Paris France

Paris (city, France), city in north central France, the capital and largest city of the country. It is located in France’s Île-de-France region, on the Seine River, 370 km (230 mi) upstream from the river’s outlet on the English Channel.

Paris is world-famous for its beauty and charm, and for its long history as a center of learning and knowledge. Parisians call their city the 'City of Light.' People from around the world flock to the city to view its impressive array of monuments and museums, savor its cuisine, and relax in its sidewalk cafes and nightclubs. Paris is the political, cultural, and economic center of France as well as one of the most vibrant metropolises in the world. About 15 percent of France’s inhabitants live in the Paris metropolitan area.

Paris is named after the Parisii, a Celtic people who settled on the city’s central island—the Île de la Cité—in the 3rd century bc. The city has since spread north and south of the Seine. The city lies in a depression. The highest elevation is 129 m (423 ft) at the summit of Montmartre in northern Paris.

Paris enjoys a temperate climate. Average daily temperatures are 20°C (68°F) in summer and 5°C (41°F) in winter. The city receives about 650 mm (26 in) of precipitation annually, spread evenly over the course of the year. Air pollution is high, caused predominantly by automobile traffic and aggravated by the city’s geographic position in a depression.

MUSEUMS

Paris contains around 150 museums, ranging from the Louvre—one of the largest and most famous museums in the world—to the very small Musée Zadkine, located in the onetime home and studio of cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine, by the Jardin du Luxembourg.

The Louvre houses an exceptional collection of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities, and great paintings of the French, Italian, Dutch, and Flemish schools. The Mona Lisa (1503-1506) of Leonardo da Vinci and the ancient Greek statues Venus de Milo (150-100 bc) and Victory of Samothrace (about 200 bc) are among its world-renowned treasures. The museum was remodeled and enlarged in the 1980s, and its entrance is now located under a large glass pyramid designed by Chinese American architect I. M. Pei.

The Musée d'Orsay, located in a converted railway station, is devoted to French painting, sculpture, photography, and other works of art created between 1848 and 1914. It is best known for its impressionist collection, the largest in France.

The neighborhood of La Villette, located on the northeastern edge of the city, is a major cultural hub for the city. The Parc de la Villette is the site of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (City of Science and Industry) and the Cité de la Musique (City of Music), which houses both the Musée de Musique (Museum of Music) and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (National Higher Conservatory of Music).

Medium- and small-sized museums are scattered all over the city, with an exceptional concentration located in palatial former townhouses in the Marais neighborhood of east central Paris. Le Musée de l’Histoire de Paris (Museum of the History of Paris) in the Hôtel Carnavalet and the Musée Picasso in the Hôtel Salé are the most popular museums in the Marais. The Musée de l’Histoire du Judaïsme (Jewish History Museum) is located in the Hôtel Saint-Aignan. The Marais is also home to various cultural institutions and libraries.

Many artists’ and writers’ homes have been turned into museums, notably the Musée Rodin near the Invalides, the Musée Victor Hugo in the Marais, the Musée Delacroix in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Musée Zadkine and Musée Bourdelle in Montparnasse, and the Musée Balzac near the Trocadéro in western Paris. There are several other museums in the Trocadéro area, notably the Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Man), which features anthropological and ethnographical exhibits, and the Musée Guimet, with its collections of East Asian art. Also nearby is the Musée Marmottan where 80 paintings by Claude Monet are housed, including Impression, Sunrise (1872-1873), which gave the impressionist movement its name.

Major temporary exhibitions are held at the Grand Palais by the Champs-Élysées, while the artworks donated to the city are housed at the neighboring Petit Palais. Temporary exhibitions of contemporary art are shown at the Musée du Jeu de Paume, on the western edge of the Jardins des Tuileries. The neighboring Musée de l’Orangerie houses French art from 1880 to 1930, including Monet’s Nymphéas (1916-1926).

In the Latin Quarter, the Musee National du Moyen Age (National Museum of the Middle Ages, also known as the Cluny Museum), houses a series of world-renowned tapestries known as La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady with the Unicorn, 1484-1500). The museum is located in the Hôtel de Cluny, a 15th-century mansion.

RECREATION PARIS FRANCE

Paris boasts more than 140 parks (parcs) and gardens (jardins), and two large wooded areas (bois). In all, these green spaces cover 22 sq km (8 sq mi), or about 20 percent of the city’s total area.

Three of the city’s central gardens were laid out in the 17th century by royalty: the Jardins des Tuileries west of the Louvre, and the Left Bank’s Jardin du Luxembourg and Jardin des Plantes. The latter also houses a small zoo. The Bois de Boulogne, on the western outskirts of the city, and the Bois de Vincennes, on the east, were once royal hunting domains. The 18th-century Parc Monceau in northwest Paris was remodeled in the second half of the 19th century. Two new parks were designed at that time, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in eastern Paris and the Parc Montsouris on its southern edge.

A growing awareness of environmental issues, especially since the 1980s, has led to extensive greening projects in the historically congested city. In some cases, parks have replaced derelict industrial sites. Parc de La Villette in northeast Paris and Parc Georges Brassens on its southern edge were built on the sites of the Paris and the Vaugirard slaughterhouses. Parc André Citroën, southwest of the Eiffel Tower along the Seine, was formerly the Citroën automobile factory. The wine warehouses were razed to make way for Parc de Bercy, located along the right bank of the Seine in eastern Paris. Gardens have been designed with great ingenuity on the roofings of railroad lines, notably the Jardin Atlantique above the high-speed rail tracks of the Montparnasse railway station. The Promenade Plantée, a 4.5-km- (2.8-mi-) long strip of gardens between the Bastille and the Bois de Vincennes, has replaced a disused railroad track.

The Disneyland Paris theme park is spread over almost 20 sq km (8 sq mi) of land in Marne-la-Vallée, a suburb east of Paris. Parc Asterix, another theme park, is located north of Paris and brings to life the adventures of Albert Uderzo’s comic strips about ancient Gaul.

The Stade de France, France’s largest stadium, is located in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. Built for the 1998 World Cup of soccer, the stadium serves as the home field for both the national soccer and rugby teams. The Parc des Princes, on the western edge of the city, is home to Paris’s soccer team, Paris St. Germain. Also on the western edge of the city is the Roland Garros tennis complex, where the French Open—one of the four grand slam tournaments in professional tennis—is held in June. The Paris Tennis Open is held in November at the Palais Omnisport in Bercy.

TOURISM

Paris is the most visited city in the world, with more than 30 million visitors per year. About 55 percent of visiting tourists come from foreign countries, mainly Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre are the most visited sites in Paris.

Paris is also a very popular site for international conferences and trade shows. The city has several convention centers, the major one being the Palais des Congrès at Porte Maillot, northwest of the Arc de Triomphe.