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Paris Chronology
"No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain," claimed G.K. Chesterton, and the over two millenia of history of this cradle of culture and modern society seem to reflect this statement.
| Ancient and Medieval |
| 1st c. BC |
The area of the present day Paris becomes the site of a flourishing Roman settlement called Lutetia.
|
| 3rd c. |
Lutetia, now renamed to Paris, is Christianized and St Denis becomes its first bishop. |
| 451 |
Attila the Hun invades the region. Paris is spared miraculously -- according to legend, thanks to the prayers of St Genevieve. |
| 508 |
Frankish king Clovis chooses Paris as the capital of his country.
|
| 1140 |
The first Gothic cathedral is built at St Denis.
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| 1163 |
The Cathedral of Notre Dame is erected quickly becoming the symbol of the city.
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| 1180 |
Philippe Auguste builds a fortified castle, that will later become the Louvre. Auguste also establishes the city's first covered market at Les Halles. |
| 1215 |
The University of Paris is founded. |
| 1253 |
The Sorbonne is founded.
|
| 16th - 17th Century |
| 1515 - 1547 |
King Francois I rebuilds the Louvre in the Renaissance style where he courts such magnificent notables as Leonardo da Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini.
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| 1572 |
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: the culmination of a religious conflict during which thousands of Huguenots are slaughtered, their bodies thrown into the Seine. |
| 1635 |
Cardinal Richelieu founds the Academie Francaise.
|
| 1682 |
The 'Sun King' Louis XIV establishes his court at the sumptuous new palace of Versailles. |
| 18th - 19th Century |
| 1760 |
Louis XV commissions the building of the Panthéon, the Ecole Militaire and the future Place de la Concorde. |
| July 14, 1789 |
The storming of the Bastille marks the beginning of the French Revolution. |
| 1793 - 1794 |
The reign of terror. Thousands are executed before the members of the Revolutionary Tribunal are themselves guillotined one by one. |
| 1804 |
Napoleon proclaims himself Emperor in the Notre Dame Cathedral. |
| 1815 |
The Bourbons are restored to the French throne following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. |
| 1830 |
A cholera epidemic hits the city, killing 19,000 people. |
| 1833 |
A huge Egyptian obelisk, a gift from Viceroy Mohammed Ali Pasha, is installed at the Place de la Concorde. |
| 1837 |
The first French railway is established linking Paris and St-Germain-en-Laye. |
| 1863 |
A landmark exhibition takes place at the Salon des Refusés, featuring Impressionist works by Edouard Manet, Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne. |
| 1870 - 1871 |
The Franco-Prussian War. Revolt in Paris. Paris Commune is suppressed in bloodshed. Soon after the Third Republic is proclaimed.
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| 1889 |
The Eiffel Tower, a subject of much controversy, is erected for the Universal Exposition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. |
| 20th Century - Present |
| 1900 |
First metro line opens in Paris. The city becomes an international centre of fashion and nightlife – 'the City of Light', and Montmartre, the home of Modern art.
|
| 1914 - 1918 |
World War I. The Germans fail to take Paris, but France suffers heavy casualties.
|
| 1918 - 1939 |
Famous American writers such as Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway settle in Paris. Major modern artistic and philosophical movements are established, such as Constructivism, Dadaism, Surrealism and Existentialism. |
| 1940 - 1944 |
World War II. Paris is under Nazi occupation. |
| May 1968 |
Mass strikes and student demonstrations demanding freedom and reform.
|
| 1977 |
The Centre Pompidou, perceived by some as a brilliant work of architecture and by others as strikingly ugly, is inaugurated in Beaubourg. |
| 1992 |
Disneyland Paris, a lavish theme park, opens in Parisian suburbs. |