A short history of Paris
“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.” Thomas Jefferson
Paris lures millions of people to visit every year. So what is all the fuss about? Has this city always had this attraction for people? What makes Paris, Paris?
I can’t answer that question for everyone, but I can provide a little background into one of the most fascinating cities in the world.
Paris began as a Roman outpost by Emperor Julian in 358 A.D on the Île de la Cité, that little island that floats in the middle of the Seine River which runs right through the heart of Paris. (This island is home to Notre Dame Cathedral and the amazing Salted Caramel Ice Cream made by Berthillon!) Invaded by many conquerors through the years, and ignored by early rulers in favor of other cities, Paris managed to limp along as a collection of dwellings, cathedrals, and abbeys for several centuries. Even Charlemagne, the great emperor who managed to consolidate power over most of western and central Europe, ruled from another French city and eventually fathered the first of 18 kings named Louis. (Apparently, they weren’t too imaginative when it came to naming their kids.)
Besides the Eiffel Tower, the structure most associated with Paris is Notre Dame. Started in 1163 and finished two centuries later, the construction of Notre Dame, the great cathedral built on the site of an old Roman temple to Jupiter, served as France’s center with the use of a bronze plaque to mark the distances for all roads in the kingdom. Truly the heart of Paris and the kingdom, Notre Dame has survived neglect and near destruction many times throughout its existence from revolutionaries in 1789 and 1871, to the willful disobedience of a German officer who spared the city from Hitler’s command to torch it. Sadly, restoration in 2019 resulted in a fire that destroyed parts of the cathedral.
Pont Neuf at sunset
Running alongside Notre Dame is the famous river, the Seine, the lifeblood of Paris which provided ease of shipping to Paris and contributed to its strategic position on its banks. But Paris grew on both sides and needed a permanent link between its two sides. Henri IV, one of France’s most beloved kings, pushed for the completion of the Pont Neuf. Translated as the “New Bridge” and made completely of stone material, the Pont Neuf opened in 1607 and provided a sturdy transition between the two sides of Paris, linked the Île de la Cité upon which Notre Dame stands, and served as a social gathering place for Parisians. Wide and constructed without houses or shops, the Pont Neuf was novel among Europe’s bridges and impressive in its age. Still standing as a crossing above the Seine, the Pont Neuf changed how Parisians interacted in an age when social distinction and classes mattered. Everyone had access to the bridge and rubbed shoulders in a public setting. It was both a source of pride and a tourist attraction but it’s creation was just the beginning of a worldwide interest in Paris.
During the reign of France’s most famous monarch, Louis XIV, Paris gained one of its most recognizable nicknames, the “City of Light”. Why is it called that, you ask? Louis was all about making France the capital of luxury, from turning his hunting chateau in the middle of nowhere into magnificent Versailles, to recruiting (stealing?) mirror makers from Venice to manufacture mirrors in France. He conceived the idea to light Paris with large candles at night in order to give shops a longer selling day to promote French goods and to encourage safer streets. Crime dropped and tourism exploded. A lighted city in 17th and 18th century Europe was such a novel sight that people came from all over Europe to view the spectacle. The night lights of Paris even today produce awe in the beauty of the city.
The “Triumphal Arch” honors the French who died in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
The French Revolution begun in 1789 produced a sad decline in Paris as the upheaval forced the evolving government structures to focus on maintaining order and survival. The next seventy years saw more revolutions, changes in monarchies, and an end to all monarchy in France starting in 1848. The 19th century ushered in the most radical changes in the layout of Paris with the arrival of Georges-Eugene Haussmann.
Baron Haussmann, as he became known, irrevocably changed Paris by redesigning the city to revolve around the Arc de Triomphe and creating 12 “spokes” or avenues that branched out from the Arc. He widened the streets to accommodate more transportation and prevent the barricades erected by Parisian mobs bent on protest and revolution. He also divided Paris into “arrondisements,”or districts, each numbered 1-20 in a concentric circle staring with Notre Dame. Where else? Hausmann’s reconfiguration resulted in a beautiful city with character and buildings built to a standardized height of 66 meters. Not everyone was a fan; critics mourned the loss of the medieval character of Paris with almost nothing left that existed prior to the Revolution except some of the major structures such as Notre Dame, the Sorbonne, wings of the Louvre, and a few churches. Paris, in some ways, is a newer city.
The Eiffel Tower, Paris’s most iconic and recognizable landmark, wasn’t so popular when it was constructed either. Built to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution, artists and other intellectuals protested the conception and construction of this steel monument revealed at the 1889 World’s Fair. This symbol of industrialization and engineering was the world’s tallest structure until the Chrysler Building surpassed it in 1930. By that time, Parisians and the world had fallen in love with Gustave Eiffel’s amazing tower.
Paris has been the home of many innovations and dramatic events in the 19th and 20th century: the 1871 siege of Paris by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War with hunger so intense that her inhabitants ate the animals in the zoo; the miraculous “Miracle of the Marne” in WWI when a French general rounded up all of the taxis in Paris to transport troops to the battle to keep the Germans out of Paris; and the invasion of the Nazis in 1940 who marched down the famous Champs Élysées to underscore her humiliation and defeat. Even so, she has survived, and we visit by the millions every year to experience this fascinating old city with character and charm.
“There are only two places in the world that we can live happy: at home and in Paris.” Ernest Hemingway
(Sources: How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City by Joan deJean and The Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne. All photos courtesy of Unsplash.)