1.
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
2.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
