de Lutèce à nos jours
Paris
L’histoire de la Ville
Les premiers habitants:
Les Parisii
Ce peuple gaulois habite
une île au milieu de la
Seine.
La Seine trouve sa
source en Bourgogne.
Elle doit son nom à la
déesse de la source
gauloise, Sequana.
La Seine divise Paris en
deux:
la Rive Droite
la Rive Gauche.
Réalité
Source-Seine
Fiction
La Guerre des Gaules
En 52 BC: César conquiert la Gaule.
“Nous sommes en 50
avant Jésus-Christ.
Toute la Gaule est
occupée par les
Romains. Toute? Non!
Un village peuplé
d’irréductibles Gaulois
résiste encore et
toujours à
l’envahisseur.”
Il appelle cette ville
Réalité
LUTÈCE
Vercingétorix – chef gaulois qui gagne à Gergovie,
mais qui perd à César à la bataille d’Alésia (AliseSainte-Reine, Bourgogne). Il est exécuté après six ans
Les Thermes de Cluny
Les Arènes de Lutèce
Origin of the word: SAND
Les arènes de Lutèce could
hold 15.000 spectators – larger
than the population of the city
(10.000). Gladiators fought
here: men against men,
animals against animals, men
against animals. Much blood
was spilt. To absorb the blood
- SANG, they put a type of soil
on the floor of the arena:
SAND – sable.
Ve siècle:
Geneviève is born in
Nanterre in 423. The only,
and late-born, child of
wealthy, aristocatic galloromains, her father,
Severus, is a high roman
authority and a christian.
When she is 7, the bishop
Germain d’Auxerre, sees
how extraordinary she is.
With his support, she
decides then to consecrate
her life to Christ and to be
“a virgin of the Gaules”.
Her mother, Gerontia, is so
shocked that she becomes
blind. According to legend,
Geneviève’s first miracle is
to restore her sight.
451 – Attila the Hun invades Gaule
The inhabitants of Lutèce
panic, but Geneviève’s
calm and faith persuade
them to remain in the city
and trust in God. The
Gauls are victorius!
Basilique de Saint Denis
Using her influence, she proposes the construction of a
cathedral honoring the first bishop of Lutèce, Denis, an italian
massacred in the year 250 on the “mont des Martyrs”
(Montmartre) to be built on the tomb of the saint several
miles north of Lutèce. It will strengthen the christian presence
of the Right Bank and help chase the pagans from the Left
Bank.
The cathedral became the final resting place of the Kings of
France. During the French Revolution, their bodies were
removed and tossed into a common grave. The tombs remain
here to this day. The bodies of Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette,
and Louis XVIII are the only tombs there which actually
contain remains.
Clovis, 1e roi de France
Geneviève continues to convert the pagans to
Christianity all the while having a good
relationship with the leaders of Lutèce: the
less and less important Roman, the Wisigoth,
and the Franc.
In 481, Clovis (whose name would give us
Louis) succeeds his father. Geneviève does
not like him and refuses to open the gates of
Lutèce unless he converts. The siege of the
Francs lasts 10 years – largely because Clovis
allows supplies to secretly enter as he does
not wish to harm this city that he so wishes to
make his capital.
Geneviève knows that she has the support of
Clovis’ wife, Clothide, a devout christian.
In 496, thanks to their prayers, Clovis is
miraculously victorious over the Alamans
(futur Allemands!) and Clovis accepts
Geneviève’s God. He is baptised in Reims –
where all future kings will be crowned – and
Geneviève opens the gates of the city.
He renames the city after its original inhabitants:
PARIS
Geneviève is buried with much ceremony on the
mont Lucoticus, later named mont Geneviève
where the Panthéon is today.
4 centuries after her death, the city is beseiged by
the Vikings. Her remains are paraded through the
city and inspire the citizens to fight. The Normands
retire and Paris is once again saved.
During a series of epidemics, her memory is
invoked, curing many.
Even after her death (512/502?), Geneviève watches over her city.
In 1130, a poison in rye causes convulsions and
gangrene. Those afflicted touch the golden box
holding her remains and are cured.
In 1496, Erasme – a famous scholar, is cured of a
peristant fever when her remains are again paraded
in the city.
In 1793, during the French Revolution, her remains
are burnt, place de Grève. Fortunately, parts of her
body had been placed in other churches . They are
returned to Paris.
They now lie in the spire of Notre Dame, atop her
city.
Le Louvre:
home to Kings since 1191 when it was built
as a fortress.
I.M. Pei – Pyramide - 1989
Ile de la Cité
Notre-Dame de Paris celebrated its
850th birthday in 2013
The cathedral was almost destroyed
after the Revolution. It was Victor
Hugo’s 1831 novel, Notre Dame de
Paris, about Quasimodo, the bellringer, that incited Parisians to call
for the cathedral to be restored.
La Conciergerie – last stop before la guillotine
for Marie-Antoinette, Danton, Robespierre and many more
La Sainte Chapelle was built by Louis IX (Saint Louis) to
house the crown of thorns that he had brought back from
the Croisades.
