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Paris » France
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PARIS

Country:

France

france flag
population 2.144.700
language French
currency Euro (€)
 
Paris is the capital and largest city of France. Straddling the river Seine in the country's north, it is a major global cultural and political centre in addition to being the world's most visited city.

Nicknamed "the City of Light" (la Ville Lumière) since the 19th century, the city of Paris also has a reputation as a "romantic" city and the "heart of Europe". The most recognisable symbol of Paris is the 324 metre (1,063 ft) brown metal Eiffel Tower located on the banks of the Seine. Paris is also internationally renowned for its defining neoclassical architecture and its influence in fashion and the arts.

As one of the main cultural and political centers in Europe since the early Middle Ages, Paris contains many vestiges from its past including numerous art galleries, museums and theatres. More recently, it has grown into a significant centre of international trade with ever-growing modern business districts, including La Défense, which forms a secondary city centre. Paris hosts the headquarters of many international trade and social organisations, including the OECD and UNESCO in addition to the head offices of nearly half of all French companies and offices of many major international firms.

The city of Paris within its administrative limits has an estimated 2004 population of 2,144,700, but over the last century the city has grown well beyond its administrative boundaries, so that the population of Paris urban area (the contiguous built-up area) is estimated at 9.9 million in 2005 and the population of Paris metropolitan area (also including satellite cities) is estimated at 11.6 million people in 2005. The Île-de-France région, of which Paris is the capital, produces over a quarter of France's wealth, with a GDP of nearly €450 billion.

Today Paris is one of the world's major transport destinations because of its financial, cultural, political, and tourism activities. It is often listed as one of the four major global cities along with New York, London and Tokyo.



Places of interest

The Eiffel Tower:



The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel, in French) is a structure constructed by French engineer Gustave Eiffel in occasion of the universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris,
a world-wide fair organized to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution. It has a height of 324 meters with a weight (just constructed) of 7,300 tons, although nowadays its weight in more calculates than 10,000 (due to the museum, restaurants, warehouses and stores that lodges at the present time).

It was predicted that the tower reached the 350 meters, but the neighbors were scared (by the threat of which a so high and constructed building without hardly stones could fall) and they pronounced, causing a change of plans.

The 24 last meters correspond to a television antenna that was added much later. Constructed in controversy with the artists of the time, who saw it like a steel monster, it is considered without doubt like the unquestionable symbol of France and the city of Paris in individual, being the visited monument more of the world. The original color of the tower was the yellow, although nowadays it is not left anything of him.

The structure was constructed between years 1887 and 1889. The tower was inaugurated the 31 of March of 1889, and was opened to the public the 6 of May of that year. Near 200 workers they united 18,038 iron pieces, using two million and means of bolts, and following the design structural of Maurice Koechlin. The risk of accidents in the construction was high, since unlike the modern skyscrapers, the tower is a structure opened without intermediate floors, with the exception of the two platforms.

Nevertheless, and thanks to the precautions of Eiffel towards their workers (who included the use of harnesses), single one of them passed away during the installation of the elevators. According to the environmental temperature, the peak of the Eiffel Tower can approach or move away of the ground about 8 centimeters, due to the thermal expansion of the metal that composes it.

According to the official site of the monument, to reach the top it is necessary to cross 1665 steps (and not 1792, number that some take by the way in reference to the year of the First Republic). The maintenance of the tower includes the application of 50 tons metric of painting every 7 years, with the object of protecting it of the corrosion.

Sometimes, the color of the painting changes, although at the moment, the tower shows a brown tonality. In first stage, there are consoles that allow to vote in the election of the future color of the structure.



Triumphal Arch:



Is a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of the Place de l'Étoile, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It is the linchpin of the historic axis (L'Axe historique) leading from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route leading out of Paris.

The monument's iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail and set the tone for public monuments with triumphant nationalistic messages until World War I. The monument stands over 51 metres (165 feet) in height and is 45 metres wide. It is the second largest triumphal arch in existence (North Korea built a slightly larger Arch of Triumph in 1982 for the 70th birthday of Kim Il-Sung); the Arc de Triomphe is so colossal that an early daredevil flew his plane through it.

It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Napoleon Bonaparte at the peak of his fortunes and finally completed - after a long pause during the Restoration - in the reign of King Louis-Philippe, in 1833-36. The sculpture representing Peace was now interpreted as commemorating the Peace of 1815, not the original intention.

The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin (1739-1811), in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Cortot, Rude, Étex, Pradier and Lemaire. The main sculptures are not integral friezes but are treated as independent trophies applied to the vast ashlar masonry masses, not unlike the gilt-bronze appliqués on Empire furniture.

