1.
Ourcq
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For the Paris Métro station, see Ourcq. The Ourcq is an 87-kilometre-long river in France, a tributary of the Marne and its source is near the village Ronchères, and its course crosses the departments of Aisne, Oise, and Seine-et-Marne. It flows southwest through the towns of Fère-en-Tardenois, La Ferté-Milon, Mareuil-sur-Ourcq, napoleon I made use of the river as a water source, and it supplied the city of Paris until Baron Haussmanns rebuilding of Paris. Http, //www. geoportail. fr The Ourcq at the Sandre database
2.
Bassin de la Villette
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The Bassin de la Villette is the largest artificial lake in Paris. It was filled with water on 2 December 1808, the other components of the network are the Canal de lOurcq, the Canal Saint-Denis, the Canal Saint-Martin, and the Bassin de lArsenal. Together, these canals and basins extend roughly 130 kilometres, river cruise boats tie-up here and the shores of the basin are also the location of the MK2 Quai de Loire and MK2 Quai de Seine theatre complexes which are the most modern in France. A small electric passenger ferry, the Zéro de conduite, is available for transporting people from one side of the basin to the other. The basin is bordered in the north by the Quai de la Seine and in the south by the Quai de la Loire, which are linked in the middle of the basin by a footbridge, the first Bassin de la Villette is 699 metres long and 70 metres wide. Its original function was to serve as a reserve of drinking water for Parisians and its secondary function, in association with the second basin, was to provide water for navigation on the canals of Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin. At the beginning of the 19th century the first basin was surrounded by gardens where Parisians came to spend pleasant interludes, but the industrial era of the 1850s saw the disappearance of this aspect of recreation. Goods depots were built on the banks, in 1832 Paris was hit by a great epidemic of cholera. In the late 19th century, commercial activities developed at the basin, in the same period the Moselle footbridge was built by Armand Moisant. It was decorated with a clock 3 metres in diameter and this bridge was replaced in 1966. The Lifting bridge of the Rue de Crimée or Pont de Flandre and it allows traffic on the Rue de Crimée to cross the canal and connects the Quai de lOise on the north-west side to the Quai de la Marne on the south-east side. When the bridge is raised pedestrian traffic can continue on a fixed elevated walkway. At the time of its construction it was the third largest lifting bridge to be built in France and it is now the last one in Paris and is registered as an historical monument. The second basin measures 30 m wide and 730 m long and this basin, which is often prematurely named the Canal de lOurcq, originally ran along the back of the old village of La Villette. There are two buildings at the end of the Bassin de la Villette that were built between 1845 and 1853 as commercial warehouses, but which had a certain utilitarian beauty and they were known as general merchandise warehouses and they were first used to store grain and flour. Later, they gradually lost their purpose and at the end of the 20th century were transformed into artists studios and workshops, small offices. In 1990 the building on the Quai de la Seine side was burned beyond repair, for security reasons the storehouse on the quai de la Loire side was also closed. These warehouses have now replaced by the MK2 cinema complexes
3.
Canal Saint-Martin
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The Canal Saint-Martin is a 4.5 km long canal in Paris. It connects the Canal de lOurcq to the river Seine and runs underground between Bastille and République and it is drained and cleaned every 10-15 years, uncovering tonnage of garbage and treasure alike. Gaspard de Chabrol, prefect of Paris, proposed building a canal from the Ourcq River, the canal was dug from 1802 to 1825, funded by a new tax on wine. The canal was used to supply Paris with food, building materials. Two ports were created in Paris on the canal to unload the boats, the Port de lArsenal, by the 1960s, traffic had dwindled to a trickle and the canal narrowly escaped being filled in and paved over for a highway. Today, the canal is covered from Rue du Faubourg du Temple to the Place de la Bastille, the entrance of the canal is a double lock near the Place de Stalingrad. Then, towards the river Seine, the canal is bordered by the Quai de Valmy on one side, the canal widens at Bassin de la Villette, the largest artificial lake in Paris, and finally ends at the Seine via the Port de lArsenal. Along the canal is a hydraulic lifting bridge, the Pont levant de la rue de Crimée. Today, the canal is a destination for Parisians and tourists who watch the barges navigate the series of locks. There are several restaurants and bars along it. The area is popular with students as well and it is near one of the highest natural points in Paris. The canal can be accessed from the following Paris Métro stations, Stalingrad, République, Goncourt, Jaurès, Oberkampf, Richard-Lenoir, Bastille, the canal inspired painters such as Alfred Sisley. The canal is shown in the 1938 film Hôtel du Nord, the canal was also the setting in part for Jean Vigos film LAtalante in 1934. In Les Malheurs dAlfred, Pierre Richard and Anny Duperey meet each other at the beginning of the film, Édith Piaf sings about the canal in the song Les mômes de la cloche, written by Vincent Scotto and Decaye, music by Médinger, in 1936. Blog of the Canal Saint-Martin quarter Canal Saint-Martin map
4.
Canal Saint-Denis
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The Canal Saint-Denis is a canal in Paris that is 6.6 kilometres in length. There are seven locks along the route, and, near Saint-Denis. Contracts to build and operate the canals in the Île-de-France were granted to private banking firms. These contracts required the city of Paris to purchase land, and the merchant-bankers who won the contracts, Roman Vassal, Lafitte, André, as compensation for their large outlays, the bankers were permitted to collect tolls on the canal for a term of ninety-nine years. The canal was completed in 1821, the canal is part of the Réseau des Canaux Parisiens, a public-works authority operated by the city. The other components of the network are the Canal de lOurcq, the Bassin de la Villette, the Canal Saint-Martin, together, these canals and basins extend roughly 130 kilometres. Napoléon Bonaparte ordered the creation of a Parisian canal network on May 19,1802, specifically, he decreed that the Seine be diverted from below the Bassin de lArsenal to the Bassin de la Villette. The canal would continue through Saint-Denis to rejoin the Seine in order to avoid having a shipping canal pass through the center of Paris, additionally, the new canal would expedite navigation by avoiding the Seines meandering turns. Private financiers were awarded the contracts to construct and manage the canals, the city of Paris agreed to purchase the land and surrender the tolls for 99 years in order that the firms build the canals. Work began in 1805 under Édouard de Villiers du Terrage, in May 1821, the canal opened, having expended less than its allotted budget. At its creation, the canal had twelve locks with a change in level of 28.34 metres. Between 1890 and 1895, the canal was reconstructed and enlarged in order to permit the passage of wider-beamed barges, the first lock was named Écluse du Pont de Flandre, and it alone covered 10 metres of lift, replacing four of the older locks. In 2008, the canal was composed of seven locks, since 1983, the canal has been open to pleasure craft. The canal has a width of 70 metres, and it ranges from 30 metres to 140 metres. The canal covers roughly 36 hectares of Parisian public space, the waters are open 365 days a year and, together with the Canal de lOurcq and the Canal Saint-Martin, carry between 500,000 and 1 million tons of materials and merchandise per year. The depth of the canal varies from 3.2 metres to 3.5 metres and this permits wider barges and other craft up to a maximum of 1,000 tons displacement. Vessels may travel the canal if their beam is less than 8 metres, their air draft less than 4.4 metres, launching slips are located at the Pont de Stains in Aubervilliers. In a study by the architect, Michel Corajoud, the canal has been recognized as a factor in the Parisian urban area
5.