Île Saint Louis
Quai Bourbon
A place of calm at the heart of the city
Best sorbet IN THE
WORLD – a must!
Paris becomes the political – religious – economic – intellectual capital of France
“La Rive Gauche pense; La Rive Droite dépense.”
La Rive Droite, the right bank, becomes the center of
commerce, around Les Halles.
The University of Paris establishes itself on la Rive
Gauche, the left bank.
Beginning in the 12 e century, the economy of the
country required a literate population, knowledgeable in
mathematics and accounting. Private schools, with wellrespected teachers, such as Pierre Abélard, drew students
to the Île de la Cité. A boiterous lot (even then!), it was
decided to keep the students on the Rive Gauche, away
from the merchants. Commerce associated with
education such as bookstores settled there as well. Such
was born le Quartier Latin, after the name of the
language of instruction in the schools.
People come from far away for the free (even today)
education that they can receive in Paris. In the 13th
century, a master of theology, Robert de Sorbon, buys
some land near the mont Sainte Geneviève to house
some university students who have no financial
resources. The college of arts and sciences of the
University of Paris now bears his name: La Sorbonne.
La Rive Droite – Les Halles
Les Halles was the central market, “le ventre de Paris”. For sanitation
reasons, it was moved south of Paris, to Rungis, in 1969. In its place,
the Beaubourg section of the city, a modern art museum was built,
during the presidency of Georges Pompidou and opened in 1977 and
an underground mall: Le Forum des Halles
Centre Pompidou
Le Forum des Halles
The city as we know it today began with François I and Henri IV
Le Pont Neuf: 1606, Henri IV The oldest bridge of the 37 bridges in
Paris today. It was the longest and the
widest bridge, and for the first time, had
no houses on it so that the view from the
new Louvre would not be blocked.
La Place des Vosges (La Place Royale),
1612 - The first square of Paris and a
favorite of the aristocracy.
Its name honors the first département,
les Vosges, who paid its taxes in 1798,
after the French Revolution.
Victor Hugo lived at number 6 between
1832 and 1848.
Les Tuileries et
Les Champs-Élysées
Catherine de Médicis, wife of Henri II, built a
palace at the end of the two wings of the
Louvre in 1594, enclosing land that had once
been occuped by a tile (tuiles) factory. The
Tuileries palace was set on fire and destroyed
during the riots of 1871. The gardener, André
Le Nôtre, who would go on to design the
gardens of Versailles, designed the jardin des
Tuileries as well as an extension, the “allée des
Tuileries” which went as far as the hill of
Chaillot, opposite where the Eiffel Tower
stands today.
In 1789, it was widened and became known as
Les Champs-Élysées.
Elegant cafés opened and it became THE place
to meet – then and now.
The horses that sit at either side of the ChampsÉlysées at the beginning of the Place de la
Concorde come from the château of Marly-leRoi, near Versailles. The originals are now in
the Louvre.
L’Hôtel de Ville, begun under François I
Jacques Chirac became the first mayor of the city in 1977.
Le Sénat in the Luxembourg palace of the Jardin
du Luxembourg, designed by Marie de Médicis,
wife of Henri IV
Le Palais Royal,
1639
Le Palais Royal was built for Cardinal
Richelieu. After his death, a young
Louis XIV lived here. The Comédie
Française is found here.
Each king adds his touch:
Le Roi-Soleil, Louis XIV is the master of all.
Despite his distrust of the city, his move of the
court to Versailles, and his subsequent
infrequent visits, he knows how to use Paris to
show his power and his prestige. With
landscaper, André Le Nôtre, he develops a
perspective that stretches the length of the
Seine.
He adds to the Louvre and builds a hospital for
wounded soldiers: l’Hôtel des Invalides.
In 1667, an edict imposed that lanterns be lit at every intersection of the capital – more than 6,000.
The Ville Lumière was born.
One creation of Louis XIV, the beautiful Place Vendôme, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, would
change appearance when Napoléon added a column recounting his victory over the Russo-Austrian army in
Austerlitz (1805) made from the 2.000 canons captured during the battle.
Louis XIV builds bridges and new cemeteries,
such as the famous Père-Lachaise
Today the Ritz hotel with its white awnings can be
seen in a square famous for its occupants: Chopin and
Chanel among others.
Paris sous-sol:
As Paris expanded, the land whose underground
quarries provided the stone for such massive
constructions as Notre-Dame and the Louvre
were incorporated into the city; buildings were
constructed and the land became unstable. In
1777 areas were disappearing into large holes.
Charles-Axel Guillaumot was chosen by Louis
XVI to strengthen the foundation of the city.
Underground support walls were built, and
underground cavities were filled with dirt.
One other task of his was to use the existing
galeries on the Rive Gauche to create an
ossuaire for the millions of skeletons in the
Cimetière des Innocents, which was a health
problem. It was named the Catacombes, in
reference to those in Rome.
