In the city of Paris, you are essentially walking amongst centuries and centuries of history, a history that lies beneath the cobbled stones you walk on, in the brick stone walls that surround you, in the sounds of the ringing bells and the reflection of the Seine. It’s all still there. Paris is one of the most historical cities in the world. And most fascinating of all is the manner in which the city holds itself today, one would never expect the past that the walls of Paris had seen nor endured. The history of Paris being very far from the fairy-tale romantic destination it is now famous as.
FROM THE IRON AGE TO THE MEDIEVAL AGE IN PARIS
The City of Lights first came into conception when the Parisii, a Celtic tribe, had settled themselves on the Ile de la Cite, around the 3rd century BC, unfortunately in 52 AD the Parisii were conquered by the Roman Empire that had most of the power at the time, and proceeded to construct a small village on the Seine. This however never flourished with never more than ten thousand inhabitants. It was only in the latter part of the 3rd century that the Roman Empire began to dissolve, around about the time that the surrounding areas of their small village started converting to the Christian religion. Almost a whole 400 years later and the Romans were driven out by a tribe called the Franks, under which Paris only bloomed, there was a little trouble when the Vikings chose Paris as their destination for their infamous raids in 845, but it was smoothed over by the King who offered them a reward. Moving steadily through the middle ages and Paris was slowly starting to form into a slight figure of what we recognize today. With the construction of the beautiful Notre-Dame starting as early as 1163. Paris had grown into quite a populated town with around two hundred thousand inhabitants, a lot more than the Roman Empire. In 1180 Philippe Auguste ascended to the throne and proceeded to contribute to the construction of Paris when he built a wall around the town and a fortress, what we know today as the Louvre. This was all brought horribly down of course by the awful Black Death that plagued France in 1348, taking thousands of lives, and the ‘Hundred years’ war" that took place between 1420 and 1436, whereupon the English invaded Paris, attempting to take it as its own but were mistaken, for when Charles the 7th took his place on the throne in 1436 he relinquished not only Paris, but France from the vice of the English.
THE REBIRTH OF PARIS
Whilst slowly recovering from the "Hundred Years’ war", the tenacious city of Paris began to flourish once more, even causing King Francois the 1st to move his court in the wonderful town in 1528. The 16th century saw more horror when the ‘Reformation’ began to spread across France, this was a period of terrible bloodshed as Protestants were persecuted for their faith. This lead to the horrific St Bartholomew’s day, in 1572, where over two thousand protestants were beheaded by Catholics in Paris. Ironically after this the reigning King, King Henri the 3rd was assassinated in 1589, leaving the throne to a Protestant. Henri of Navarre, the rightful heir, fought extremely hard for his place on the throne as a protestant only to convert to Catholicism in 1593. He went on to build some of Paris’s most valued structures of today such as the Pont Neuf, he was assassinated in 1610 by a self-righteous catholic, leaving behind his widow, Marie de Medicis, who built the charming Luxembourg palace and its garden which is today a huge tourist destination!
Whilst there was all this wonderful growth, and fortune in the city of Paris there was also a huge amount of impoverished Parisians who lived in the filth and squalor of the city that the royals ignored. Under the reign of Louis XIV, in the latter part of the 17th century, the City continued to grow industrially with more and more buildings being added.
PARISIAN LIFE AFTER 1789
Tired of watching the aristocrats and royalty living lavish lifestyles while they were starving half the time, the citizens of Paris revolted against the Royals, the rich and even the church. This frustration was encouraged by the Enlightenment Era that had come to life, breeding ideas of equality and freedom into their minds, the French revolution came to life. Officially starting when the public stole weaponry from the Invalides and stormed the fortress of Bastille, showing the wealthy that they meant business. Many lives were lost, and damage was done to the city but it resulted in the values that the French still follow to this day; Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. The famous Napolean Bonaparte then rose to the podium and took his place as the emperor of France in 1799, whilst doing so he built the Arc de Triomphe and the Madeleine. Coming into the 19th century the industrial revolution began to transform France and Paris slowly along with England.
It was only forty years later when the Franco-Prussian war began, in 1880, only lasting a year long, resulting in the defeat of France. Paris again recovered well, developing many structures and buildings that are famous today in Paris for the World Fair that took place in 1889-1900, such as the Pont Alexandre III, the Eiffel tower, and the Musée d’Orsay.
MODERN DAY PARIS
Paris entered the 20th century ever so vibrantly, it, miraculously, escaped unscathed from the First World war and ventured on, blooming as a city. Unfortunately, during World war, two France was invaded by Germans, causing unrest amongst the now beautiful city.
Newer buildings were added, such as the Tour Montparnasse in 1973, only further diversifying the colorful city.
How the city managed to survive centuries of onslaught and war is an absolute mystery, but only further increases the value the city.