Meaux
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Meaux is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located 41.1 km east-northeast from the center of Paris, Meaux is a subprefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department. In France, a subprefecture is the chef-lieu of an arrondissement and it is also the chef-lieu of two other smaller administrative land divisions, the cantons of Meaux-Nord and Meaux-Sud. Finally, since its creation in 2003, Meaux has been the center and the town of an agglomeration community. With a population of 51,398 inhabitants, Meaux is the second most populated city in the Seine-et-Marne department after Chelles, inhabitants of Meaux are called Meldois. Both names Meaux and Meldois originated with the Meldi, the Latin name of the original Gaulish tribe who occupied this area of the valley of the Marne river. Although during the Roman period the city was called Iantinum by the Romans, a meander of the Marne river divides the old city into the North Quarter and the South Quarter. The South Quarter of the old city includes the historic covered market. Centuries later, in 1806, during the Napoleonic era, was built the Canal de lOurcq, Meaux is nowadays mainly known for Brie de Meaux and the local variety of mustard. Following the official administrative French AOC there are two designations of Brie de Meaux, Brie de Meaux fermier and Brie de Meaux laitier, several festivals and concerts are celebrated in Meaux, venues for live music like the Music Festival Musikelles. Theres a local concert band in Meaux, LHarmonie du Pays de Meaux. It is constituted by three different ensembles, following different ages, Les Minimes, Les Juniors and LHarmonie de Meaux, the band is also one of the two official music academies of the town. The other one is the conservatory of the city, the show represents the history of Meaux all along the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and also, more recently, during World War I. There is only one cinema in Meaux, The Majestic, a stage theatre. In modern days there are three theatres in the city. One is the Théâtre Gérard Philippe, a theatre, situated close to the covered market. In an eastern area of Meaux, the Beauval quarter, there is the stage theatre of the town, the Salle Champagne, located in the Espace Caravelle. Private theatre companies and community arts associations play in all three theatres, two museums can be found in Meaux, the Musée Bossuet and the Musée de la Grande Guerre du pays de Meaux
6.
Aisne
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Aisne is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne, the department of Aisne is surrounded by the French departments of Nord, Somme, Oise, Ardennes, and Seine-et-Marne and borders Belgium to the northeast. The Aisne River crosses the area from east to west, where it joins the Oise River, the Marne forms part of the southern boundary of the department with the department of Seine-et-Marne. The southern part of the department is the region known as la Brie poilleuse. According to the 2003 census, the area of the department was 123,392 hectares. The landscape is dominated by masses of rock which often have steep flanks and these rocks appear all over the region, but the most impressive examples are at Laon and the Chemin des Dames ridge. The principal cities in Aisne are, Laon, pop,15,000 Condren Chauny Hirson Villers-Cotterêts La Fère Vervins Guise See also, List of the communes of the Aisne department and Brie. The Scheldt, the Aisne, the Marne, the Ourcq, the Vesle, the Somme, the Oise, in the south of the department, there is the Surmelin, the Verdonnelle, and the Dhuys. The department is crossed by numerous canals. In 1873, the department of Aisne had 10 railway companies with a length of 382 km. There is an average of 500 to 750 mm precipitation annually, weather Data for Saint Quentin - Roupy Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the provinces of Île-de-France, Picardy. Most of the old growth forests in the area were destroyed during battles in World War I, the French offensive against the Chemin des Dames in spring 1917 is sometimes referred to as the Second Battle of the Aisne. Agriculture dominates the economy, especially cereal crops, beet sugar is one of the most important industrial crops of the area. Silk, cotton, and wool weaving flourish in Saint-Quentin and other towns, saint-Gobain is known for its production of mirrors, which started in the 17th century. Guise is the centre of the northern area of Aisne. The department is a mixture of rural areas and working-class towns, the smaller cities of the northern department such as Guise, Hirson, Vervins and the railway city of Tergnier are sources of support for left-wing parties. The President of the General Council is the Socialist Yves Daudigny, Aisne is divided into five arrondissements and 21 cantons
7.
Departments of France
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In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
8.
Marne (river)
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The Marne is a river in France, an eastern tributary of the Seine in the area east and southeast of Paris. The river gave its name to the départements of Haute-Marne, Marne, Seine-et-Marne, the Marne starts in the Langres plateau, runs generally north then bends west between Saint-Dizier and Châlons-en-Champagne, joining the Seine at Charenton just upstream from Paris. Its main tributaries are the Rognon, the Blaise, the Saulx, the Ourcq, the Petit Morin, in the Champagne région, part of the water is led through the artificial lake Lac du Der-Chantecoq, in order to regulate the water discharge. This way, large inundations or low river levels downstream are prevented, the Celts of Gaul worshipped a goddess known as Dea Matrona who was associated with the Marne. The Marne is famous as the site of the two battles during the First World War. The first battle was a point of World War I. The second battle was fought four years later, in 1918, during the heyday of canal transportation, the Marne was a major artery connecting Paris and the Seine with major rivers nearby such as the Meuse, the Moselle and the Rhine, and the Saône and Rhône. To facilitate transportation along the Marne itself, a number of canals were constructed alongside. The most extensive was the Canal latéral à la Marne, which runs 67 km between Vitry-le-François and Dizy, river Marne guide Places, ports and moorings on the river
9.
