliament are also 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 Assemble Nationale meets in the Palais Bourbon in the 7th. The President of the Senate the second-highest public official in France after the President of the Republic resides in the "Petit Luxembourg" a smaller palace annex to the Palais du Luxembourg.citation needed 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 le de la Cit while the Conseil d'tat 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.citation needed The Constitutional Council an advisory body with ultimate authority on the constitutionality of laws and government decrees also meets in the Palais Royal.citation needed City government Main articles: Paris mayors and Arrondissements of Paris Arrondissements of Paris. 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 but in 1860 it annexed bordering communes some entirely to create the new administrative map of twenty municipal arrondissements the city still has today. These municipal subdivisions describe a clockwise spiral outward from its most central the 1st arrondissement.citation needed In 1790 Paris became the prfecture (seat) of the Seine dpartement which covered much of the Paris region. In 1968 it was split into four smaller ones: The city of Paris became a distinct dpartement of its own retaining the Seine's departmental number of 75 (originating from the Seine dpartement's position in France's alphabetical list) while three new dpartements of Hauts-de-Seine Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne were created and given the numbers 92 93 and 94 respectively. The result of this division is that today Paris' limits as a dpartement are exactly those of its limits as a commune a situation unique in France.citation needed Municipal offices Each of Paris' twenty arrondissements has a directly elected council (conseil d'arrondissement) which in turn elects an arrondissement mayor. A selection of members from each arrondissement council form the Council of Paris (conseil de Paris) which in turn elects the mayor of Paris. Composition of the Council of Paris Party Seats Socialist Party 72 Union for a Popular Movement 55 The Greens 9 French Communist Party 8 New Centre 8 Citizen and Republican Movement 5 Miscellaneous Left 2 Left Party 2 MoDem 1 In medieval times Paris was governed by a merchant-elected municipality whose head was the provost of the merchants. In addition to regulating city commerce the provost of the merchants was responsible for some civic duties such as the guarding of city walls and the cleaning of city streets. The creation of the provost of Paris from the 13th century diminished the merchant Provost's responsibilities and powers considerably. A direct representative of the king in a role resembling somewhat the prfet of later years the Provost (prvt) of Paris oversaw the application and execution of law and order in the city and its surrounding prvt (county) from his office in the Grand Chtelet. Many functions from both provost offices were transferred to the office of the crown-appointed lieutenant general of police upon its creation in 1667. For centuries the prvt and magistrates of the Chtelet clashed with the administrators of the Htel de Ville over jurisdiction;83 the latter notably included the quartiniers each of whom was responsible for one of the sixteen quartiers (which were in turn divided into four cinquantaines each with its cinquantainier and those in turn were divided into dizaines administered by dizainiers): All of these men were in principle elected by the local bourgeois. At any one time therefore 336 men had shared administrative responsibility for street cleaning and maintenance for public health law and order. The quartiniers maintained the official lists of bourgeois de Paris ran local elections could impose fines for breaches of the bylaws and had a role in tax assessment. They met at the Htel de Ville to confer on matters of citywide importance and each year selected eight of "the most notable inhabitants of the quarter" who together with other local officials would elect the city council.84 Even though in the course of the 18th century these elections became purely ceremonial choosing candidates already selected by the royal government the memory of genuine municipal independence remained strong: "The Htel de Ville continued to bulk large in the awareness of bourgeois Parisians its importance extending far beyond its real role in city government."85 Htel de Ville Paris. Paris' last Prvt des marchands was assassinated the afternoon of the 14 July 1789 uprising that was the French Revolution Storming of the Bastille. Paris became an official "commune" from the creation of the administrative division on 14 December the same year and its provisional "Paris commune" revolutionary municipality was replaced with the city's first municipal constitution and government from 9 October 1790.86 Through the turmoil of the 1794 Thermidorian Reaction it became apparent that revolutionary Paris' political independence was a threat to any governing power: The office of mayor was abolished the same year and its municipal council one year later. Although the municipal council was recreated in 1834 for most of the 19th and 20th centuries Paris along with the larger Seine dpartement of which it was a centre was under the direct control of the state-appointed prfet of the Seine in charge of general affairs there; the state-appointed Prefect of Police was in charge of police in the same jurisdiction. Save for a few brief occasions the city did not have a mayor until 1977 and the Paris Prefecture of Police is still under state control today. Despite its dual existence as commune and dpartement Paris has a single council to govern both; the Council of Paris presided over by the mayor of Paris meets as either as a municipal council (conseil municipal) or a departmental council (conseil gnral) depending on the issue to be debated. Paris' modern administrative organisation still retains some traces