The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are The Triumph of 1810 (Jean-Pierre Cortot), Resistance and Peace (both by Antoine Étex) and the most renowned of them all, Departure of the Volunteers of '92 commonly called La Marseillaise (François Rude). The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last was used as the belt buckle for the seven-star rank of Marshal of France.

In the attic above the richly sculptured frieze of soldiers are 30 shields engraved with the names of major Revolutionary and Napoleonic military victories. The inside walls of the monument list the names of 558 French generals. The names of those who died in battle are underlined.

The Place de l'Étoile was extensively redesigned by Baron Haussmann, who increased the number of avenues radiating from this star to twelve. In the 1860s he ran a circular road (rue de Tilsitt-Presbourg) round the outside of the houses fronting the Étoile, a planning feature intended to free the Place itself from the crush of carriages that might be expected where so many stylish tenants lived so closely together. Haussmann imposed a uniform design on the house fronts with small gardens at the back giving on to this circular road. Haussmann's memoirs publicly noted that the official facade design, from Hittorff in his own office, was so poor that he had to mask the fronts with trees. But the uniformity complements the Arc's monumental presence. The traffic problem was not resolved, however.

The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off, on the day, it is said, that the Battle of Verdun began in 1916. The relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. Famous victory marches past the Arc included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1918, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. Charles de Gaulle survived an attack upon him at the Arc during a parade.

Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War. Interred here on Armistice Day 1920, it has the first eternal flame lit in Western Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the year 391. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified, now in both World Wars. France took the example of the United Kingdom's tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey.

A ceremony is held there every November 11 on the anniversary of the armistice signed between France and Germany in 1918. It was originally decided in November 12, 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains in the Panthéon, but a public letter-writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc.

The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on November 10, 1920, and put in its final resting place on January 28, 1921. The slab on top carries the inscription ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANÇAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914-1918 ("Here lies a French soldier who died for his country 1914-1918").



Notre Dame Cathedral:



The Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris (Cathédrale Notre-Dame) is one of the older French cathedrals of gothic style. Dedicated to Maria, Mother of Jesus Christ (of there the Notre-Dame name - Our Lady), locates itself in the Parvis seat, the small Island of Cite' in Paris, France, and surrounded by waters of the Seine river.

The cathedral arises intimately bound to the idea from the gothic splendor, to clear effect of the necessities and aspirations of the society of the time, to a new approach of the cathedral like building of contact and spiritual ascent.

The gothic architecture is a powerful instrument in a society that sees, in the beginning of century XI, to become the urban life to an accelerated rate. The city resurges with one extreme importance in the political field, the economic field (mirror of the increasing commercial relations), also ascending, by its side, the wealthy bourgeoisie and the influence of the urban clergy.

The result of this is a substitution also of the necessities of religious construction outside the cities, in the rural monarchic communities, by the new symbol of the citadina prosperity, the gothic cathedral. And like replaced to the search of a new increasing dignity in France, the Cathedral from Notre-Dame of Paris arises.


The premises of the cathedral counted already, before the construction of the building, on a historial solid relative to the religious cult. Celtas had celebrated their ceremonies here where, later, the Romans would erect a temple of devotion to the God Jupiter.

Also in this premises the first Christian church in Paris, dedicated to the cult of the Hindu goddess Shiva, the Basilica of Saint-Etienne, projected by Childeberto around the 528 existed d.C. In substitution of this work a románica church arises that will remain until 1163, when the impulse in the construction of the cathedral occurs. Already in 1160, and result of the centralizador ascent of Paris, Bishop Maurice de Sully considers the present church of the new values and the offer little worthy of demolishing.

The gothic initial, with its technical innovations that allow forms until then impossible, is the answer to the demand of a new concept of prestige in the citadino dominion. During the reign of Luis VII, and under his support, this project is blessed financially by all the social classes with interest in the creation of the symbol of its new power.

Thus, and considering the greatness of the project, the program followed quickly and without interruptions that could happen by lack of economic means (something common, at the time, constructions of great spread). The construction begins in 1163 reflecting some conductive outlines of the Cathedral of Saint Denis, still subsisting doubts as far as the identity of that "would have placed" the first stone, Bishop Maurice de Sully or the Pope Alexander III Throughout the process (the construction, including modifications, lasted until half-full of century XIV) was several the architects who participated in the project, clarifying this factor the present stylistic differences in the building.

In 1182 the choir already served religious and, during the transition between the centuries, it is the finished ship. At the beginning of century XIII they take works of the facade the west with its two towers, extending in the middle of the same century. The arms of transepto (of direction the north-south) are worked from 1250 to 1267 with supervision of Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil. Simultaneously other cathedrals to his around in an advanced style rise more than the gothic one; the Cathedral of Chartres, the Cathedral of Reims and the Cathedral of Amiens.