House of Valois
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The House of Valois was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. They succeeded the House of Capet to the French throne, and were the house of France from 1328 to 1589. Junior members of the family founded cadet branches in Orléans, Anjou, Burgundy, the Valois descended from Charles, Count of Valois, the second surviving son of King Philip III of France. Their title to the throne was based on a precedent in 1316, the Capetian dynasty seemed secure both during and after the reign of Philip IV from 1285 to 1313. Philip had left three surviving sons and a daughter, each son became king in turn but died young without male heirs, leaving only daughters who could not inherit the throne. When Charles IV died in 1328, the French succession became more problematic, in 1328 three candidates had plausible claims to the throne, Philip, Count of Valois, son of Charles of Valois, who was the closest heir in male line and a grandson of Philip III. Because his father was the brother of the late Philip IV, he was therefore a nephew of Philip IV, further, Charles IV had chosen him as the regent before his death. Philip, Count of Évreux, another nephew of Philip IV and he strengthened his position by marrying Joan of France, daughter of Louis X. Edward III of England, son of Isabella of France, daughter and only surviving child of Philip IV. Edward claimed to be the heir as a grandson of Philip IV, in England, Isabella of France claimed the throne on behalf of her son. Like the French, the English law of succession did not allow the succession of females, the French rejected Isabellas claims, arguing that since she herself, as a woman, could not succeed, then she could not transmit any such right to her son. Thus the French magnates chose Philip of Valois, who became Philip VI of France, the throne of Navarre went its separate way, to Joan of France, daughter of Louis X, who became Joan II of Navarre. Because diplomacy and negotiation had failed, Edward III would have to back his claims with force to obtain the French throne, for a few years, England and France maintained an uneasy peace. Eventually, an escalation of conflict between the two led to the confiscation of the duchy of Aquitaine. Instead of paying homage to the French king, as his ancestors had done and these events helped launch the Hundred Years War between England and France. The Hundred Years War could be considered a war of succession between the houses of Valois and Plantagenet. The early reign of Philip VI was a one for France. The new king fought the Flemings on behalf of his vassal, the count of Flanders, Edward IIIs aggression against Scotland, a French ally, prompted Philip VI to confiscate Guyenne. In the past the English kings would have to submit to the King of France, but Edward, having descended from the French kings, claimed the throne for himself
10.
Lock (water navigation)
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A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. Locks are used to make a more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Later canals used more and larger locks to allow a direct route to be taken. Since 2016 the largest lock worldwide is the Kieldrecht Lock in the Port of Antwerp, a pound lock is a type of lock that is used almost exclusively nowadays on canals and rivers. A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound, in contrast, an earlier design with a single gate was known as a flash lock. Pound locks were first used in medieval China during the Song Dynasty, having been pioneered by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyue in 984. The gates were hanging gates, when they were closed the water accumulated like a tide until the level was reached. The water level could differ by 4 feet or 5 feet at each lock, in medieval Europe a sort of pound lock was built in 1373 at Vreeswijk, Netherlands. This pound lock serviced many ships at once in a large basin, yet the first true pound lock was built in 1396 at Damme near Bruges, Belgium. A famous civil engineer of pound locks in Europe was the Italian Bertola da Novate, who constructed 18 of them on the Naviglio di Bereguardo between the years 1452 and 1458. When a stretch of river is navigable, a lock is sometimes required to bypass an obstruction such as a rapid, dam. In large scale river navigation improvements, weirs and locks are used together, a river improved by these means is often called a Waterway or River Navigation. Sometimes a river is made entirely non-tidal by constructing a sea lock directly into the estuary, in more advanced river navigations, more locks are required. Where a longer cut bypasses a stretch of river, the upstream end of the cut will often be protected by a flood lock. The longer the cut, the greater the difference in level between start and end of the cut, so that a very long cut will need additional locks along its length. At this point, the cut is, in effect, a canal, Early completely artificial canals, across fairly flat countryside, would get round a small hill or depression by simply detouring around it. However, locks continued to be built to supplement these solutions, all pound locks have three elements, A watertight chamber connecting the upper and lower canals, and large enough to enclose one or more boats. The position of the chamber is fixed, but its level can vary
11.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
12.
Lutetia
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The Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia was the predecessor of present-day Paris. The city was referred to as Λουκοτοκία by Strabon, Λευκοτεκία by Ptolemeus, the origin of this name is uncertain. The name may contain the Celtic root *luco-t-, which means mouse and -ekia, meaning the mice and which can be today in the Breton word logod, the Welsh llygod. Alternatively, it may derive from another Celtic root, luto- or luteuo-, which means marsh or swamp and which survives today in the Gaelic loth, as such, it would be related to other place names in Europe including Lutudarum, Lodève and Ludesse, and Lutitia. The oppidum of the Gallic tribe of the Parisii was originally believed to be on the Ile de la Cité from Caesars Gallic Wars. In 52 BC, a year or so before the end of the Gallic Wars, however the garrison led by Vercingetorixs lieutenant Camulogenus, whose army camped on the Mons Lutetius, fell to the Roman military forces led by Titus Labienus, one of Julius Caesars lieutenants. The Romans crushed the Gauls at nearby Melun and took control of Lutetia, the Gallo-Roman city was developed mainly on the hill on the south bank of the river where, starting in the 2nd century AD, public works and monuments were constructed. The northern low-lying plain was easily flooded, under Roman rule, Lutetia was thoroughly Romanised with a population estimated at around 8,000. It did not have a deal of political importance - the capital of its province. The regular grid-plan of Lutetia marked it as a Roman city, the north-south axis was dictated by the need to cross the marshy riverbanks in the shortest possible distance, several routes converged at the bridgehead. On the Left Bank, the Rue St-Jacques and on the Right Bank, an aqueduct 26 km in length, with a flow rate estimated at 2000 cubic metres a day, provided the city with spring water collected from several points. To bridge the Bièvre valley at Arcueil-Cachan, a bridge was required, whose piers and ruined arches, still discernible and it was Christianised in the 3rd century, traditionally when St Denis became the citys first bishop. After a barbarian attack in 275 a surrounding wall was built on the Ile de la Cité with a fortified keep, Lutetia was renamed Paris in 360 AD, taking its name from the Gallic Parisii tribe name. The name had already used for centuries as an adjective. The legend of the Breton city of Ys suggests a different, if less likely, the classical theatre began to be dismantled during the 4th century. For the history of the city after its renaming, see the article on Paris, remains of the ancient city are mainly buried below ground although many of these are gradually being discovered. In a small park on high ground in the Latin Quarter of the Left Bank, tucked behind apartment blocks, the amphitheatre, built into the slope of the hillside outside the city itself, is commonly referred to as Les Arènes de Lutèce. It was one of the largest such structures in Gaul, furthermore, there are the remains of public baths at the Musée de Cluny and the Early Christian archeological crypt under the Notre Dame forecourt, now Place of Pope John-Paul II
13.
Seine
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The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second
14.