of the former Seine dpartement jurisdiction. The Prefecture of Police (also directing Paris' fire brigades) for example has still a jurisdiction extending to Paris' petite couronne of bordering three dpartements for some operations such as fire protection or rescue operations and is still directed by France's national government. Paris has no municipal police force although it does have its own brigade of traffic wardens. Capital of the le-de-France rgion Departments of le-de-France As part of a 1961 nation-wide administrative effort to consolidate regional economies Paris as a dpartement became the capital of the new rgion of the District of Paris renamed the le-de-France rgion in 1976. It encompasses the Paris dpartement and its seven closest dpartements. Its regional council members since 1986 have been chosen by direct elections. The prefect of the Paris dpartement (who served as the prefect of the Seine dpartement before 1968) is also prefect of the le-de-France rgion although the office lost much of its power following the creation of the office of mayor of Paris in 1977. Intercommunality The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (April 2011) Few of the above changes have taken into account Paris' existence as an agglomeration. Unlike in most of France's major urban areas such as Lille and Lyon there is no intercommunal entity in the Paris urban area no intercommunal council treating the problems of the region's dense urban core as a whole; Paris' alienation of its suburbs is indeed a problem today and considered by manywho to be the main causes of civil unrest such as the suburban riots in 2005. A direct result of these unfortunate events is propositions for a more efficient metropolitan structure to cover the city of Paris and some of the suburbs ranging from a socialist idea of a loose "metropolitan conference" (confrence mtropolitaine) to the right-wing idea of a more integrated Grand Paris ("Greater Paris"). One of the main reasons for such incoherence has been the fear felt by the French State in front of such a huge agglomeration and the desire to tap its wealth.citation needed Since the Middle Ages and particularly since the 1649 troubles (La Fronde) Paris has been considered as a source of danger. The authoritarian king Louis the XIVth built Versailles as a new political center away from the dangerous city crowds. The conflict between the State and the City reached a climax with the Revolution of 1871 (La Commune) : the French Assembly in Bordeaux decided Paris would no longer be the capital city while the Paris Commune discussed declaring Paris independent of France. Since then one of the foundations of the centralized French State has been to widely distribute Paris wealth while depriving the agglomeration and keeping it divided into 8 departments and 1 200 communes. (For an analysis of the long hostility against Paris see 2verification needed ). From the 22 metropolitan French regions 19 are regularly subsidized mostly by Paris resources while Paris suburbs lack necessary equipment. Education 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 le de la Cit 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. Twelve centuries later education in Paris and the Paris region (le-de-France rgion) employs approximately 330000 persons 170000 of whom are teachers and professors teaching approximately 2.9 million children and students in around 9000 primary secondary and higher education schools and institutions.87 Lyce Louis-le-Grand Primary and secondary education Paris is home to several of France's most prestigious high-schools such as Lyce Louis-le-Grand Lyce Stanislas Lyce Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague and Lyce Henri-IV. Higher-education As of the academic year 20042005 the Paris Region's 17 public universities with its 359749 registered students88 comprise the largest concentration of university students in Europe.89 The Paris Region's prestigious grandes coles and scores of university-independent private and public schools have an additional 240778 registered students that together with the university population creates a grand total of 600527 students in higher education that year.88 Universities The University of Paris. The cathedral of Notre-Dame was the first centre of higher-education before the creation of the University of Paris. The universitas was chartered by King Philip Augustus in 1200 as a corporation granting teachers (and their students) the right to rule themselves independently from crown law and taxes. At the time many classes were held in open air. Non-Parisian students and teachers would stay in hostels or "colleges" created for the boursiers coming from afar. Already famous by the 13th century the University of Paris had students from all of Europe. Paris' Rive Gauche scholastic centre dubbed "Latin Quarter" as classes were taught in Latin then would eventually regroup around the college created by Robert de Sorbon from 1257 the Collge de Sorbonne. The University of Paris in the 19th century had six faculties: law science medicine pharmaceutical studies literature and theology. Following the 1968 student riots there was an extensive reform of the University of Paris in an effort to disperse the centralised student body. The following year the former unique University of Paris was split between thirteen autonomous universities ("Paris I" to "Paris XIII") located throughout the City of Paris and its suburbs. Each of these universities inherited only some of the departments of the old University of Paris and are not generalist universities. Paris I II V and X inherited the Law School; Paris V inherited the School of Medicine as well; Paris VI and VII inherited the scientific departments; etc. In 1991 four more universities were created in the suburbs of Paris reaching a total of seventeen public universities for the Paris (le-de-France) rgion. These new universities were given names (based on the name of the suburb in which they are located) and