History

Around 250 BC, the Parisii Gallic tribe settled on the Île de la Cité in a bend of the Seine.

In 52 BC, Roman armies under Labienus, Caesar's lieutenant, conquered the town, naming it Lutetia.

Lutetia spread to the Left Bank: forum, baths (Cluny), arena (Lutèce), 26 km aqueduct.

When Rome fell in the 5th century, Saint Geneviève protected the city from Attila in 451 and became patron saint of Paris.

Hugh Capet founded the Capetian dynasty in 987 and brought the court to Paris.

Notre-Dame cathedral was built between 1163 and 1345.

Philip Augustus walled the city (5 km) and founded the Sorbonne university (1257).

Saint Louis built the Sainte-Chapelle to hold the Crown of Thorns (1248).

The Black Death (1348-49) killed a third of Parisians.

Francis I turned the Louvre into a Renaissance palace and brought Leonardo da Vinci to France.

Henri IV (1589-1610) modernized the city: Pont Neuf, Place des Vosges, Place Dauphine.

Under Louis XIV, the court moved from Paris to Versailles (1682) — Paris remained the cultural capital.

Place Vendôme, Les Invalides, the Observatory were built.

July 14, 1789: Storming of the Bastille, start of the Revolution.

August 26, 1789: Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette guillotined at Place de la Concorde (1793).

Napoleon ended the Directory in 1799.

Napoleon III tasked Baron Haussmann with transforming Paris (1853-1870).

Wide boulevards, uniform stone buildings, new parks (Buttes-Chaumont, Monceau).

Modern sewers, Palais Garnier opera.

Paris becomes the "City of Light" with gas then electric lighting.

1889: Eiffel Tower for the World's Fair.

1900: metro opens, Grand Palais inaugurated.

Roaring Twenties: Montmartre then Montparnasse, Picasso, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein.

May 68, Notre-Dame restoration in 2024, 2024 Olympics — Paris keeps reinventing itself.