Gallo-Roman culture
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This article covers the culture of Romanized areas of Gaul. For the political history of the brief Gallic Empire of the third century, the term Gallo-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Gaul under the rule of the Roman Empire. This was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman morals, the well-studied meld of cultures in Gaul gives historians a model against which to compare and contrast parallel developments of Romanization in other, less-studied Roman provinces. The barbarian invasions beginning in the fifth century forced upon Gallo-Roman culture fundamental changes in politics, in the economic underpinning. The Gothic settlement of 418 offered a double loyalty, as Western Roman authority disintegrated at Rome, the plight of the highly Romanized governing class is examined by R. W. Mathisen, the struggles of bishop Hilary of Arles by M. Heinzelmann. Into the seventh century, Gallo-Roman culture would persist particularly in the areas of Gallia Narbonensis that developed into Occitania, Cisalpine Gaul and to a lesser degree, the formerly Romanized north of Gaul, once it had been occupied by the Franks, would develop into Merovingian culture instead. Based on mutual intelligibility, David Dalby counts seven languages descended from Gallo-Romance, Gallo-Wallon, French, Franco-Provençal, Romansh, Ladin, Friulian, however, other definitions are far broader, variously encompassing the Rhaeto-Romance languages, Occitano-Romance languages, and Gallo-Italic languages. Over the course of the Roman period, a proportion of Gauls gained Roman citizenship. In 212 the Constitutio Antoniniana extended citizenship to all men in the Roman Empire. During the Crisis of the Third Century, from 260 to 274, in reaction to local problems the Gallo-Romans appointed their own emperor Postumus. The capital was Trier which was used as the northern capital of the Roman Empire by many emperors. The Gallic Empire ended when Aurelian decisively defeated Tetricus I at Chalons, assimilation was eased by interpreting indigenous gods in Roman terms, such as with Lenus Mars or Apollo Grannus. Otherwise, a Roman god might be paired with a goddess, as with Mercury. In at least one case – that of the equine goddess Epona – a native Gallic goddess was also adopted by Rome, eastern mystery religions penetrated Gaul early on. These included the cults of Orpheus, Mithras, Cybele, some of the communities had origins that predated the third-century persecutions. The exhibition of Gallo-Roman silver highlighted specifically Gallo-Roman silver from the treasures found at Chaourse, Mâcon, Graincourt-lès-Havrincourt, Notre-Dame dAllençon, the two more Romanized of the three Gauls were bound together in a network of Roman roads that linked cities. Via Domitia, reached from Nîmes to the Pyrenees, where it joined the Via Augusta at the Col de Panissars, via Aquitania reached from Narbonne, where it connected to the Via Domitia, to the Atlantic Ocean through Toulouse to Bordeaux. Via Scarponensis connected Trier to Lyon through Metz, Lyon, the capital of Roman Gaul, is now the site of the Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon, associated with the remains of the theater and odeon of Roman Lugdunum
15.
Thermae
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In ancient Rome, thermae and balneae were facilities for bathing. Thermae usually refers to the large bath complexes, while balneae were smaller-scale facilities, public or private. Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were not only for bathing. Roman bath-houses were also provided for private villas, town houses and they were supplied with water from an adjacent river or stream, or more normally, by an aqueduct. The water would be heated by a log fire before being channelled into the hot bathing rooms, the design of baths is discussed by Vitruvius in De Architectura. Thermae, balneae, balineae, balneum and balineum may all be translated as bath or baths, thus Cicero terms the baths at the villa of his brother Quintus balnearia. Balneae and balineae, which according to Varro have no number, were the public baths. Pliny also, in the sentence, makes use of the neuter plural balnea for public. Writers, however, use these terms without distinction, thus the baths erected by Claudius Etruscus, the freedman of the Emperor Claudius, are styled by Statius balnea, and by Martial Etrusci thermulae. In an epigram by Martial—subice balneum thermis—the terms are not applied to the whole building, a public bath was built around three principal rooms, the caldarium, the tepidarium and the frigidarium. Some thermae also featured baths, the sudatorium, a moist steam bath, and the laconicum. By way of illustration, this article describe the layout of Pompeiis Forum Baths adjoining the forum. The references are to the floor plan pictured to the right, the whole building comprises a double set of baths, one for men and the other for women. It has six different entrances from the street, one of which gives admission to the womens set only. Five other entrances lead to the department, of which two, communicate directly with the furnaces, and the other three with the bathing apartments. These together formed the vestibule of the baths, in which the servants waited and this atrium was the exercise ground for the young men, or perhaps served as a promenade for visitors to the baths. Within this court the keeper of the baths, who exacted the quadrans paid by each visitor, was also stationed. In this court, advertisements for the theatre, or other announcements of general interest, were posted up, one of which, announcing a gladiatorial show, at the sides of the entrance were seats
16.
Public bathing
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Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness at a time when most people did not have access to private bathing facilities. The term public is not completely accurate, as types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation. As societies have changed, the need for public baths has reduced, Public baths have also become incorporated into the social system as meeting places. As the title suggests, public bathing does not refer only to bathing, in ancient times public bathing included saunas, massages and relaxation therapies, comparable to todays spas. The earliest public baths are found in the ruins in of the Indus Valley Civilization, the bath is housed inside a larger—more elaborate—building and was used for public bathing. The Great Bath and the house of the priest suggest that the Indus had a religion, later gymnasia had indoor basins set overhead, the open maws of marble lions offering showers, and circular pools with tiers of steps for lounging. Bathing was ritualized, becoming an art – of cleansing sands, hot water, hot air in dark vaulted vapor baths, a cooling plunge, cities all over Ancient Greece honored sites where young ephebes stood and splashed water over their bodies. The first public thermae of 19 BC had a rotunda 25 metres across, circled by small rooms, set in a park with artificial river and pool. By AD300 the Baths of Diocletian would cover 140,000 square metres, its soaring granite, Roman baths became something like a cross between an aquacentre and a theme park, with pools, game rooms, gardens, even libraries and theatres. One of the most famous public bath sites is Aquae Sulis in Bath and he also states that In Western Europe only the Finns still practice a truly public bathing habit. Dr. Fagan has done research on public bathing. During the Ottoman Empire public baths were widely used, the baths had both a religious and popular origin deriving from the Quran and the use of steamrooms by the Turks. The Turkish baths also known as the Hammam, was considered a place for gathering in Turkish Culture. The process of Hammam is very similar to that of the Roman bathing, the origin of Japanese bathing is Misogi, ritual purification with water. After Japan imported Buddhist culture, many temples had saunas, which were available for anyone to use for free, in the Heian period, houses of prominent families, such as the families of court nobles or samurai, had baths. The bath had lost its religious significance and instead became leisure, Misogi became Gyōzui, to bathe in a shallow wooden tub. In the 17th century, the first European visitors to Japan recorded the habit of daily baths in sexually mixed groups. Before the mid-19th century, when Western influence increased, nude bathing for men, women
17.
