Some consider that the name of the Parisii tribe comes from the Celtic Gallic word parisio meaning « the working people » or « the stone breakers”. The  King Saint Louis encouraged the legend of an ancestry of prince Pâris which kidnapped the beautiful Hélene and provoked the Trojan War.

Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is « La Ville-Lumière » (« The City of Light ») a name it owes first to its fame as a centre of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment, and later to its early adoption of street lighting.

Paris’ inhabitants are known in English as « Parisians » and in French as Parisiens. Parisians are often pejoratively called Parigots, a term first used in 1900 by those living outside the Paris region, but now the term may be considered endearing by Parisians themselves.

HISTORY

The earliest archaeological signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 BC. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the area near the river Seine from around 250 BC. The Romans conquered the Paris basin in 52 BC, with a permanent settlement by the end of the same century on the Left Bank Sainte Geneviève Hill and the Île de la Cité. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia, but later Gallicised to Lutèce.

It expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with a forum, palaces, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre. The collapse of the Roman empire and the fifth-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline. By 400 AD, Lutèce, by then largely abandoned by its inhabitants, was little more than a garnison town entrenched into the hastily fortified central island. The city reclaimed its original appellation of « Paris » towards the end of the Roman occupation. The Frankish king Clovis I established Paris as his capital in 508.

Paris’s population was around 200,000 when the Black Death arrived in 1348, killing as many as 800 people a day, and 40,000 died from the plague in 1466. According to Biraben, plague was present in Paris for almost one year in three in the 16th and 17th centuries to 1670. Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm during occupation of the English-allied Burgundians during the Hundred Years’ War, but regained its title when Charles VII of France reclaimed the city from English rule in 1436. Paris from then became France’s capital once again in title, but France’s real centre of power would remain in the Loire Valley until King Francis I returned France’s crown residences to Paris in 1528.

During the French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic party. In August 1572, under the reign of Charles IX, while many noble Protestants were in Paris on the occasion of the marriage of Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV, to Margaret of Valois, sister of Charles IX, the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre occurred; begun on 24 August, it lasted several days and spread throughout the country. During the Fronde, Parisians rose in rebellion and the royal family fled the city (1648). King Louis XIV then moved the royal court permanently to Versailles in 1682.

A century later, Paris was the centre stage for the French Revolution, with the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 and the overthrow of the monarchy in September 1792.

Paris was occupied by Russian Cossack and Kalmyk cavalry units upon Napoleon’s defeat on the 31st of March 1814; this was the first time in 400 years that the city had been conquered by a foreign power. The ensuing Restoration period, or the return of the monarchy under Louis XVIII (1814–1824) and Charles X, ended with the July Revolution Parisian uprising of 1830.

The new ‘constitutional monarchy’ under Louis-Philippe ended with the 1848 « February Revolution » that led to the creation of the Second Republic.

Throughout these events, cholera epidemics in 1832 and 1849 ravaged the population of Paris; the 1832 epidemic alone claimed 20,000 of the population of 650,000.

The greatest development in Paris’s history began with the Industrial Revolution creation of a network of railways that brought an unprecedented flow of migrants to the capital from the 1840s. The city’s largest transformation came with the 1852 Second Empire under Napoleon III; his préfet Haussmann levelled entire districts of Paris’ narrow, winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical façades that still make much of modern Paris; the reason for this transformation was twofold, as not only did the creation of wide boulevards beautify and sanitize the capital, it also facilitated the effectiveness of troops and artillery against any further uprisings and barricades that Paris was so famous for. The Hotel Britannique was built in 1860.

The Second Empire ended in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), and a besieged Paris under heavy bombardment surrendered on 28 January 1871. The discontent of Paris’ populace with the new armistice-signing government seated in Versailles resulted in the creation of a Parisian « Commune » government, supported by an army in large part created from members of the City’s former National Guard, that would both continue resistance against the Prussians and oppose the government « Versaillais » army. The result was a bloody week Semaine Sanglante that resulted in the death, many by summary execution, of roughly 20,000 « communards » before the fighting ended on May 28, 1871. The ease at which the Versaillais army overtook Paris owed much to Baron Haussmann’s earlier renovations.