Basilica of the Sacré Cœur:


Monument of Paris (France), located at the top of the Montmartre hill. One is a basilica to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (in French, Sacré Coeur). Initially it was conceived like a public monument to pay tribute to the memory of the numerous French citizens who were lost the life during the War franc-prusiana and to the revolt that followed the French defeat.

He was the architect Paul Abadie who gained the aid for his construction. The first stone was placed in 1875, and although it was completed in 1914, was not devoted until the aim of World War I, in 1919. The church was constructed with the direct participation of the government of the Third Republic, to celebrate therefore the beginning of a new regime, whose constitutional laws were voted that same year.

Although very controverted, he is one of visited monuments more of Paris. The basilica has Greek cross form, adorned with four cupolas: the central dome, of 80 ms of height, is touched by a lantern, formed by a columnata. In the apse, an immense square tower makes the times of bell tower that keeps, among others, the Savoyarde, a bell of 3m of diameter and more than 26 t of weight, offered by the diocese of Chambéry.

Cripta has the same disposition that the church, and is one of the curiosities of the basilica. The architecture of the basilica is inspired by the Roman and bizantina architecture and influenced in other religious buildings of century XX, like for example the basilica of Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux. It is possible to accede to the basilica taking funicular of Montmartre


The Large Arch of Fraternity:




The Largee Arch of Fraternité is a monument in the business district of The Defense to the west of Paris. It is usually known as the Arche de la Défense or simply as La Grande Arche.

An international design competition was launched at the initiative of French president François Mitterrand. Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen (1929-1987) designed it to be a 20th century version of the Triumphal Arch a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than military victories. The construction was begun in 1982. After Spreckelsen's death in 1987, his associate, French architect Paul Andreu, completed the work in 1989/90.

The Arche is almost a perfect cube (width: 108m, height: 110m, depth: 112m; it has been suggested that the structure looks like a four dimensional hypercube projected onto the three dimensional world). It has a pre-stressed concrete frame covered with glass and Carrara marble from Italy and was built by the French civil engineering company Bouygues.

The almost-completed Arche was inaugurated in July 1989, with grand military parades that marked the bicentenary of the French revolution. It completed the line of monuments that forms the Axe historique running through Paris. The Arch is turned at an angle of 6.33° on this axis however, a peculiarity which has been explained by several theories. In particular the architect is said to have wanted to emphasise the depth of the monument, while the specific angle was chosen to create symmetry with the similarly-skewed Louvre at the other end of the Axe. However, it seems the most important reason was mundanely technical. With a métro station, an RER station and a motorway all situated directly underneath the Arche, the angle was the only way to accommodate the structure's giant foundations.The two sides of the Arche house government offices. The roof section is an exhibition centre. The vertical structure visible in the photograph is the lift scaffolding. Impressive views of Paris are to be had from the lifts taking visitors to the roof.

In 1999 French urban climber Alain "Spiderman" Robert scaled the structure's exterior wall using only his bare hands and feet and with no safety devices of any kind.In the 2004 film, Godzilla: Final Wars, it is one of the Parisian monuments destroyed by the giant insect Kamacuras.



Defense:




Defense is a district of high-rise offices, apartment blocks and shopping complexes over part of the communes of Nanterre, Courbevoie and Puteaux (all in the Hauts-de-Seine département), to the west of Paris.

At the western end near the Largee Arch is a large transport interchange, including a Métro and RER station (the terminus of Métro Line 1), a railway station (which predates the modern development) and stations for buses and the T2 tram line. The Métro's Line 1 also has a station at the eastern end, closer to Paris, Esplanade de la Defense. Defense is named for the statue, Defense de Paris, which was built in 1883 to commemorate the soldiers who had defended Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

The name of the area sometimes causes confusion with foreigners, who occasionally mistakenly assume it is some kind of military zone or establishment. In September 1958, The Public Establishment for Installation of Defense (EPAD) was created by the state to manage and bring life to the quarter. Defense began designing itself: the first buildings (of which ESSO was the very first) were built and began to slowly replace the city's factories, shanties, and even a few farms. The Center of New Industries and Technologies (CNIT) was built and first used in 1958. These "first generation" skyscrapers were all very similar in appearance, limited to a height of 100 meters. In 1966, the Nobel Tower was the first office building built in the area.

In the early 1970s, in response to great demand, a second generation of buildings began to appear. Unfortunately, the economic crisis in 1973 nearly halted all progress in the area. A third generation of towers began to appear in the early 1980s. The biggest commercial center in Europe (at the time), the Quatre Temps, was created in 1981. In 1982, the EPAD launched the Tête Défense competition to find a monument to complete the Axe historique, which eventually led to the construction of Grande Arche at the west end of the quarter. During the same period, hotels were constructed, the CNIT was restructured, and in 1992 Line 1 of the Paris Métro was extended to La Défense, which made the area readily accessible to even more of the city

After a stagnation in new development in the mid-1990s Defense is once again expanding and is now the largest single business district in Europe.