Julian (emperor)
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Julian, also known as Julian the Apostate, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. A member of the Constantinian dynasty, Julian became Caesar over the provinces by order of Constantius II in 355 and in this role campaigned successfully against the Alamanni. Most notable was his victory over the Alamanni in 357 at the Battle of Argentoratum. In 360 in Lutetia he was proclaimed Augustus by his soldiers, before the two could face each other in battle, however, Constantius died, after naming Julian as his rightful successor. In 363, Julian embarked on an campaign against the Sassanid Empire. Though initially successful, Julian was mortally wounded in battle and died shortly thereafter, Julian was a man of unusually complex character, he was the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters. He was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, and it was his desire to bring the Empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to, as he saw it, save it from dissolution. He purged the state bureaucracy and attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the expense of Christianity. His anti-Christian sentiment and promotion of Neoplatonic paganism caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate by the church and he was the last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty, the empires first Christian dynasty. Both of his parents were Christians and his paternal grandparents were Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife, Flavia Maximiana Theodora. His maternal grandfather was Julius Julianus, praetorian prefect of the East under emperor Licinius from 315 to 324, the name of Julians maternal grandmother is unknown. Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life, were strictly guarded in their youth, and given a Christian education. They were likely saved by their youth and at the urging of the Empress Eusebia, if Julians later writings are to be believed, Constantius would later be tormented with guilt at the massacre of 337. After Eusebius died in 342, both Julian and Gallus were exiled to the estate of Macellum in Cappadocia. Here Julian met the Christian bishop George of Cappadocia, who lent him books from the classical tradition, at the age of 18, the exile was lifted and he dwelt briefly in Constantinople and Nicomedia. He became a lector, an office in the Christian church. Julian studied Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at first under Aedesius, the philosopher and he was summoned to Constantius court in Mediolanum in 354 and kept there for a year, in the summer and fall of 355, he was permitted to study in Athens. While there, Julian became acquainted with two men who became both bishops and saints, Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great
18.
Merovingian dynasty
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The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years in a region known as Francia in Latin, beginning in the middle of the 5th century. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul as well as the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior and the southern part of Germania. The Merovingian dynasty was founded by Childeric I, the son of Merovech, leader of the Salian Franks, after the death of Clovis there were frequent clashes between different branches of the family, but when threatened by its neighbours the Merovingians presented a strong united front. During the final century of Merovingian rule, the kings were increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role, the Merovingian rule ended in March 752 when Pope Zachary formally deposed Childeric III. Zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, confirmed and anointed Pepin the Short in 754, the Merovingian ruling family were sometimes referred to as the long-haired kings by contemporaries, as their long hair distinguished them among the Franks, who commonly cut their hair short. The Merovingian dynasty owes its name to the semi-legendary Merovech, leader of the Salian Franks, the victories of his son Childeric I against the Visigoths, Saxons, and Alemanni established the basis of Merovingian land. Childerics son Clovis I went on to unite most of Gaul north of the Loire under his control around 486, when he defeated Syagrius, the Roman ruler in those parts. He won the Battle of Tolbiac against the Alemanni in 496, at time, according to Gregory of Tours. He subsequently went on to defeat the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in the Battle of Vouillé in 507. After Cloviss death, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons, leadership among the early Merovingians was probably based on mythical descent and alleged divine patronage, expressed in terms of continued military success. In 1906 the British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie suggested that the Marvingi recorded by Ptolemy as living near the Rhine were the ancestors of the Merovingian dynasty, upon Cloviss death in 511, the Merovingian kingdom included all of Gaul except Burgundy and all of Germania magna except Saxony. To the outside, the kingdom, even when divided under different kings, maintained unity, after the fall of the Ostrogoths, the Franks also conquered Provence. After this their borders with Italy and Visigothic Septimania remained fairly stable, internally, the kingdom was divided among Cloviss sons and later among his grandsons and frequently saw war between the different kings, who quickly allied among themselves and against one another. The death of one king created conflict between the brothers and the deceaseds sons, with differing outcomes. Later, conflicts were intensified by the personal feud around Brunhilda, however, yearly warfare often did not constitute general devastation but took on an almost ritual character, with established rules and norms. Eventually, Clotaire II in 613 reunited the entire Frankish realm under one ruler, later divisions produced the stable units of Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitania. The frequent wars had weakened royal power, while the aristocracy had made great gains and these concessions saw the very considerable power of the king parcelled out and retained by leading comites and duces. Very little is in fact known about the course of the 7th century due to a scarcity of sources, clotaires son Dagobert I, who sent troops to Spain and pagan Slavic territories in the east, is commonly seen as the last powerful Merovingian King
19.
Carolingian dynasty
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The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name Carolingian derives from the Latinised name of Charles Martel, the Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of Romans in over three centuries. His death in 814 began a period of fragmentation of the Carolingian empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France. This picture, however, is not commonly accepted today, the greatest Carolingian monarch was Charlemagne, who was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III at Rome in 800. His empire, ostensibly a continuation of the Western Roman Empire, is referred to historiographically as the Carolingian Empire, the Carolingian rulers did not give up the traditional Frankish practice of dividing inheritances among heirs, though the concept of the indivisibility of the Empire was also accepted. The Carolingians had the practice of making their sons kings in the various regions of the Empire. The Carolingians were displaced in most of the regna of the Empire by 888 and they ruled in East Francia until 911 and held the throne of West Francia intermittently until 987. One chronicler of Sens dates the end of Carolingian rule with the coronation of Robert II of France as junior co-ruler with his father, Hugh Capet, the dynasty became extinct in the male line with the death of Eudes, Count of Vermandois. His sister Adelaide, the last Carolingian, died in 1122, the Carolingian dynasty has five distinct branches, The Lombard branch, or Vermandois branch, or Herbertians, descended from Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne. Though he did not outlive his father, his son Bernard was allowed to retain Italy, Bernard rebelled against his uncle Louis the Pious, and lost both his kingdom and his life. Deprived of the title, the members of this branch settled in France. The counts of Vermandois perpetuated the Carolingian line until the 12th century, the Counts of Chiny and the lords of Mellier, Neufchâteau and Falkenstein are branches of the Herbertians. With the descendants of the counts of Chiny, there would have been Herbertian Carolingians to the early 14th century, the Lotharingian branch, descended from Emperor Lothair, eldest son of Louis the Pious. At his death Middle Francia was divided equally between his three surviving sons, into Italy, Lotharingia and Lower Burgundy, the sons of Emperor Lothair did not have sons of their own, so Middle Francia was divided between the western and eastern branches of the family in 875. The Aquitainian branch, descended from Pepin of Aquitaine, son of Louis the Pious, since he did not outlive his father, his sons were deprived of Aquitaine in favor of his younger brother Charles the Bald. The German branch, descended from Louis the German, King of East Francia, since he had three sons, his lands were divided into Duchy of Bavaria, Duchy of Saxony and Duchy of Swabia. His youngest son Charles the Fat briefly reunited both East and West Francia — the entirety of the Carolingian empire — but it again after his death. With the failure of the lines of the German branch, Arnulf of Carinthia
20.