not numbers like the previous thirteen: University of Cergy-Pontoise University of vry Val d'Essonne University of Marne-la-ValleEcole suprieure Robert De Sorbon and University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Grandes coles The Paris region hosts France's highest concentration of the prestigious grandes coles specialised centres of higher-education outside the public university structure. The prestigious public universities are usually considered grands tablissements. Most of the grandes coles 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 cole Normale Suprieure has remained on rue d'Ulm in the 5th arrondissement. The Paris area has a high number of engineering schools led by the prestigious Paris Institute of Technology (ParisTech) which comprises several colleges such as cole Polytechnique cole des Mines Tlcom Paris Arts et Mtiers and cole des Ponts et Chausses. There are also many business schools including INSEAD ESSEC HEC and ESCP Europe. Although the elite administrative school ENA has been relocated to Strasbourg the political science school Sciences-Po is still located in Paris' Left bank 7th arrondissement. The grandes coles system is supported by a number of preparatory schools that offer courses of two to three years' duration called Classes Prparatoires also known as classes prpas or simply prpas. These courses provide entry to the grandes coles. Many of the best prpas are located in Paris including Lyce Louis-le-Grand Lyce Henri-IV Lyce Saint-Louis Lyce Janson de Sailly Lyce Jean-Baptiste-Say Lyce Chaptal and Lyce Stanislas.90 Two other top-ranking prpas (Lyce Hoche and Lyce priv Sainte-Genevive) are located in Versailles near Paris. Student selection is based on school grades and teacher remarks. Prpas are known to be very demanding in terms of work load and psychological stress. Libraries The Bibliothque nationale de France (BnF) operates libraries in Paris among them Franois-Mitterrand Library Richelieu Library Louvois Opra Library and Arsenal Library.91 The American Library in Paris opened in 1920. It is a part of a private non-profit organization.92 The modern library originated from cases of books sent by the American Library Association to U.S. soldiers in France.93 An incarnation existed in the 1850s.94 Transport Main article: Transport in Paris See also: List of railway stations in Paris Gare du Nord Paris has been building its transportation system throughout history and continuous improvements are on-going. The Syndicat des transports d'le-de-France (STIF) formerly Syndicat des transports parisiens (STP) oversees the transit network in the region.95 The members of this syndicate are the le-de-France region and the eight departments of this region. The syndicate coordinates public transport and contracts it out to the RATP (operating 654 bus lines the Mtro three tramway lines and sections of the RER) the SNCF (operating suburban rails a tramway line and the other sections of the RER) and the Optile consortium of private operators managing 1070 minor bus lines. The Mtro is Paris' most important transportation system. The system with 300 stations (384 stops) connected by 214 km (133.0 mi) of rails comprises 16 lines identified by numbers from 1 to 14 with two minor lines 3bis and 7bis so numbered because they used to be branches of their respective original lines and only later became independent. In October 1998 the new line 14 was inaugurated after a 70-year hiatus in inaugurating fully new mtro lines. Because of the short distance between stations on the Mtro network lines were too slow to be extended further into the suburbs as is the case in most other cities. As such an additional express network the RER has been created since the 1960s to connect more-distant parts of the urban area. The RER consists in the integration of modern city-centre subway and pre-existing suburban rail. Nowadays the RER network comprises five lines 257 stops and 587 km (365 mi) of rails. In addition Paris is served by a light rail network of four lines the tramway: Line T1 runs from Saint-Denis to Noisy-le-Sec line T2 runs from La Dfense to Porte de Versailles line T3 runs from Pont de Garigliano to Porte d'Ivry line T4 runs from Bondy to Aulnay-sous-Bois. Six new light rail lines are currently in various stages of development. The new ferry service Voguo has been inaugurated in June 2008 on the rivers Seine and Marne. Paris is a central hub of the national rail network. The six major railway stations Gare du Nord Gare Montparnasse Gare de l'Est Gare de Lyon Gare d'Austerlitz and Gare Saint-Lazare are connected to three networks: The TGV serving four High-speed rail lines the normal speed Corail trains and the suburban rails (Transilien). Paris is served by two major airports: Orly Airport which is south of Paris and the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport near Roissy-en-France which is one of the busiest in the world and is the hub for the unofficial Flag carrier Air France. A third and much smaller airport Beauvais Till Airport located in the town of Beauvais 70 km (43 mi) to the north of the city is used by charter and low-cost airlines. The fourth airport Le Bourget nowadays only hosts business jets air trade shows and the aerospace museum. The city is also the most important hub of France's motorway network and is surrounded by three orbital freeways: the Priphrique 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 2000 km (1243 mi) of highways and motorways. By road Brussels can be reached in three hours Frankfurt in six hours and Barcelona in 12 hours. By train London is now just two hours and 15 minutes away Brussels can be reached in 1 hour and 22 minutes (up to 26 departures/day) Amsterdam in 3 hours and 18 minutes (up to 10 departures/day) Cologne in 3 hours and 14 minutes (6 departures/day) and Marseille Bordeaux and other cities in southern France in three hours. Cycling Main article: Cycling in Paris Vlib' at Place de la Bastille. Paris offers a bike sharing