History on Paris
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Clovis was the first Christian King who made Paris capital in 508. He was born more than two thousand years ago. This town, which was to have an exceptional destiny, spread out and grew rich during the centuries, today it is pervaded with historical memories.
Paris was born from an insular village when the Gallic tribe of Parisians settled on an island on the Seine. After the defeat of Vercingetorige (work of Caesar), which took place in Alesia in 51 B.C., the Roman army subjected the village and the whole of Gaul.
The town, called Lutetia, spread onto the left bank around the important North-South commercial axis under the "pax romana". In the 3rd century the retreat of the Roman troups before the barbarian invasions obliged Lutetia to take refuge on the island. In the 5th century the Prankish reign was organized by Clovis. For many centuries afterwards the village prudently entrenched itself in the middle of the river, a natural defense helped by ramparts. The only fortified ways of entry to the island consisted of a small bridge in the south and a large bridge in the north. Even the terrible Vikings, in 885, had to give up after a year of siege. Charlemagne and the Carlovingians left Paris, preferring Aix-la-Chapelle. The town developed on its own, and spread onto the two banks protected by parish walls. The small suburbs which had formed around the bell towers were gradually integrated into the town by the building of town walls by the kings. In fact from the reign of Louis VII (1137-1180), the growing regal authority became more and more responsible for the capital. Louis VII had the Grand Chatelet built.
At the beginning of the 12th century, faced with the peril of the English, Philippe Auguste had the first circle of walls built, which confirmed the fact that the University (situated on the left bank) belonged to Paris. From this moment onwards the city expanded with a slow and circular movement starting from the cross formed by the Seine with the north-south axis.
At the end of the 14th century, Charles V enlarged the fortifications in order to incorporate some of the suburbs. The circle of walls built by Louis XIII (at the beginning of the 17th century) widened still more towards the west to incorporate more suburbs. Under Louis XIV, the enemy was driven to the frontiers of the reign and so it was possible to transform the walls into avenues which, lined by trees, became pleasant places to walk. Under Louis XVI, Paris reached its present confines with the construction of the "Fermiers Generaux" wall, a customs protection measure. The 60 pavilions built by Ledoux between 1784 and 1787 controlled access to Paris and made the collection of customs dues possible. Very soon afterwards, the unpopularity of this legislative measure gave rise to the saying "le mur murant Paris rend Paris murmurant" (The walls around Paris make Paris mutter). The fall of Napoleon I in 1815 represented a military danger. They decided to build a new fortification, which was finished in 1845. Lastly, in 1860, the confines were fixed at the level of the present external "boulevards", which are flanked by the surburban motorway.
If the extension of Paris was controlled by its various circles of walls, what happened to the quality of its urbanistic development? There were basically five periods in which there were doubts of this kind to be taken into consideration. The Gallic-Roman period, which saw the establishment of the north-south axis with the thistle layout. The qualification of the "first urbanistic king" must be .given to Henry IV, followed by Louis XIV who, with the help of Colbert, gave superb monuments to the town within the general urbanistic plans. The work of Napoleon I followed these ideas and was mostly completed by Napoleon III. In this way Paris became a modern town, under.the guidance of Baron Haussmann: many quarters changed their appearance or were destroyed to make way for wide avenues, parks, perspectives, public buildings, etc.
However, still today the beauty of Paris is derived from its noble unity and by the infinite differences of its quarters, its magnificent views and its narrow, colourful roads. Paris, one and multiple, is, as ever, unforseeable.
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