1.
Tour Montparnasse
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Tour Maine-Montparnasse, also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a 210-metre office skyscraper located in the Montparnasse area of Paris, France. Constructed from 1969 to 1973, it was the tallest skyscraper in France until 2011, as of March 2017, it is the 14th tallest building in the European Union. The tower was designed by architects Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, built on top of the Montparnasse – Bienvenüe Paris Métro station, the 59 floors of the tower are mainly occupied by offices. The 56th floor, with a restaurant called le Ciel de Paris, the view covers a radius of 40 km, aircraft can be seen taking off from Orly Airport. The guard rail, to which various antennae are attached, can be pneumatically lowered, the towers simple architecture, large proportions and monolithic appearance have been often criticised for being out of place in Pariss urban landscape. As a result, two years after its completion the construction of buildings over seven stories high in the city centre was banned, the design of the tower predates architectural trends of more modern skyscrapers today that are often designed to provide a window for every office. Only the offices around the perimeter of each floor of Tour Montparnasse have windows and it is said that the view from the top is the most beautiful in Paris, because it is the only place from which the tower cannot be seen. A2008 poll of editors on Virtualtourist voted the building the second-ugliest building in the world, in 2005, studies showed that the tower contained asbestos material. When inhaled, for instance during repairs, asbestos is a carcinogen, as with the Jussieu Campus, the problem of removing the asbestos material from a large building used by thousands of people is acute. Projected completion times for removal are three years if the building is emptied for the duration of the work and ten years if the building is not emptied, the removal of asbestos began in July 2007. Previously Tour Maine-Montparnasse housed the executive management of Accor, list of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region Official website Photos of Tour Montparnasse Tour Montparnasse Pictures and info
2.
Urban open space
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In land use planning, urban open space is open space areas for parks, green spaces, and other open areas. The landscape of open spaces can range from playing fields to highly maintained environments to relatively natural landscapes. They are commonly open to access, however, urban open spaces may be privately owned. Areas outside of city boundaries, such as state and national parks as well as space in the countryside, are not considered urban open space. Streets, piazzas, plazas and urban squares are not always defined as open space in land use planning. The term urban open space can describe many types of open areas, one definition holds that, As the counterpart of development, urban open space is a natural and cultural resource, synonymous with neither unused land nor park and recreation areas. In almost all instances, the referred to by the term is, in fact. However, there are examples of green space which, though not publicly owned/regulated, are still considered urban open space. This definition implies a level of community interaction and places a focus on public involvement rather than public ownership or stewardship. Generally considered open to the public, urban open spaces are sometimes privately owned, some examples of such places include higher education campuses, neighborhood/community parks/gardens, and institutional or corporate grounds. These areas still function to provide aesthetic and psychological relief from urban development, nevertheless, most commonly the term is used to reference spaces that are public and green. The benefits that urban open space provides to citizens can be broken into three forms, recreation, ecology, and aesthetic value. Urban open space is often appreciated for the opportunities it provides. Recreation in urban open space may include active recreation or passive recreation, time spent in an urban open space for recreation offers a reprieve from the urban environment. The conservation of nature in an environment has direct impact on people for another reason as well. e. As humans live more and more in man-made surroundings – i. e. cities – he risks harming himself by building and acting in ignorance of natural processes. In a sense, by having the opportunity to be within an urban green space people gain a higher appreciation for the nature around them. As Bill McKibben mentions in his book The End of Nature and he follows in Henry David Thoreaus footsteps when he isolated himself in the Adirondack Mountains in order to get away from society and the overwhelming ideals it carries
3.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
5.
7th arrondissement of Paris
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The 7th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city in France. It is also home to foreign diplomatic embassies, some of them occupying outstanding Hôtels particuliers. The arrondissement has been home to the French upper class since the 17th century, the 7th arrondissement of Paris and Neuilly-sur-Seine form the most affluent and prestigious residential area in France. The district became so fashionable within the French aristocracy that the phrase le Faubourg has been used to describe French nobility ever since. The oldest and most prestigious families of the French nobility built outstanding residences in the area, such as the Hôtel Matignon, the Hôtel de Salm, and the Hôtel Biron. After the Revolution many of these mansions, offering magnificent inner spaces, many receptions rooms, the French expression les ors de la Republique, referring to the luxurious environment of the national palaces, comes from that time. During the Restauration, the Faubourg recovered its past glory as the most exclusive high nobility district of Paris and was the heart of the country. After the Fall of Charles X, the district lost most of its political influence, during the 19th century, the arrondissement hosted no less than five Universal Exhibitions that have immensely impacted its cityscape. The Eiffel Tower and the Orsay building have been built for these Exhibitions, the land area of the arrondissement is 4.088 km². The 7th arrondissement attained its peak population in 1926 when it had 110,684 inhabitants, because it is the location of so many French government bodies, this arrondissement has never been as densely populated as some of the others. In 1999, the population was 56,985, while the arrondissement provided 76,212 jobs, the American University of Paris, a private liberal arts university, maintains several buildings near the Quai dOrsay. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Education have their offices in the arrondissement. The arrondissement hosted the events for the 1900 Summer Olympics. 7th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
6.
Eiffel Tower
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The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed, the Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world,6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. The tower is 324 metres tall, about the height as an 81-storey building. Its base is square, measuring 125 metres on each side, due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 metres. Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second-tallest structure in France after the Millau Viaduct, the tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top levels upper platform is 276 m above the ground – the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union, tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, although there is a staircase to the top level, it is usually only accessible by lift. Eiffel openly acknowledged that inspiration for a tower came from the Latting Observatory built in New York City in 1853, sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments. Little progress was made until 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as president of France and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as minister for trade. On 12 May, a commission was set up to examine Eiffels scheme and its rivals, which, after some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. Eiffel was to all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition. He later established a company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and these objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the column of bolted sheet metal. Gustave Eiffel responded to criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids. Will it not also be grandiose in its way, and why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris. Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built, others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible
7.