system called Vlib' with more than 20000 public bicycles distributed at 1450 parking stations which can be rented for short and medium distances including one way trips. Health This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011) Health care and emergency medical service in the city of Paris and its suburbs are provided by the Assistance publique - Hpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) a public hospital system that employs more than 90000 people (practitioners and administratives) in 44 hospitals. It is the largest hospital system in Europe. International relations Main article: List of sister and partner cities of Paris Paris has numerous partner cities9697 but according to the motto "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris."9899100 the only sister city of Paris is Rome. Gallery Panoramic view of the le Saint-Louis See also Paris portal Large Cities Climate Leadership Group Megacity Paris chronology Paris Exposition References Notes INSEE local statistics including Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes. a b (French) Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. "Commune : Paris (75056) Thme : volution et structure de la population". http://www.recensement.insee.fr/chiffresCles.actioncodeMessage5&zoneSearchFieldPARIS&codeZone75056-COM&idTheme3&rechercherRechercher. Retrieved 2010-07-01.  "Paris (00851 Unit urbaine 1999) Thme : volution et structure de la population" (in French). Insee. http://www.recensement.insee.fr/chiffresCles.actioncodeMessage5&zoneSearchFieldPARIS&codeZone00851-UU1999&idTheme3&rechercherRechercher. Retrieved 2010-07-01.  a b "Paris (001 Aire urbaine 1999) Thme : volution et structure de la population" (in French). Insee. http://www.recensement.insee.fr/chiffresCles.actioncodeMessage5&zoneSearchFieldPARIS&codeZone001-AU1999&idTheme3&rechercherRechercher. Retrieved 2010-07-01.  Stefan Helders World Gazetteer. "World Metropolitan Areas". http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.phpx&mengcis&lngen&dat32&srtpnan&colaohdq&va&pta. Retrieved 2007-01-18.  Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group and Network Loughborough University. "The World According to GaWC 2008". http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008t.html. Retrieved 2010-04-19.  PricewaterhouseCoopers Media Centre Emerging market city economies set to rise rapidly in global GDP rankings says PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Ukmediacentre.pwc.com (2009-11-02). Retrieved on 2010-12-16. Global Power City Index 2009 The Wealth Report 2010 Knight Frank Citi Private Bank. Knight Frank. Retrieved on 2010-12-16. New York! The Big Apple s the most influential city Delhi Mumbai count too Real Estate News property news Property classified property listing realty real estate India. Blog.propertynice.com (2010-03-27). Retrieved on 2010-12-16. Home fDiIntelligence.com. Fdimagazine.com. Retrieved on 2010-12-16. Monocle Issue June 2010 Greenest cities in Europe. City Mayors (2010-03-03). Retrieved on 2010-12-16. Richest cities in the world in 2020 by GDP. City Mayors. Retrieved on 2010-12-16. a b c (French) Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. "Produits Intrieurs Bruts Rgionaux (PIBR) en valeur en millions d'euros" (XLS). http://www.insee.fr/fr/ppp/bases-de-donnees/donnees-detaillees/pib-va-reg/pib-va-reg-pib-1990-2009.xls. Retrieved 2010-11-09.  http://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/imagelibrary/downloadMedia.ashxMediaDetailsID1562 Fortune. "Global Fortune 500 by countries: France". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2010/countries/France.html. Retrieved 2010-11-09.  Logistics-in-Europe.com Vertical Mail. "Paris le-de-France a head start in Europe". http://www.logistics-in-europe.com/pidf-gb/index.html. Retrieved 2007-10-04.  Economist Intelligence Unit (2010-03-10). "The cost of living in cities Trop Cher". The Economist. http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfmstoryid15659589. Retrieved 2010-03-10.  a b http://www.paris-iledefrance.cci.fr/images/publications/pdf/chiffresclesen/2011/chiffresclesen2011complet.pdf http://asp.zone-secure.net/v2/index.jspid1203/1515/14072&lngfr www.paris.fr/viewmultimediadocumentmultimediadocument-id33133 a b c Mairie de Paris. "Paris Roman City Chronology". http://www.paris.culture.fr/en/owchrono.htm. Retrieved 2006-07-16.  "celticgrounds.com". celticgrounds.com. http://www.celticgrounds.com/chapters/appendix/celtictribes.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-15.  Mairie de Paris. "Paris Roman City The City". http://www.paris.culture.fr/en/. Retrieved 2006-07-16.  The Role of Trade in Transmitting the Black Death. TED Case Studies. Plague. 1911 Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vanessa Harding (2002). "The dead and the living in Paris and London 15001670.". p.25. ISBN 0-521-81126-0 Loire Valley: Land of a thousand chateaux CNN.com Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day Britannica Online Encyclopedia Bayrou Franois Henri IV le roi libre Flammarion Paris 1994 pp. 121130 (French). "consulted 29 November 2008". Victorianweb.org. 2007-08-10. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist7.html. Retrieved 2009-05-05.  "Battle of Paris 1814". Napoleonistyka.atspace.com. http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/Paris1814.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-05.  Amicale Gnalogie La Petite Gazette Gnalogique. "Le Cholera" (in French). http://www.amicale-genealogie.org/Histoirestemps-passe/Epidemies/chol01.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-10.  