Philip II of France
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Philip II, known as Philip Augustus, was King of France from 1180 to 1223, a member of the House of Capet. Philips predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French monarch to style himself king of France. The son of King Louis VII and his wife, Adèle of Champagne, he was originally nicknamed Dieudonné God-given because he was the first son of Louis VII. Philip was given the nickname Augustus by the chronicler Rigord for having extended the Crown lands of France so remarkably, the military actions surrounding the Albigensian Crusade helped prepare the expansion of France southward. Philip did not participate directly in these actions, but he allowed his vassals, Philip transformed France from a small feudal state into the most prosperous and powerful country in Europe. He checked the power of the nobles and helped the towns to free themselves from seigniorial authority and he built a great wall around Paris, re-organized the French government and brought financial stability to his country. Philip was born in Gonesse on 21 August 1165 and he spent much of the following night attempting to find his way out, but to no avail. Exhausted by cold, hunger and fatigue, he was discovered by a peasant carrying a charcoal burner. His father went on pilgrimage to the Shrine of Thomas Becket to pray for Philips recovery and was told that his son had indeed recovered, however, on his way back to Paris, he suffered a stroke. In declining health, Louis VII had his 14-year-old son crowned and anointed as king at Rheims on 1 November 1179 by the Archbishop Guillaume aux Blanches Mains. He was married on 28 April 1180 to Isabelle of Hainaut, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders, who brought the County of Artois as her dowry. From the time of his coronation, all power was transferred to Philip. Eventually, Louis died on 18 September 1180, while the royal demesne had increased under Philip I and Louis VI, it had diminished slightly under Louis VII. In April 1182, partially to enrich the French crown, Philip expelled all Jews from the demesne, Philips eldest son Louis was born on 5 September 1187 and inherited the County of Artois in 1190, when his mother Isabelle died. The main source of funding for Philips army was from the royal demesne, in times of conflict, he could immediately call up 250 knights,250 horse sergeants,100 mounted crossbowmen,133 crossbowmen on foot,2,000 foot sergeants, and 300 mercenaries. Towards the end of his reign, the king could muster some 3,000 knights,9,000 sergeants,6,000 urban militiamen, using his increased revenues, Philip was the first Capetian king to build a French navy actively. By 1215, his fleet could carry a total of 7,000 men, within two years, his fleet included 10 large ships and many smaller ones. In 1181, Philip began a war with Philip, Count of Flanders, over the Vermandois, which King Philip claimed as his wifes dowry, finally the Count of Flanders invaded France, ravaging the whole district between the Somme and the Oise before penetrating as far as Dammartin
21.
Les Halles
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Les Halles de Paris, usually simply Les Halles, was Pariss central fresh food market. The shopping mall welcomes 150,000 visitors daily, since 2010, a major reconstruction of the mall is under progress. The new version is planned to be inaugurated by 2016, the mall remains open during works. In 2013, the Forum des Halles was still the second most visited shopping mall in France with 39.2 million visitors, Les Halles was the traditional central market of Paris. In 1183, King Philippe II Auguste enlarged the marketplace in Paris and built a shelter for the merchants, the church of Saint-Eustache was constructed in the 16th century. The circular Halle aux Blés, designed by Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières, was built between 1763 and 1769 at the west end of Les Halles and its circular central court was later covered with a dome, and it was converted into the Bourse de Commerce in 1889. In the 1850s, Victor Baltard designed the glass and iron buildings, Les Halles. Les Halles was known as the Belly of Paris, as it was called by Émile Zola in his novel Le Ventre de Paris, which is set in the busy marketplace of the 19th century. Two of the glass and cast iron market pavilions were dismantled and re-erected elsewhere, one in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, the site was to become the point of convergence of the RER, a network of new express underground lines which was completed in the 1960s. Three lines leading out of the city to the south, east and west were to be extended and connected in a new underground station. For several years, the site of the markets was an open pit, nicknamed le trou des Halles. Construction was completed in 1977 on Châtelet-Les-Halles, Pariss new urban railway hub, the Forum des Halles, a partially underground multiple story commercial and shopping center, opened at the east end of the site in 1979 and remains there today. A public garden covering four hectares opened in 1986, many of the surrounding streets were pedestrianized. Gare de Châtelet – Les Halles is Pariss most used rail station, the buildings and their surroundings have been criticized for their design. A design competition for the Forum and gardens was held, with entries from Jean Nouvel, Winy Maas, David Mangin, the plan also includes extending the pedestrianized area further east to include all the streets bordering the gardens. Another competition was held for the redesign of the Forum, ten teams submitted plans, and the proposal by Patrick Berger and Jacques Anziutti was selected in 2007. Their design includes a large undulating glass canopy which will cover the redesigned Forum, STIF and RATP began plans for the remodeling of the Châtelet-Les-Halles station in 2007, and the following year Berger and Anziutti were awarded a contract for redesign of the station. The station redesign includes new entrances on Rue Berger, Rue Rambuteau, and Place Marguerite de Navarre, an expanded RER concourse, construction began in 2010 on a project which includes the gardens, Forum, and station, and is scheduled to continue through 2016
22.
Pierre-Paul Riquet
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Pierre-Paul Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos was the engineer and canal-builder responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi. Paul Riquet was born in Béziers, Hérault, France, the eldest son of solicitor, state prosecutor, as a youth, Riquet was only interested in mathematics and science. He married Catherine de Milhau at age 19, as a fermier général of Languedoc-Roussillon, he was a tax farmer responsible for the collection and administration of the gabelle in Languedoc. He was appointed collector in 1630, and was also a provider to the Catalonian Army. Riquet became wealthy and was given permission by the King to levy his own taxes and this gave him greater wealth, which allowed him to execute grand projects with technical expertise. The logistics were immense and complex, so much so that other engineers including the ancient Romans had discussed the idea but not proceeded with it. Even so, Louis XIV was keen for the project to proceed, largely because of the increasing cost and danger of transporting cargo, planning, financing, and construction of the Canal du Midi completely absorbed Riquet from 1665 forward. Numerous problems occurred, including navigating around many hills and providing a system that would feed the canal with water through the dry summer months, the high cost of construction depleted Riquets personal fortune and the seemingly insurmountable problems caused his sponsors, including Louis XIV, to lose interest. Riquets major engineering achievements included the Fonserannes Lock Staircase and the Malpas Tunnel, the canal was completed in 1681, eight months after Riquets death. He is buried in the Cathedral Saint-Etienne in Toulouse
23.
Bondy
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Bondy is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 10.9 km from the centre of Paris, the name Bondy was recorded for the first time around AD600 as Bonitiacum, meaning estate of Bonitius, a Gallo-Roman landowner. During the Middle Ages Bondy was primarily forest, the forest of Bondy was a well-known haunt of bandits and robbers and was extremely dangerous. On 3 January 1905, a third of the territory of Bondy was detached, on 30 October 2007, a gas explosion killed one person and injured 47 people. Bondy and its integration into Paris is the subject of part of the second-last chapter of Graham Robbs book Parisians, Bondy is served by Bondy station on Paris RER line E and the Line 4 of the Tramways in Île-de-France. As of 2016 the commune had 27 public primary schools with 6,900 students, there are also five public junior high schools and three public senior high schools. Communes of the Seine-Saint-Denis department INSEE Town council website
24.