Mars (mythology)
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In ancient Roman religion and myth, Mars was the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in only to Jupiter and he was the most prominent of the military gods in the religion of the Roman army. Most of his festivals were held in March, the named for him, and in October. Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with the Greek god Ares, whose myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars. But the character and dignity of Mars differed in fundamental ways from that of his Greek counterpart, Mars was a part of the Archaic Triad along with Jupiter and Quirinus, the latter of whom as a guardian of the Roman people had no Greek equivalent. Mars altar in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome that took its name from him, was supposed to have been dedicated by Numa, the peace-loving semi-legendary second king of Rome. Although Ares was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force, Mars represented military power as a way to secure peace, in the mythic genealogy and founding myths of Rome, Mars was the father of Romulus and Remus with Rhea Silvia. Like Ares who was the son of Zeus and Hera, Mars is usually considered to be the son of Jupiter, however, in a version of his birth given by Ovid, he was the son of Juno alone. Jupiter had usurped the mothers function when he gave birth to Minerva directly from his forehead, to restore the balance, Flora obtained a magic flower and tested it on a heifer who became fecund at once. She then plucked a flower ritually using her thumb, touched Junos belly, Juno withdrew to Thrace and the shore of Marmara for the birth. Ovid tells this story in the Fasti, his poetic work on the Roman calendar. In the earliest Roman calendar, March was the first month, Ovid is the only source for the story. The consort of Mars was Nerio or Nerine, Valor and she represents the vital force, power and majesty of Mars. Her name was regarded as Sabine in origin and is equivalent to Latin virtus, in the early 3rd century BC, the comic playwright Plautus has a reference to Mars greeting Nerio, his wife. A source from late antiquity says that Mars and Nerine were celebrated together at a festival held on March 23, in the later Roman Empire, Nerine came to be identified with Minerva. Nerio probably originates as a personification of Mars power, as such abstractions in Latin are generally feminine. Her name appears with that of Mars in an archaic prayer invoking a series of abstract qualities, the influence of Greek mythology and its anthropomorphic gods may have caused Roman writers to treat these pairs as marriages. The union of Venus and Mars held greater appeal for poets and philosophers, in Greek myth, the adultery of Ares and Aphrodite had been exposed to ridicule when her husband Hephaestus caught them in the act by means of a magical snare
8.
Gare du Champ de Mars
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Gare du Champ de Mars is a railway station in Paris. The site has accommodated a total of five stations, the last of which in service for Paris RER. The station was built to receive goods necessary for the construction of the pavilions for the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1867,1878,1889,1900 and 1937. The location was chosen as it was then a piece of land devoid of buildings, facing the Trocadéro. It was built on the corner of the Avenue de Suffren. The first station was built for the 1867 Exposition Universelle and this station was a terminus and the line ran from the Petite-Ceinture to the Champ de Mars. The station was demolished shortly after the Exposition, a new station was built for the 1878 Exposition Universelle. The building was designed and built by Juste Lisch and it had four dead end tracks as well as four additional parking tracks. This enabled a greater functionality than the previous station, the station was composed of a central metallic rooftop, filled with red bricks. Two side buildings encompassed the passenger concourse which were hidden behind canopies which extended onto the platforms. A buffet was built to the south of the station along the Avenue de Suffren, Champ de Mars remained opened after the world fair and regained popularity for the 1889 World Fair. The Eiffel Tower was built next to the station, in mid 1894, all passenger services ended to permit the demolition of all of the level crossings. A bridge over the river Seine to link the line to the Ligne dAuteuil was built soon afterwards which meant that the station building had to be demolished. It was moved in 1897 and used as the building for Bois-Colombes. For the 1900 Exposition Universelle the station was yet again reopened, the line was extended to the Invalides and moved to the side of the river Seine. The CF de lOuest created a new station which was situated below the Eiffel Tower as well as the newly built Celestial Globe. As well as a station, the CF de lOuest also built a goods station. At the end of the fair all services were transferred to Gare des Invalides
9.
Ange-Jacques Gabriel
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Ange-Jacques Gabriel was the most prominent French architect of his generation. Ange-Jacques Gabriel was born on October 23,1698 to a Parisian family of architects and he was initially trained by the royal architect Robert de Cotte and his father Jacques Gabriel, whom he assisted in the creation of the Place Royale in Bordeaux. He was made a member of the Académie royale darchitecture in 1728, gabriels symmetrical palace-like façades for the hôtels particuliers that enclose the north side of the Place Louis XV, Paris, were begun in 1754 and completed in 1763. That on the right housed the storerooms for the furnishings, with luxurious apartments for the intendant. His sober rationality in planning and detail promoted the transition from Rococo to Neoclassicism, for forty years, Gabriel supplied all designs not only for exterior construction and also for the constant remodeling of interiors at Versailles. His Petit Trianon at Versailles is one of the gems of French Classicism and he died in Paris in 1782. Extension and transformations at the Château de Choisy, 1740–1777 Château de Compiègne,1750 onwards The Pavillon du Butard,1750 at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, the Architecture of the French Enlightenment, pp. 38–44. Les architectes parisiens du XVIIIe siècle, dictionnaire biographique et critique, Architecture in France in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 145–160. 2, pp. 133–144, in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects,4 volumes,11, pp. 882–884, in The Dictionary of Art,34 volumes, edited by Jane Turner. Ange-Jacques Gabriel at Great Buildings Online
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