Jones Colin (2005) Paris: The Biography of a City (New York NY: Penguin Viking) pp. 318319. In Benedict Anderson (JulyAugust 2004). "In the World-Shadow of Bismarck and Nobel". New Left Review. http://www.newleftreview.net/view2519. : "In March 1871 the Commune took power in the abandoned city and held it for two months. Then Versailles seized the moment to attack and in one horrifying week executed roughly 20000 Communards or suspected sympathizers a number higher than those killed in the recent war or during Robespierres Terror of 179394. More than 7500 were jailed or deported to places like New Caledonia. Thousands of others fled to Belgium England Italy Spain and the United States. In 1872 stringent laws were passed that ruled out all possibilities of organizing on the left. Not until 1880 was there a general amnesty for exiled and imprisoned Communards. Meantime the Third Republic found itself strong enough to renew and reinforce Napoleon III's imperialist expansionin Indochina Africa and Oceania. Many of Frances leading intellectuals and artists had participated in the Commune (Gustave Courbet was its quasi-minister of culture Rimbaud and Pissarro were active propagandists) or were sympathetic to it. The ferocious repression of 1871 and after was probably the key factor in alienating these milieux from the Third Republic and stirring their sympathy for its victims at home and abroad." Jones Colin (2005) Paris: The Biography of a City (New York NY: Penguin Viking) p. 334. Jones Colin (2005) Paris: The Biography of a City (New York NY: Penguin Viking) pp. 388391 Humphrys Julian (June 2010). BBC History magazine. Bristol Magazines Ltd. ISSN 1469-8552.  Overy Richard (2006). Why the Allies Won. Pimlico. pp. 215216. ISBN 1845950658.  Bell Kelly. "Dietrich von Choltitz: Saved of Paris From Destruction During World War II". www.TheHistoryNet.com. http://www.historynet.com/magazines/worldwar2/3031316.html. Retrieved 2007-11-17.  (French) milie Willaert professor of History and Geography. "La rgion parisienne en chantier". http://www.cndp.fr/revueTDC/913-81441.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-03.  (French) Jrome Toulza Universit de Marne-la-Valle. "La conception du RER" (PDF). http://www.univ-mlv.fr/mastergu/DocsIMO/Memimo0304/Toulza.PDF. Retrieved 2008-08-03. dead link Mathieu Flonneau (2006). "City infrastructures and city dwellers: Accommodating the automobile in twentieth-century Paris". The Journal of Transport History. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/miqa3884/is200603/ain17181949/pg1tagartBody;col1. Retrieved 2008-08-03.  (French) Thomas Sauvadet. "Les jeunes de la cit Processus de ghettosation et mode de socialisation" (PDF). Universit Paris 8. http://www.univ-paris8.fr/sociologie/fichiers/sauvadet-journalparis8.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-03.  (French) Herv Vieillard-Baron professor at the Universit Paris 8. "Les quartiers sensibles entre disqualification visible et rseaux invisibles". http://fig-st-die.education.fr/actes/actes2005/viellard-baron/article.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-03.  (French) "Roland de Laage (Devoteam) : "L'Ouest parisien ce sont des dpartements technologiques haute valeur ajoute"". Journal du net. 16 January 2006. http://www.journaldunet.com/solutions/0601/060116prestas-hauts-de-seine-delaage.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-03.  (French) Pierre Beckouche. "Une rgion parisienne deux vitesses L'accroissement des disparits spatiales dans l'le-de-France des annes 1980". Strates Matriaux pour la recherche en sciences sociales. http://strates.revues.org/document1155.html. Retrieved 2008-08-03.  "Disposable income per NUTS level 2 regions in Europe". Eurostat. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/pagepageid199639140985&dadportal&schemaPORTAL&screendetailref&languageen&productREFTBregional&rootREFTBregional/treg/tregeco/tgs00026. Retrieved 2008-08-03.  "Special Report: Riots in France". BBC News. 2005-11-09. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/indepth/4417096.stm. Retrieved 2007-11-17.  The City of Antiquity official history of Paris by The Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau (French) Georges Dottin (1920). La Langue Gauloise : Grammaire Textes et Glossaire. Paris: C. Klincksieck. isbn 2051002088.  a b "M. Abecassis: French of the present and the past: the representation of the Parisian vernacular in Maurice Chevalier's songs". Linguistik-online.com. http://www.linguistik-online.com/2505/abecassis.html. Retrieved 2010-06-15.  "English Version of "Presentation of the City"". http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lutpageid8125. Retrieved 2009-04-30.  It is unlikely that Paris' modern appellation of Ville Lumire was given to the capital of France because it was a centre of education ideas and culture as it had been such a centre since the Middle Ages. It is more likely however that aside from the apparition of street lighting at night Paris became known as Ville Lumire in the second half of the 19th century when baron Haussmann who had been put in charge by emperor Napolon III of the drastic transformation of Paris into a modern city tore down whole quartiers of houses & narrow streets dating back to the Middle Ages and opened large avenues which let light (lumire) come into the former medieval city. Dictionnaire de la langue franaise Larousse tymologique Librairie Larousse Paris 1971 p. 535 "Montmartre". Paris-walking-tours.com. http://www.paris-walking-tours.com/montmartre.html. Retrieved 2009-01-06.  Mairie de Paris (2007-11-15). "Note: 100 ha.1 km2". Paris.fr. http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lutpageid8125&documenttypeid5&documentid29918&portletid18748. Retrieved 2009-05-05.  Mto gratuite prvisions mto de Mtorologic. Meteorologic.net. Retrieved on 2010-12-16. (French) Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. "Gographie de la capitale Le climat". http://www.paris.fr/portail/accueil/Portal.lutpageid4946&documenttypeid5&documentid3076&portletid10579. Retrieved 2006-05-24.  Mairie de Paris. "Les gouts parisiens" (in French). http://www.paris.fr/portail/Environnement/Portal.lutpageid1313&documenttypeid5&documentid2158&portletid3139. Retrieved 2006-05-15.  100 MOTOCROTTES !. Cavi.univ-paris3.fr. Retrieved on 2010-12-16. Henley Jon (12 April 2002). "Merde most foul". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/apr/12/worlddispatch.jonhenley. Retrieved 29 July 2010.  World Bank. "Gross domestic product 2008" (PDF). http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-09.  "Population des rgions au 1er janvier" (in French). Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asprefidCMRSOS02137. Retrieved 2010-11-09.  "Les emplois dans les activits lies au tourisme: un sur quatre en Ile-de-France" (in French) (PDF). Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. http://www.insee.fr/fr/inseeregions/idf/rfc/docs/alapage234.pdf. Retrieved 2006-04-10.  a b Paris Riots in Perspective. ABC News. 4 November 2005. 1 eyes of an American-born on one of the district of the area: the exclusive 16th arrondissement For instance Paris is the world's fashion design capital thanks to Paris Ouest's customers who historically make it up Sociologists Michel and Monique Pinon-Charlot's works highlight that trend "Chiffres-Clefs Unit Urbaine Paris" (in French). Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. http://www.insee.fr/fr/inseeregions/idf/zoom/chifcles/uu99/fuu9900851.htm. Retrieved 2006-05-28.  Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. "Enqutes annuelles de recensement 2004 et 2005" (PDF). http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docsffc/IP061058.pdf. Retrieved 2006-04-10.  "Enqutes annuelles de recensement: premiers rsultats de la collecte 2004" (in French) (PDF). Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docsffc/IP1000.pdf. Retrieved 2006-04-10.  Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. "Aire urbaine 99 : Paris Migrations (caractre socio-conomique selon le lieu de naissance)" (in French). http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/wrpage.affichepidnivgeoM&pidloca001&pidprincMIG3&pthemeALL&ptypeprodALL&plangueFR. Retrieved 2006-07-06.  Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. "Aire urbaine 99 : Paris Migrations (caractre dmographique selon le lieu de rsidence au 01/01/90)" (in French). http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/wrpage.affichepidnivgeoM&pidloca001&pidprincMIG2&pthemeALL&ptypeprodALL&plangueFR. Retrieved 2006-07-06.  Institut National de la Statistique et des tudes conomiques. "Flux d'immigration permanente par motif en 2003" (in French). http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifclefiche.asptabid498. Retrieved 2006-06-25.  "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. III. French Government and the Refugees". American Philosophical Society James E. Hassell (1991). p.22. ISBN 0-87169-817-X Cit Nationale de l'Histoire de l'Immigration. "Histoire de l'immigration en France" (in French). http://www.histoire-immigration.fr/index.phplgfr&nav14&flash0. Retrieved 2006-06-25.  Muslims and city politics: When town halls turn to Mecca. The Economist (2008-12-04). Retrieved on 2010-12-16. World Jewish Population Latest Statistics. Simpletoremember.com. Retrieved on 2010-12-16. Muslim population in European cities 23 November 2007 (French) 20mins.fr. "Sarkozy relance le projet d'un Grand Paris". http://www.20minutes.fr/article/169001/Paris-Sarkozy-relance-le-projet-d-un-Grand-Paris.php. Retrieved 2008-04-13.  Lon Bernard The Emerging City: Paris in the Age of Louis XIV (Duke University Press 1970) p. 34. David Garrioch The Making of Revolutionary Paris (University of California Press 2002: ISBN 0-520-23253-4) p. 12829. Garrioch The Making of Revolutionary Paris p. 132. Henry E. Bourne. "Improvising a Government in Paris in July 1789". The American Historical Review. http://links.jstor.org/sicisici0002-8762%28190501%2910%3A2%3C280%3AIAGIPI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V&sizeLARGE. Retrieved 2006-09-14.  (French) La Prfecture de la Rgion d'Ile-de-France. "L'enseignement". Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070824203147/http://www.idf.pref.gouv.fr/donnees/enseignement.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-09.  a b Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry Paris le-de-France (2006). "Paris Region : key figures 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original on 22 July 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060722235423/http://www.paris-iledefrance.cci.fr/pdf/ecoregionale/chiffrescles/2006/anglais/cc2006en15-21.pdf. Retrieved 2006-07-04.  (French) Cline Rozenblat Patricia Cicille Delegation for Spatial Planning and Regional Action (Datar) (2006). "Les villes europennes Analyse comparative (page 42)" (PDF). http://www.diact.gouv.fr/DatarSite/DATARMetropoles.nsf/76f84e7666af90b6c125655a0046b83c/30207c6b28edd873c1256e59003d0619/$FILE/Villes%20europ%C3%A9ennes.pdf. Retrieved 2006-07-04.  "L'tudiant League Table 2008". Letudiant.fr. http://www.letudiant.fr/palmares/classement-prepa/maths-spe-mp.htmlcritregion&critecolePanier. Retrieved 2009-05-05.  "How to find us." Bibliothque nationale de France. Retrieved on 21 January 2009. "History of the Library." American Library in Paris. Retrieved on 21 January 2009. "The American Library in Paris." The New York Times. 29 June 1930. Retrieved on 21 January 2009. "American Library in Paris." The New York Times. 23 March 1855. Retrieved on 21 January 2009. Syndicat des Transports d'Ile-de-France (STIF). "Le web des voyageurs franciliens" (in French). http://www.stif-idf.fr. Retrieved 2006-04-10.  "Les pactes d'amiti et de coopration". Mairie de Paris. http://www.paris.fr/portail/accueil/Portal.lutpageid6587&documenttypeid5&documentid16468&portletid14974. Retrieved 2007-10-14.  "International relations : special partners". Mairie de Paris. http://www.paris.fr/en/citygovernment/international/specialpartners.asp. Retrieved 2007-10-14.  "Twinning with Rome". http://www.paris.fr/portail/english/Portal.lutpageid8139&documenttypeid5&documentid29903&portletid18784. Retrieved 2010-05-27.  "Les pactes d'amiti et de coopration". Mairie de Paris. http://www.paris.fr/portail/accueil/Portal.lutpageid6587&documenttypeid5&documentid16468&portletid14974. Retrieved 2007-10-14.  "International relations: special partners". Mairie de Paris. http://www.paris.fr/en/citygovernment/international/specialpartners.asp. Retrieved 2007-10-14. dead link Bibliography Vincent Cronin (1989). Paris on the Eve 19001914. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-312-04876-9.  Vincent Cronin (1994). Paris:City of Light 19191939. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-215191-X.  Jean Favier (1997-04-23) (in French). Paris. Fayard. ISBN 2-213-59874-6.  Jacques Hillairet (2005-04-22) (in French). Connaissance du Vieux Paris. Rivages. ISBN 2-86930-648-2.  Colin Jones (2004). Paris: The Biography of a City. New York: Penguin Viking. ISBN 0670033936.  Bernard Marchand (1993) (in French). Paris histoire d'une ville : XIXe-XXe sicle. Paris: Le Seuil. ISBN 978-2020128643.  Rosemary Wakeman (2009). The Heroic City: Paris 19451958. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226870236.  External links Find more about Paris on Wikipedia's sister projects: Definitions from Wiktionary Images and media from Commons Learning resources from Wikiversity News stories from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Source texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Official Paris website Paris at the Open Directory Project Paris travel guide from Wikitravel  Administrative structures v d eCommunes in the Metropolitan Area of Paris Population over 2 million City of Paris Population over 100000 Argenteuil  Boulogne-Billancourt  Montreuil  Saint-Denis Population over 75000 Asnires-sur-Seine  Aulnay-sous-Bois  Champigny-sur-Marne  Colombes  Courbevoie  Crteil  Nanterre  Rueil-Malmaison  Saint-Maur-des-Fosss  Versailles  Vitry-sur-Seine Population over 50000 Antony  Aubervilliers  Le Blanc-Mesnil  Bondy  Cergy  Chelles  Clamart  Clichy  Drancy  pinay-sur-Seine  vry  Fontenay-sous-Bois  Issy-les-Moulineaux  Ivry-sur-Seine  Levallois-Perret  Maisons-Alfort  Neuilly-sur-Seine  Noisy-le-Grand  Pantin  Sarcelles  Sartrouville  Sevran  Villejuif Population over 25000 Alfortville  Athis-Mons  Bagneux  Bagnolet  Bezons  Bobigny  Bois-Colombes  Brunoy  Cachan  Charenton-le-Pont  Chtenay-Malabry  Chtillon  Chatou  Le Chesnay  Choisy-le-Roi  Clichy-sous-Bois  Conflans-Sainte-Honorine  Corbeil-Essonnes  La Courneuve  Draveil  lancourt  Ermont  Franconville  Fresnes  Gagny  La Garenne-Colombes   Garges-ls-Gonesse  Gennevilliers  Gonesse  Goussainville  Grigny  Guyancourt  L'Ha-les-Roses  Herblay  Houilles  Le Kremlin-Bictre  Livry-Gargan  Malakoff  Mantes-la-Jolie  Massy  Meaux  Melun  Meudon  Montigny-le-Bretonneux  Montrouge  Les Mureaux  Neuilly-sur-Marne  Nogent-sur-Marne  Noisy-le-Sec  Palaiseau  Le Perreux-sur-Marne  Pierrefitte-sur-Seine  Plaisir  Poissy  Pontault-Combault  Pontoise  Puteaux  Rambouillet  Ris-Orangis  Romainville  Rosny-sous-Bois  Saint-Cloud  Saint-Germain-en-Laye  Saint-Ouen  Sainte-Genevive-des-Bois  Sannois  Savigny-sur-Orge  Savigny-le-Temple  Stains  Sucy-en-Brie  Suresnes  Taverny  Thiais  Trappes  Tremblay-en-France  Vanves  Vigneux-sur-Seine  Villemomble  Villeneuve-Saint-Georges  Villepinte  Villiers-le-Bel  Villiers-sur-Marne  Vincennes  Viry-Chtillon  Yerres Population under 25000 1460 other communes v d ePrefectures of Departments of France Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain)  Laon (Aisne)  Moulins (Allier)  Digne-les-Bains (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence)  Gap (Hautes-Alpes)  Nice (Alpes-Maritimes)  Privas (Ardche)  Charleville-Mzires (Ardennes)  Foix (Arige)  Troyes (Aube)  Carcassonne (Aude)  Rodez (Aveyron)  Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhne)  Caen (Calvados)  Aurillac (Cantal)  Angoulme (Charente)  La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime)  Bourges (Cher)  Tulle (Corrze)  Ajaccio (Corse-du-Sud)  Bastia (Haute-Corse)  Dijon (Cte-d'Or)  Saint-Brieuc (Ctes-d'Armor)  Guret (Creuse)  Prigueux (Dordogne)  Besanon (Doubs)  Valence (Drme)  vreux (Eure)  Chartres (Eure-et-Loir)  Quimper (Finistre)  Nmes (Gard)  Toulouse (Haute-Garonne)  Auch (Gers)  Bordeaux (Gironde)  Montpellier (Hrault)  Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine)  Chteauroux (Indre)  Tours (Indre-et-Loire)  Grenoble (Isre)  Lons-le-Saunier (Jura)  Mont-de-Marsan (Landes)  Blois (Loir-et-Cher)  Saint-tienne (Loire)  Le Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire)  Nantes (Loire-Atlantique)  Orlans (Loiret)  Cahors (Lot)  Agen (Lot-et-Garonne)  Mende (Lozre)  Angers (Maine-et-Loire)  Saint-L (Manche)  Chlons-en-Champagne (Marne)  Chaumont (Haute-Marne)  Laval (Mayenne)  Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle)  Bar-le-Duc (Meuse)  Vannes (Morbihan)  Metz (Moselle)  Nevers (Nivre)  Lille (Nord)  Beauvais (Oise)  Alenon (Orne)  Arras (Pas-de-Calais)  Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dme)  Pau (Pyrnes-Atlantiques)  Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrnes)  Perpignan (Pyrnes-Orientales)  Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin)  Colmar (Haut-Rhin)  Lyon (Rhne)  Vesoul (Haute-Sane)  Mcon (Sane-et-Loire)  Le Mans (Sarthe)  Chambry (Savoie)  Annecy (Haute-Savoie)  Paris (Paris)  Rouen (Seine-Maritime)  Melun (Seine-et-Marne)  Versailles (Yvelines)  Niort (Deux-Svres)  Amiens (Somme)  Albi (Tarn)  Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne)  Toulon (Var)  Avignon (Vaucluse)  La Roche-sur-Yon (Vende)  Poitiers (Vienne)  Limoges (Haute-Vienne)  pinal (Vosges)  Auxerre (Yonne)  Belfort (Territoire de Belfort)  vry (Essonne)  Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine)  Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis)  Crteil (Val-de-Marne)  Cergy (Val-d'Oise) Overseas departments Cayenne (French Guiana)  Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe)  Fort-de-France (Martinique)  Saint-Denis (Runion) v d ePrefectures of the regions of France Metropolitan France Strasbourg (Alsace)  Bordeaux (Aquitaine)  Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne)  