Important corporations headquartered at Defense include Cegetel, Société Générale, Total, Aventis, and Arcelor. The tallest skyscraper belongs to Total, constructed in 1985. It is 187 metres high, has 48 floors, and is the second highest building in the Paris area (the first being the Tour Montparnasse).


The Louvre:



The Museum of the Louvre is one of most important of the world. Initially strength, in century XII, with Renaissance extensions and more delayed others. Part of the Palace of the Louvre opened for the first time to the public like museum the 8 of November of 1793, during the French Revolution. A single set was united to the palace of the Tullerías forming until 1870, when this last one was destroyed in the facts of the Commune of Paris.

The last remodeling was the crystal pyramid that serves like entrance from 1989, designed by Ieoh Ming Pei. In March of 2004 a new extension of this museum announced. It will be dedicated to the art of the Islam. For his design an international aid in 2005 will summon itself. He hopes himself that this new room is opened to the public before 2009, with an investment of 50 million euros for this project.

In him one is more than famous Gioconda of the not less famous painter and escultor Leonardo Da Vinci, as well as other works of the universal Art like Venus de Milo or the Victory of Samotracia. Aside from it also we can find in him enough works of authors very known as they can be Jacques-Louis David, even Spanish like Goya or Zurbarán.

The museum of the Louvre at the moment counts on different originating work collections of art of civilizations, varied cultures and times. It contains around 300,000 pieces, of which single 35,000 are exposed.


Picasso Museum:



The Museum Picasso is located in the Hotel Sale on rue de Thorigny, in the Marais district of Paris. The mansion which houses the collection was built between 1656 and 1659 for Pierre Aubert, Lord of Fontenay, who became rich collecting the Salt Tax (the name of the building means "salted"). The architect was Jean Boullier, also known as Jean de Bourges, and is considered to be one of the finest historic houses in the Marais.

The mansion has changed hands several times through both sales and inheritances. The occupants have included: the Embassay of the Republic of Venice (1671); the Marechal de Villeroy; it was expropriated by the State during the Revolution; in 1815 it became a school in which Balzac studied; it also housed the municipal Ecole des Metiers d'Art. It was acquired by the City of Paris in 1964, and was granted historical monument status in 1968. The mansion was restored by Bernard Vitry and Bernard Fonquernie of the Monuments Historiques between the years 1974 to 1980.

The Hotel Sale was selected for the Musée Picasso after some contentious civic and national debate. A competition was held to determine who would design the facilities. The proposal from Roland Simounet was selected in 1976 from amongst the four that were submitted. Other proposals were submitted by Roland Castro and the GAU (Groupement pour l'Architecture et l'Urbanisme), Jean Monge, and Carlo Scarpa. For the most part, the interior of the mansion (which had undergone significant modifications) was restored to its former spacious state.

In 1968, France created a law that allowed permitting heirs to pay inheritance taxes with works of art instead of money, as long as the art is considered an important contribution to the French cultural heritage. This is known as a dation, and it is allowable only in exceptional circumstances. Dominique Bozo, a curator of national museums, selected those works that were to become the dation. This selection was reviewed by Jean Leymarie and ratified in 1979. It contained work of all techniques and from all periods, and is especially rare in terms of its excellent collection of sculptures. Upon Jacqueline Picasso's death in 1986, her daughter offered a new dation. The collection has also acquired a number of works through purchases and gifts. Picasso said that "I am the greatest collector of Picassos in the world." He had amassed an enormous collection of his own work by the time of his death in 1973, ranging from sketchbooks to finished masterpieces.

The Musée Picasso contains more than 3000 different art works by Pablo Picasso including drawings, ceramics and paintings. This is complemented by Picasso's own personal art collection including works by Cézanne, Degas, Rousseau, Seurat, de Chirico and Matisse. It also contains some Iberian bronzes and a good collection of primitive art. One of the most impressive aspects of the museum is that it contains a large number of works which Picasso painted after his seventieth birthday.

The museum has also made a real effort to present accompanying information. For example, the work of cartoonists of the time who mocked or caricatured his work is displayed with Picasso's work from the 1950s. There are a few rooms with thematic presentations, but the museum largely follows a chronological sequence, displaying painting, drawings, sculptures and prints. Other items on display include photographs, manuscripts, newspaper clippings and photographs to provide additional contextual information.The second floor has a special area set aside for temporary exhibitions and prints. The third floor contains the library, the documentation and archives department (reserved for research), and the curators offices.
 
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