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PARIS

1422

PARIS

the 13th century and is connected with the palace of the Tuileries by a great picture-gallery. It is filled with sculptures, paintings and collections of Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiquities. The Tuileries was burned by the Commune during the siege of Paris. The Palais Royal, the palace of the Luxembourg, the H6tel de Ville, the Palais de Justice and the old prison of the Concier-gerie are all noted buildings. The Cathedral of N6tre Dame, begun in the 12th century, is one of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in the world. The Sainte Chapelle was built by Saint Louis to contain the crown of thorns and a piece of the true cross, brought by him from the Holy Land. St. Germain des Pres, finished in 1163 and probably the most ancient church in Paris, contains the tomb of St. Geneyieve, the patron saint of Paris The Madeleine, the Panth6on and 1'Oratoire are some of the best known of the modern churches. The Grand Opera is one of the most sumptuous of continental theaters: other theaters are the Od6on, Theatre Francais and the Theatre Italien. ^

The institutions connected with the University of France are in the Latin quarter of the city. There are found the Sorbonne, with its lecture-rooms, class-rooms and large library open to the public; the College of France; and a large number of colleges, ly-ceums and schools of engineering, roads and bridges, charts, fine arts etc.; and also the observatory and botanical gardens. The National Library has the largest collection of printed books in the world. The art-galleries and historical collections of the Louvre, historical museum, Hdtel Cluny, the palace of fine arts and the museum of artillery are among the richest collections in Europe. (See LIBRARIES.)

The business of .Paris is largely in articles of luxury, as jewelry, bronzes, artistic furniture, gloves, watches and perfumery. It is a great financial center, the Bank of France having the privilege of issuing all the banknotes in France, and the mint being located here. Paris is divided into 20 districts, each of them under a mayor of its own, governed by the prefect of the Seine, appointed by the government, and by a council elected by the people.

Paris is named after the Parisii, a tribe of Gauls whose collection of mud huts stood upon its site when conquered by the Romans. In 53 B. C Lutetia, as it was then called, was an important Roman town; an amphitheater of that period, capable of holding 10,000 people, has been laid bare by excavations. In the 4th century the city was called Paris, and in the 6th century it was chosen by Clovis as the seat of government, though it did not permanently become the capital of France until the loth century. In the reign of Philip Augustus (1180-1223) Paris, next to Constantinople, was the greatest city in Europe; with its university at-

tracting crowds of students, its churches of N6tre Dame (partly built) and Sainte Chapelle and the castle of the Louvre, the citadel of Paris. Louis XI, Henry IV and Louis XIV improved the city, organizing its police, drainage and sewerage systems, public schools and charities. Napoleon not only removed the marks of the terrible destruction of the Revolution, but built up the city on a grander scale, with new bridges, streets, squares, arches and public gardens, spending on its restoration more than $2,-000,000 in 12 years. Yet as late as 1834 the gutters ran through the middle of the streets; there were scarcely any side pavements; and the city was lighted by oil-lamps suspended on cords across the streets Modern Paris owes its beauty to Napoleon III. Under the direction of Haussmann his plans were carried out, broad, straight streets were built through the labyrinth of dark and narrow ones, boulevards constructed connecting all the public squares, and in place of the old houses in the heart of the town, torn down to make way for his improvements, a new city was built. Water was freely supplied, and trees and gardens and fountains sprang up everywhere, making Paris one of the greenest and shadiest of modern cities. In 1867, when the International Exhibition opened, and especially in 1900, when another exposition was held, Paris was the most splendid city in Europe. The siege of Paris by the Germans in 1870, followed by the terrible destruction made by the Commune, destroyed many of the finest buildings and historical monuments that can never be replaced. Under the republic new streets have been opened; the Champs de Mars (Field of Mars) changed into a beautiful garden, in which rises Eiffel Tower; a system of city railroads planned which connects the railroad stations with the heart of the city; and the deepening of the Seine will make Paris a seaport and do much to make it a center of the world's commerce Beyond the city's fortifications there are many resorts which the visitor to Paris should see, especially St. Cloud and Versailles, together with the Bois de Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne; while interest will be found in a visit, within the city's environs, to the Cem-'etery of Pere la Chaise. Population 2,888,-110 or, including suburbs, 3,000,000. See Paris in Old and Present Times by Hamer-ton; Hare's Paris; Baedeker's Guidebook to Paris; and Reynolds-Ball's Paris in its Splendour.

Paris, a Greek legendary character, sometimes called Alexander, was the second son of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy. Before his birth his mother dreamed that she was to bear a firebrand which would burn the city. So his father took him tr Mount Ida, where he was found after five days by Agelaus, a shepherd, after having been fed by a bear. He became reconciled