France’s late 19th-century Universal Expositions made Paris an increasingly important centre of technology, trade and tourism. Its most famous were the 1889 Universal Exposition to which Paris owes its « temporary » display of architectural engineering prowess, the Eiffel Tower, a structure that remained the world’s tallest building until 1930; the 1900 Universal Exposition saw the opening of the first Paris Métro line.

« Fluctuat nec mergitur », meaning « He was beaten by the waves but does not sink ». It is about the « Scilicet », ship also represented on the crest of the city and symbol of powerful corporation of the Boatmen

Source : Wikipedia

Some museums to visit

• Musée Carnavalet
• Crypte archeolique du parvis Notre-Dame
• Musée Cognacq-Jay

Romantic Paris Hotel

Hotel Britannique Paris Romantic Paris Hotel, 3 star Hotel Paris

We recommend you to visit the Sainte-Chapelle, a masterpiece of Flamboyant Gothic architecture built by Saint Louis in the heart of the Palais de la Cité on the Ile de la Cité in Paris.

A little history…

Located on the Seine in the heart of Paris, the Ile de la Cité is in fact the old birthplace of the city of Paris, once known as Lutetia…

During his reign from 1226 to 1270, Louis IX, dit St. Louis, let expand the Capetian palace to the north shore of the island. And in the palace, the Sainte-Chapelle was built, as a monumental reliquary to welcome the most precious relics of the kingdom: the Crown of Thorns and a piece of the True Cross, purchased by St. Louis to the Byzantine emperor in 1239 and 1241. Through these acquisitions, St. Louis affirmed the temporal and spiritual supremacy of the Kings of France.

Visiting the Sainte-Chapelle…

Depending on the model Palatine, the building houses two chapels superimposed a low chapel for the public worship, and an upper chapel, reserved for the royal family ; its access was done through a private gallery.

By entering the chapel low, you’ll be amazed by the profusion of side columns which support arches overhead. Low ceiling, it is lined with massive columns supporting the entire weight of the building. Its structure provides a great impression of lightness and space.

This feeling is even stronger in the upper chapel, where restoration in the XIXth century has adorned the columns and arches of lilies on a blue background and Castilian towers on a red background, a tribute to the mother of St. Louis, Blanche de Castille.

You will reach the upper chapel by a narrow spiral staircase, and you’ll discover a treasure of sacred art, a unique testimony of the apogee of the Gothic architecture : some 600 m² stained glasses on 15 windows of 15 meters high and a rose window of 9 meters diameter! All are magnified by the slightest ray of sunshine.

Each bay represents religious scenes, illustrating a different theme from the Old or New Testament, with a wealth of detail and dazzling colors. From the Genesis and Exodus to the history of the sacred relics, until their purchase by St. Louis represented on its white horse… the narrative richness of the stained glasses is explained in a detailed notice available near the exit. It should be noted that two-thirds of the windows are original and date from the XIIIth century.

The bays are separated by thin columns whose bases host statues of Apostles.

At the back of the nave, a carved gallery supports the canopy under which the Crown of Thorns was once exposed. Turning around, you will discover the beautiful rose of the west front of the chapel.

Outside, an army of gargoyles watch over the massive columns of the edifice, whose spire rises to 75 meters (it was replaced in 1853, the original collapsed in 1793). A statue of the archangel Michael is at the height of the roof.

Restoration work is regularly done in this sumptuous chapel. Since November 2010, the National Monuments Centre continues the vast campaign of restoration of the windows, initiated in the 1970s. The Sainte-Chapelle is part of a UNESCO World Heritage.

Useful informations :

Ste-Chapelle :
8 boulevard du Palais – Paris 1er
Metro : line 4, station Cité
Tel. 01 53 40 60 80

Opening hours :

• Times may vary
• Open every day, 1 March to 31 October : 9:30 to 18:00
• Cashdesks close 30 minutes earlier
• Open in the evening on Wednesdays, 15 May to 15 September, last admission at 21:00

Closed:

• between 13:00 and 14:00 during the week
• 1 January, 1 May 1 and 25 December

Attention!
Due to its location inside the Palais de Justice, access to the Sainte-Chapelle is controlled by the gendarmerie ; it is strictly forbidden for visitors to be in possession of any metal objects such as knives, scissors and any other pointed or sharp metal instrument.

Hotel Britannique Paris, Romantic Paris Hotel, 3 star Hotel Paris