Entrée:
Place Denfert (d’Enfer!)-Rochereau
Years later, other cemeteries were emptied and
the remains brought to the Catacombes. One of
them, le Cimetière Sainte-Catherine, was where
Guillaumot himself had been buried.
His bones are unmarked, one of the millions
resting in the area he created.
La Révolution Française
La prise de la Bastille
le 14 juillet 1789
Le génie de la liberté
The column in the center of La Place de la Bastille commemorates les Trois
Glorieuses – the 27, 28, 29 July 1830 Revolution celebrated in the Delacroix
painting Liberté Guidant le peuple
L’Opéra Bastille (1989)
Pont de la Concorde
Napoléon 1e leaves his mark
L’Arc du Carrousel
(jardin des Tuileries)
Tombe du soldat inconnu
He is buried under the dome of the
Hôtel des Invalides
L’Arc de Triomphe
100 posts linked by chain surround the arch:
symbolizing the return of Napoleon from Elba.
Place de l’Étoile - (Place Charles de Gaulle)
La Madeleine
L’obélisque de Luxor
La Place de la Révolution becomes
La Place de la Concorde
(harmony between
église: La Madeleine and état: L’Assemblée
Nationale)
Le Palais Bourbon – L’Assemblée Nationale
Napoléon III et le Baron Georges Eugène Haussmann build modern Paris
“le vieux Paris n’est plus…” Charles Baudelaire, Le Cygne, 1860
In 1637, there were 400.000 Parisiens.
In 1789: 600.000
In 1850: 1 million
In 1859: 1.696.000
1858 Napoléon III begins his project with
Le Baron Haussmann. In a short twenty
years, he destroys 70% of the city, and a
city that had little changed since the
Middles Ages is transformed into a
beautiful and elegant capital. He annexes
outlying suburbs, divides the city into 20
arrondissements, destroys thousands of
homes and poor, dirty neighbors to build
beautiful buildings and wide avenues
which make protesting barricades more
difficult – though not impossible as he will
find out during the Commune uprising in
1871. He completes the Louvre, builds the
Palais Garnier (Opéra), holds a World’s
Fair in 1867, and brings more light to the
city in the form of 18,000 gas lights.
Chagall ceiling - 1964
There really is water beneath the
Opéra – but no phantom – though
Box 5 remains empty each night!
Le Paris de Haussmann tel qu’on le voit aujourd’hui
Les bouquinistes find a permament home
along the Seine under Napoléon III.
Colonne Morris,
depuis 1868
But Napoléon III et le Baron Haussmann did more than transform the Paris that we
see. In 1878, they worked with Eugène Belgrand to build the finest system of clean
drinking water and sewers (les égouts) that there is in the world today - a network of
over 2400 kilomètres (1500 miles) of galeries under Paris. Each street has an
equivalent “street” below. You can even be like Jean Valjean carrying Marius from Les
Misérables (Victor Hugo) and visit it!
Napoléon III believed a world power should act as an influence on many levels, including fashion. A
promoter of both fine attire and the textile industry, he forbade women from appearing in the same dress
more than twice at the royal court, beginning the march toward the fashion world’s every-changing styles.
Fashion and design rose to new heights of innovation in Paris during La Belle Époque (1871-1914) when la
haute couture emerged.The first fashion boutiques opened along la rue Saint-Honoré during the 19th
century. It is now home to upscale boutiques and designer flagships.
le 4 septembre 1870: La Troisième République
La Bergère des Nuages et le symbole de Paris:
Exposition Universelle 1889 pour commémorer le centenaire de la
Révolution Française
Le Palais de Chaillot: 1937
How many
steps to the
top?!
Le Palais de L’Élysée
home of the Président de la République
La Gare de Lyon
La Gare d’Orsay
1900 - devenue musée en 1986
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur et la Butte de Montmartre
centre des artistes
Le Moulin de la Galette
Many cafés and cabarets opened in
Montmartre when it was outside the city
walls, and the liquor did not have to pay
heavy city taxes. La Mére Catherine, on the
Place du Tertre is where the word
BISTROT entered the French language.
After the fall of Napoléon, Russian soldiers
stationed in Paris frequented the café. They
shouted out “bistrot, bistrot” (vite vite!)
which was thought to mean coffee!
Le Métro:
1900
Fulgence Bienvenüe, ingénieur
La Grande Arche de la Défense
While Paris certainly seeks to perserve its patrimoine of over 20 centuries of history,
it also wishes to inspire with new architecture, and to share its joie de vivre.
Tramway
Vélib’
Paris-Plage
Parc Monceau
Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
Roland-Garros
Stade de France
L’arrivée du Tour de France
Parc des Princes
Les sports
Hippodrome d’Auteuil
Hippodrome de Longchamp
Hippodrome de Vincennes
Cité des Sciences – Parc de la Villette
A city always mindful of its past as it looks towards
the future.
Bateaux-Mouches
Les Galeries Lafayette
La Défense
La Fin!