Parc de la Villette
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The Parc de la Villette is the third-largest park in Paris,55.5 hectares in area, located at the northeastern edge of the city in the 19th arrondissement. The park houses one of the largest concentration of cultural venues in Paris, including the Cité des Sciences et de lIndustrie, Parc de la Villette is served by Paris Métro stations Corentin Cariou on Line 7 and Porte de Pantin on Line 5. The slaughterhouses, built in 1867 on the instructions of Napoléon III, had cleared away. Tschumi won a design competition in 1982–83 for the park. The park houses museums, concert halls, live stages, and theatres, as well as playgrounds for children. An estimated 10 million people visit the park each year to take part in an array of cultural activities. With its collection of museums, theatres, architectural follies, themed gardens, and open spaces for exploration and activity, designed by Bernard Tschumi, the park is meant to be a place inspired by the post-modernist architectural ideas of deconstructivism. According to Tschumi, the intention of the park was to space for activity and interaction, rather than adopt the conventional park mantra of ordered relaxation. The vast expanse of the park allows for visitors to walk about the site with a sense of freedom and opportunity for exploration, the design of the park is organized into a series of points, lines, and surfaces. These categories of relation and formulation are used in Tschumi’s design to act as means of deconstructing the traditional views of how a park is conventionally meant to exist. The Parc de la Villette boasts activities that all people of all ages. The park is a melting pot of cultural expression where local artists and musicians produce exhibits. On the periphery of the lies the Cité des Sciences et de lIndustrie. There is a center and an I-MAX theatre. The park acts as a connection between these exterior functions, concerts are scheduled year round, hosting local and mainstream musicians. Dividing the park is the Canal de lOurcq, which has boat tours that transport visitors around the park, festivals are common in the park along with artist conventions and shows by performers. The Parc de la Villette hosts an annual film festival. In 2010 the festivals theme was To Be 20 and featured films about youth, in 2010 films were shown by American filmmakers Woody Allen and Sofia Coppola as well as French and international filmmakers
25.
Sevran
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Sevran is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 16.2 km from the center of Paris, Sevran is located northeast of the Boulevard Périphérique. As of 2013 the origins of over half of its resident are from outside France, the largest ethnic backgrounds within the foreign origins are from sub-Saharan Africa, Algeria, and Morocco. In 2013 The Economist stated that Sevran was one of the poorest areas of the Paris Metropolitan Area, as of 2013 36% of the residents are considered to be below the poverty line. About 75% of Sevrans residents live in subsidized housing, the article also cites research that says somebody called Mohamed, Ali or Kamel is four times more likely to be unemployed than somebody named Philippe or Alain. Sevran is home to an important music and dance school, the Espace François Mauriac, many important French and international musicians have taught there, including Claude Ballif, Allain Gaussin and Vincent Decleire. The French famous rapper Kaaris is also from Sevran, born to parents from Côte dIvoire, Sevran is served by two stations on Paris RER line B, Sevran – Livry and Sevran – Beaudottes
26.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
27.
Pierre-Simon Girard
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Pierre-Simon Girard was a French mathematician and engineer, who worked on fluid mechanics. A prodigy who invented a water turbine at the age of ten and he was in charge of planning and construction of the Amiens canal and the Ourcq canal. He collaborated with Gaspard de Prony on the Dictionnaire des Ponts et Chaussées and he wrote works on fluids and on the strength of materials. In 1799 he led a cultural and scientific expedition to Upper Egypt and he died in Paris, aged 71. Antoine Picon, Linvention de lingenieur moderne, ISBN 2-85978-178-1 André Guillerme, Bâtir la ville – révolutions industrielles dans les matériaux de construction. ISBN 2-87673-203-3 Stephen Timoshenko, History of strength of materials
28.
First French Empire
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The First French Empire, Note 1 was the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the dominant power in much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Its name was a misnomer, as France already had colonies overseas and was short lived compared to the Colonial Empire, a series of wars, known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars, extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. The plot included Bonapartes brother Lucien, then serving as speaker of the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, on 9 November 1799 and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the Consulate, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. He thus became the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the Constitution of the Year X, the Battle of Marengo inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleons Moscow campaign. Napoleon planned only to keep the Duchy of Milan for France, setting aside Austria, the Peace of Amiens, which cost him control of Egypt, was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the Piedmont and by acquiring Genoa, Parma, Tuscany and Naples, then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the Concordat of 1801 to control the material claims of the pope. Napoleon would have ruling elites from a fusion of the new bourgeoisie, on 12 May 1802, the French Tribunat voted unanimously, with exception of Carnot, in favour of the Life Consulship for the leader of France. This action was confirmed by the Corps Législatif, a general plebiscite followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. On 2 August 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life, pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany aided by the Recess of 1803, which brought Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden to Frances side. The memories of imperial Rome were for a time, after Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. The Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December 1805, did little other than create a more unified Germany to threaten France. On the other hand, Napoleons creation of the Kingdom of Italy, the occupation of Ancona, to create satellite states, Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European states. The Bonapartes began to marry into old European monarchies, gaining sovereignty over many nations, in addition to the vassal titles, Napoleons closest relatives were also granted the title of French Prince and formed the Imperial House of France. Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power, Prussia had been offered the territory of Hanover to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal and this, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1806. In this War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon destroyed the armies of Frederick William at Jena-Auerstedt, the Eylau and the Friedland against the Russians finally ruined Frederick the Greats formerly mighty kingdom, obliging Russia and Prussia to make peace with France at Tilsit. The Treaties of Tilsit ended the war between Russia and the French Empire and began an alliance between the two empires that held power of much of the rest of Europe, the two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes
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Bourbon Restoration
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The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history following the fall of Napoleon in 1814 until the July Revolution of 1830. The brothers of executed Louis XVI of France reigned in highly conservative fashion, and they were nonetheless unable to reverse most of the changes made by the French Revolution and Napoleon. At the Congress of Vienna they were treated respectfully, but had to give up all the gains made since 1789. King Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon had been overthrown and executed during the French Revolution, a coalition of European powers defeated Napoleon in the War of the Sixth Coalition, ended the First Empire in 1814, and restored the monarchy to the brothers of Louis XVI. The Bourbon Restoration lasted from 6 April 1814 until the uprisings of the July Revolution of 1830. There was an interlude in spring 1815—the Hundred Days—when the return of Napoleon forced the Bourbons to flee France, when Napoleon was again defeated by the Seventh Coalition they returned to power in July. During the Restoration, the new Bourbon regime was a monarchy, unlike the absolutist Ancien Régime. The period was characterized by a conservative reaction, and consequent minor but consistent occurrences of civil unrest. It also saw the reestablishment of the Catholic Church as a power in French politics. The eras of the French Revolution and Napoleon brought a series of changes to France which the Bourbon Restoration did not reverse. First of all, France became highly centralized, with all decisions made in Paris, the political geography was completely reorganized and made uniform. France was divided more than 80 departments, which have endured into the 21st century. Each department had an administrative structure, and was tightly controlled by a prefect appointed by Paris. The Catholic Church lost all its lands and buildings during the Revolution, the bishop still ruled his diocese, and communicated with the pope through the government in Paris. Bishops, priests, nuns and other people were paid salaries by the state. All the old rites and ceremonies were retained, and the government maintained the religious buildings. The Church was allowed to operate its own seminaries and to some extent local schools as well, bishops were much less powerful than before, and had no political voice. However, the Catholic Church reinvented itself and put a new emphasis on personal religiosity that gave it a hold on the psychology of the faithful, education was centralized, with the Grand Master of the University of France controlling every element of the entire educational system from Paris
30.