Dijon (Burgundy)  Rennes (Brittany)  Orlans (Centre)  Chlons-en-Champagne (Champagne-Ardenne)  Ajaccio (Corsica)  Besanon (Franche-Comt)  Paris (le-de-France)  Montpellier (Languedoc-Roussillon)  Limoges (Limousin)  Metz (Lorraine)  Toulouse (Midi-Pyrnes)  Lille (Nord-Pas de Calais)  Caen (Lower Normandy)  Rouen (Upper Normandy)  Nantes (Pays de la Loire)  Amiens (Picardy)  Poitiers (Poitou-Charentes)  Marseille (Provence-Alpes-Cte d'Azur)  Lyon (Rhne-Alpes) Overseas regions Cayenne (French Guiana)  Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe)  Fort-de-France (Martinique)  Saint-Denis (Runion) v d eDepartments of France 01 Ain  02 Aisne  03 Allier  04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence  05 Hautes-Alpes  06 Alpes-Maritimes  07 Ardche  08 Ardennes  09 Arige  10 Aube  11 Aude  12 Aveyron  13 Bouches-du-Rhne  14 Calvados  15 Cantal  16 Charente  17 Charente-Maritime  18 Cher  19 Corrze  2A Corse-du-Sud  2B Haute-Corse  21 Cte-d'Or  22 Ctes-d'Armor  23 Creuse  24 Dordogne  25 Doubs  26 Drme  27 Eure  28 Eure-et-Loir  29 Finistre  30 Gard  31 Haute-Garonne  32 Gers  33 Gironde  34 Hrault  35 Ille-et-Vilaine  36 Indre  37 Indre-et-Loire  38 Isre  39 Jura  40 Landes  41 Loir-et-Cher  42 Loire  43 Haute-Loire  44 Loire-Atlantique  45 Loiret  46 Lot  47 Lot-et-Garonne  48 Lozre  49 Maine-et-Loire  50 Manche  51 Marne  52 Haute-Marne  53 Mayenne  54 Meurthe-et-Moselle  55 Meuse  56 Morbihan  57 Moselle  58 Nivre  59 Nord  60 Oise  61 Orne  62 Pas-de-Calais  63 Puy-de-Dme  64 Pyrnes-Atlantiques  65 Hautes-Pyrnes  66 Pyrnes-Orientales  67 Bas-Rhin  68 Haut-Rhin  69 Rhne  70 Haute-Sane  71 Sane-et-Loire  72 Sarthe  73 Savoie  74 Haute-Savoie  75 Paris  76 Seine-Maritime  77 Seine-et-Marne  78 Yvelines  79 Deux-Svres  80 Somme  81 Tarn  82 Tarn-et-Garonne  83 Var  84 Vaucluse  85 Vende  86 Vienne  87 Haute-Vienne  88 Vosges  89 Yonne  90 Territoire de Belfort  91 Essonne  92 Hauts-de-Seine  93 Seine-Saint-Denis  94 Val-de-Marne  95 Val-d'Oise Overseas departments: 971 Guadeloupe  972 Martinique  973 French Guiana  974 Runion  976 Mayotte  Paris in the European Union v d eCapitals of European states and territories Capitals of non-sovereign territories or constituent nations shown in SmallCaps Western Northern Central Southern Eastern Amsterdam 6 Netherlands Andorra la Vella Andorra Belfast Northern Ireland Brussels 5 Belgium Douglas Isle of Man 4 Cardiff Wales Dublin Ireland Edinburgh Scotland Lisbon Portugal London United Kingdom England Luxembourg Luxembourg Madrid Spain Monaco Monaco Paris France Saint Helier Jersey 4 Saint Peter Port Guernsey 4 Copenhagen 7 Denmark Helsinki Finland Longyearbyen Svalbard Mariehamn land Islands Oslo Norway Reykjavk Iceland Riga Latvia Stockholm Sweden Tallinn Estonia Trshavn Faroe Islands Vilnius Lithuania Belgrade Serbia Berlin Germany Bern Switzerland Bratislava Slovakia Budapest Hungary Ljubljana Slovenia Prague Czech Republic Vienna Austria Warsaw Poland Vaduz Liechtenstein Zagreb Croatia Ankara Turkey 1 Athens Greece Gibraltar Gibraltar 4 Nicosia Cyprus 2 North Nicosia Northern Cyprus 2 3 Podgorica Montenegro Pristina Kosovo 3 Rome Italy San Marino San Marino Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina Skopje Republic of Macedonia Tirana Albania Valletta Malta Vatican City Vatican City Astana Kazakhstan 1 Baku Azerbaijan 1 Bucharest Romania Chiinu Moldova Kiev Ukraine Minsk Belarus Moscow Russia 1 Sofia Bulgaria Stepanakert Nagorno-Karabakh 2 3 Sukhumi Abkhazia 2 3 Tbilisi Georgia 1 Tiraspol Transnistria 3 Tskhinvali South Ossetia 2 3 Yerevan Armenia 1 1 Transcontinental country.  2 Entirely in Southwest Asia but having socio-political connections with Europe.  3 Partially recognised country.  4 Crown Dependency or Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.  5 Also the seat of the European Union see Location of European Union institutions and Brussels and the European Union.6 Also the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.7 Also the capital of the Kingdom of Denmark. v d eCapital cities of the Member States of the European Union Amsterdam  Athens  Berlin  Bratislava  Brussels  Bucharest  Budapest  Copenhagen  Dublin  Helsinki  Lisbon  Ljubljana  London  Luxembourg City  Madrid  Nicosia  Paris  Prague  Riga  Rome  Sofia  Stockholm  Tallinn  Valletta  Vienna  Vilnius  Warsaw v d eEuropean Capitals of Culture 1985 Athens  1986 Florence  1987 Amsterdam  1988 West Berlin  1989 Paris  1990 Glasgow  1991 Dublin  1992 Madrid  1993 Antwerp  1994 Lisbon  1995 Luxembourg City  1996 Copenhagen  1997 Thessaloniki  1998 Stockholm  1999 Weimar  2000 Reykjavk  Bergen  Helsinki  Brussels  Prague  Krakw  Santiago de Compostela  Avignon  Bologna  2001 Rotterdam  Porto  2002 Bruges  Salamanca  2003 Graz  2004 Genoa  Lille  2005 Cork  2006 Patras  2007 Luxembourg City and Greater Region  Sibiu  2008 Liverpool  Stavanger  2009 Linz  Vilnius  2010 Essen  Istanbul  Pcs  2011 Turku  Tallinn  2012 Maribor  Guimares  2013 Koice   Marseille  International events v d eSummer Olympic Games host cities 1896: Athens  1900: Paris  1904: St. Louis  1908: London  1912: Stockholm  1920: Antwerp  1924: Paris  1928: Amsterdam  1932: Los Angeles  1936: Berlin  1948: London  1952: Helsinki  1956: Melbourne  1960: Rome  1964: Tokyo  1968: Mexico City  1972: Munich  1976: Montreal  1980: Moscow  1984: Los Angeles  1988: Seoul  1992: Barcelona  1996: Atlanta  2000: Sydney  2004: Athens  2008: Beijing  2012: London  2016: Rio de Janeiro v d eWorld's fifty most-populous urban areas Tokyo Yokohama Delhi Seoul Incheon Jakarta Manila Mumbai New York So Paulo Mexico City Shanghai Cairo Osaka Kobe Kyoto Kolkata Shenzhen Los Angeles Beijing Moscow Karachi Istanbul Buenos Aires Dongguan Rio de Janeiro Guangzhou Foshan Dhaka Lagos Paris Nagoya Chicago Kinshasa Lima Bogot London Taipei Ho Chi Minh City Chennai Johannesburg East Rand Bangalore Lahore Tehran Ruhr Area  (EssenDsseldorf) Bangkok Hong Kong Hyderabad Tianjin Chonqing Bandung Baghdad Santiago Kuala Lumpur Toronto Hamilton