During the Age of Enlightenment in the Eighteenth century it became a centre of education, learning and philosophy. So it was seen as an "enlightened" place to be.

In the nineteenth century, Paris was one of the first cities to adopt street lighting, gas lamps in the Champs Elysées in 1829 and electric lights for its Great Exhibition of 1889. So it really was a city of light among all the other cities that were still in the dark!

Having the city lit at night was a great innovation. It meant that people were now able to undertake leisure activities after dark. It made the streets safer. Instead of staying at home, people began to use the time after night fell in a productive way. The Expo stayed open until midnight. It marked the beginning of modern urban life.

This picture shows how the top of the Eiffel Tower looked for the 1889 Expo, which really showed the ordinary person how useful electricity could be. Electric lights were used to illuminate not only the Eiffel Tower, but also bridges, parks and pavilions.

Find out all about the Great Exhibition of 1889

Find out more about Baron Haussmann and how he changed the face of Paris.

Very early Paris - Lutetia

The ancient name for France is Gaul. More than two thousand years ago, a tribe of Gauls called the Parisii settled on two little islands in the Seine in what is now the centre of Paris and founded a little fishing village. We know this area today as the Ile de la Cité, and it is where Notre Dame is located.

The Romans, led by Julius Caesar, conquered the area in 52BC, They made the Parisii fishing settlement into a regional centre and called it "Lutetia" (or Lutèce in French.) They also created a a suburb on the Left Bank in the “Latin Quarter”. Today you can visit the Musée de Cluny and see the remains of a Roman bathhouse and its "frigidarium" or cold bath. You can also see many Roman artefacts including fishing and trading canoes in the Musée Carnavalet (or Museum of Paris).

Paris of the Middle Ages

During the 5th to 10th centuries Paris must have been a dangerous place to live. Its residents had to endure fires, continuous Viking raids, and seiges. King Clovis renamed the Roman Lutetia, Paris, after the tribes who originally lived there and made the city his capital. It became the capital of France just before the year 1000 when Hugh Capet, the Count of Paris, became the King of France.

The Ile de la Cité gradually became too small for the city, as the number of its inhabitants grew, and its area expanded on both sides of the river. The original centre, on the islands, was the government and religious centre, and the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris was begun just after 1100. The Left Bank became the centre for learning, and it was here that in the 13th century, the Sorbonne University was founded, one of the earliest Universities in the world.

The marshes on the Right Bank were drained and the land was reclaimed. The centre for commerce and finance was located there. Today, this area is still called "Les Marais" which means "marshes" in French.

About this time, the Louvre was built, as a fortress by the River Seine. By the 15th Century, Paris had become one of the major cities in Europe.

Paris of the 19th century

Paris as we know it today was created by Baron Haussmann during the mid-nineteenth century. He decided that the slum areas of the city needed to be removed so that the city could be modernised.

Baron Haussmann deliberately destroyed the old houses and slums dating back to the middle ages. He had a vision that the Arc de Triomphe should be focus point for his new, modern city. Consequently he designed twelve main avenues to radiate outwards from the Arc. He called the square "Place de l'étoile" which means "Star Square." On the right is a diagram of the the avenues that surround the Arc de Triomphe in the 8th arrondissement.

Today we know this as "Place Charles de Gaulle." The Avenue des Champs Elysées is the best known street in the world. The Avenue de la Grande Armée is the widest road in all Paris!

Source: lebrunf9.free.fr

The Gallic heroes, Asterix and Obelix had adventures in Lutèce. Here is a drawing from one of their stories to show what the settlement would have looked like.
Even in those days, there may have been bridges across from the Right and Left Banks.

Notre Dame de Paris took over 200 hundred
years to build. It fell into disuse during the Revolution and was saved by a campaign
led by author Victor Hugo in his book,
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame".

A peaceful inner court in Les Marais.

The famous pyramid at Le Louvre

Twelve grand avenues radiate outwards from the Arc de Triomphe to create a visual focus point from many parts of Paris.

Baron Haussmann.

In his quest for
modernisation, he even evicted his own
mother and demolished her house!