Ship lifts
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A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock and the canal inclined plane. The first known boat lift was a 2.5 ton tub boat lift on the Churprinz mining canal in Halsbrücke near Dresden and it lifted boats 7 metres without the use of caissons. The lift operated between 1789 and 1868, for a period of time after the opening of the Churprinz lift boat lifts were of an experimental nature with the engineer James Green reporting that 5 had been built between 1796 and 1830. He credited the invention to Dr James Anderson of Edinburgh, lifts on the tub boat section of the Grand Western Canal entered into operation in 1835 becoming the first non experimental boat lifts in Britain. 1904 the Peterborough Lift Lock designed by Richard Birdsall Rogers opened in Canada, the lift system is operated by gravity alone, with the upper bay of the two bay system loaded with an additional 30 cm of water as to give it greater weight. Before the construction of the Three Gorges Dam Ship Lift, the highest boat lift, with a 73.15 metre height difference and European Class IV capacity, was the Strépy-Thieu boat lift in Belgium. The ship lift at the Three Gorges Dam, completed in January 2016, is 113 meters high, the boat lift at Longtan is reported to be even higher in total with a maximum vertical lift of 179m in two stages when completed. List of boat lifts Lock Balance lock Canal inclined plane – another technique for lifting boats, caisson lock, a submerged boat lift. Canal lifts and inclines of the world, the lift-locks on the Canal du Centre, at Houdeng and Strépy-Thieu, Belgium
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Canal inclined plane
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An inclined plane is a system used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings and it can be considered as a specialised type of cable railway. An inclined plane is quicker, and wastes less water, than a flight of canal locks, a development of the idea is the water slope. Another alternative to locks is a boat lift. Typically, such a feature consists of a slope, with one or more tracks on it. Boats are raised between different levels by sailing into water-filled tanks, or caissons, with wheels on the bottom and watertight doors at each end and these are drawn up or down hill on the rails, usually by means of cables pulled by a stationary engine. In most designs two caissons are used, one going up and one down, acting as counterweights for greater efficiency, when the caisson has reached the top or bottom of the slope, the doors open and the boat leaves. There are also inclined planes without a tank or caisson, instead carrying vessels up out of the water cradled in slings or resting on their keels, in a few cases the boats were permanently fitted with wheels. Inclined planes have evolved over the centuries, some of the first were used by the Egyptians to bypass waterfalls on the Nile. These consisted of wooden slides covered with silt which reduced friction, 600BC – The Diolkos, an early Greek inclined plane, was in use. 385AD – Inclined planes were in use on the Grand Canal in China,1167 – Nieuwedamme overtoom was built at Ypres. 1568 – Wagon of Zafosina in use near Venice,1773 – John Edyvean proposes the use of inclined planes on the St. Columb Canal in Cornwall, UK.1773 – Inclined planes proposed on the projected Caldon Canal. 1777 –3 inclined planes or dry wherries begin operation on Dukarts Canal, near Coalisland, the inclines were a failure and were dismantled by 1787. 1788 – An inclined plane is built by William Reynolds and used, for the first time in England,1792 – William Reynolds of Ketley Ironworks constructed several inclined planes on the Shropshire Canal. 1792 -1921 – In 1792 the Shropshire Tub Canals were built incorporating a number of inclined planes, lord Stanhope replied saying his idea for working the plane had already been thought of by Edmund Leach. 1794 – Robert Fulton took out a British patent, for improvements to inclined planes including a double inclined plane system to be used to raise canal boats without locks,1795 -1805 – South Hadley Canal begins operations, on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts, United States. The first North American inclined plane canal, replaced by five locks in 1805. 1797 -1822 – At Worsley Navigable Levels, a coal mine operation in Greater Manchester, England,1800 – Francis Henry Egerton, who became The 8th Earl of Bridgewater in 1823, wrote The Description of the Inclined Plane at Walkden Moor
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Napoleon III
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Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world. He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure. Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
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Marne
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Marne is a department in north-eastern France named after the river Marne which flows through the department. The prefecture of Marne is Châlons-en-Champagne, the subprefectures are Épernay, Reims, Sainte-Menehould, and Vitry-le-François. The Champagne vineyards producing the world-famous sparkling wine are located within Marne, Marne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790. It was created from the province of Champagne, Marne has a long association with the French Army. The smaller Camp de Moronvilliers lies to the east of Reims and these are all on the chalk of the Champagne plateau, a feature comparable in geology but not size, with the British military training ground on Salisbury Plain. Marne is part of the region of Grand Est and is surrounded by the departments of Ardennes, Meuse, Haute-Marne, Aube, Seine-et-Marne, and Aisne. Geologically, it divides into two parts, the Upper Cretaceous chalk plain in the east and the more wooded. Rivers draining the department include the Marne, Vesle, Ardre, numerous other rivers, such as the Grande and the Petite Morin rise in the department but flow mainly in others. Conversely, the Aube joins the Seine in the department of Marne, the inhabitants of the department are called Marnais. Reims, with its famous cathedral in which the kings of France were traditionally crowned, is a major attraction, other branches of tourism are provided by the bird reserve on the Lake Der-Chantecoq and the fishing lakes nearby. The Parc Naturel Régional de la Montagne de Reims is an area of country recreation. In the west of the département there are scenic routes to be explored as also are the several wine cellars of Épernay
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Les Pavillons-sous-Bois
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Les Pavillons-sous-Bois is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.8 km from the center of Paris, the name of the commune literally means the lodges under wood. The lodges mentioned in the name are two lodges, built of local stone around 1770 and rehabilitated in 1998, that were located at the entrance of the estate belonging to the château du Raincy. The wood mentioned in the name is the ancient Bondy Forest which covered most of the area to the northeast of Paris, Les Pavillons-sous-Bois is served by no station of the Paris Métro or RER, but since 2006 its own Tram station on line, Les Pavillons-sous-bois. The closest RER station to Les Pavillons-sous-Bois is Le Raincy – Villemomble – Montfermeil station on Paris RER line and this station is located in the neighboring commune of Le Raincy,3.2 km from the centre of Les Pavillons-sous-Bois
35.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
36.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
