1.
14th arrondissement of Paris
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The 14th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated on the bank of the River Seine, it contains most of the Montparnasse district. It is today best known for its skyscraper, the Tour Montparnasse, and its railway terminus. The district has traditionally been home to artists as well as a Breton community. The 14th arrondissement also contains the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, which is located near the Parc Montsouris, the land area of this arrondissement is 5.621 km². The 14th arrondissement attained its peak population in 1954 when it had 181,414 inhabitants and it continues to have a high density of both population and business activity with 132,844 inhabitants and 71,836 jobs as of the last census, in 1999. Aéroports de Paris has its office in the arrondissement. In addition Société dexploitation de lhebdomadaire Le Point, the company that operates Le Point, has its office in the arrondissement. SNCF, the French rail company, formerly had its office in Montparnasse. La Santé Prison, operated by the Ministry of Justice, is in the arrondissement, the head office of the Agency for French Education Abroad, the French international schooling network, is in the arrondissement. The International Astronomical Union head office is located on the floor of the Institut dAstrophysique de Paris
2.
15th arrondissement of Paris
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The 15th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France, also called Arrondissement de Vaugirard. Situated on the Rive Gauche of the River Seine and sharing the Montparnasse district with the 6th and 14th arrondissements, the Tour Montparnasse – the tallest skyscraper in Paris – and the neighbouring Gare Montparnasse are both located in the 15th arrondissement, at its border with the 14th. It is also home to the convention center Paris expo Porte de Versailles, the loi du 16 juin 1859 decreed the annexation to Paris of the area between the old Wall of the Farmers-General and the wall of Thiers. The communes of Grenelle, Vaugirard, and Javel were incorporated into Paris in 1860, as in all the Parisian arrondissements, the fifteenth is made up of four administrative quarters. To the south, quartier Saint-Lambert occupies the site of the village of Vaugirard. The geography of the area was particularly suited to wine-making, as well as quarrying, in fact, many Parisian monuments, such as the École Militaire, were built from Vaugirard stone. The village, not yet being part of Paris, was considered by Parisians to be a suburb, pleasant for country walks or its cabarets. In 1860 Vaugirard was annexed to Paris, along with adjoining villages, to the east, quartier Necker was originally an uninhabited space between Paris and Vaugirard. The most well-known landmarks in the area are the Gare Montparnasse train station, the area around the train station has been renovated and now contains a number of office and apartment blocks, a park, and a shopping center. Finally, the contains a number of public buildings, the Lycée Buffon. To the north, quartier Grenelle was originally a village of the same name, the whole area broke off from the commune of Vaugirard in 1830, becoming the commune of Grenelle, which was in turn annexed to Paris in 1860. A century later, a number of apartment and office towers were built along the Seine, to the west, quartier Javel lies to the south of Grenelle plain. In addition, to the south of the highway, an extension of the 15th, formerly an aerodrome at the beginning of the 20th century, is now a heliport, a gym. The early airfield here has been encroached upon by development and a sports centre. The Sécurité Civile has a detachment there close to maintenance facilities, customs facilities are available and especially busy during the Salon dAeronautique airshows held at Le Bourget on the other side of the city. The land area of this arrondissement is 8.502 km2, the peak of population of Pariss 15th arrondissement occurred in 1962, when it had 250,551 inhabitants. Since then it has lost approximately one-tenth of its population, but it remains the most populous arrondissement of Paris, with 144,667 jobs at the same census, the 15th is also very dense in business activities. Musée Pasteur Musée du Service des Objets Trouvés Musée Bourdelle Musée Mendjisky specializing in school of Paris artists, Musée Jean Moulin, French Resistance – Church of Notre-Dame de la Salette in Paris Beaugrenelle Shopping Center
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
4.
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.
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
6.
Skyscraper
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A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building having multiple floors. When the term was used in the 1880s it described a building of 10 to 20 floors. Mostly designed for office, commercial and residential uses, a skyscraper can also be called a high-rise, for buildings above a height of 300 m, the term supertall can be used, while skyscrapers reaching beyond 600 m are classified as megatall. One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel framework that supports curtain walls and these curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterized by surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a structure, and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure, and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks, a relatively big building may be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes well above its built environment and changes the overall skyline. The maximum height of structures has progressed historically with building methods and technologies, the Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world. High-rise buildings are considered shorter than skyscrapers, the first steel-frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois in 1885. Even the scholars making the argument find it to be purely academic and this definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicagos Monadnock Building. What is the characteristic of the tall office building. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and it must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. Some structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, the word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. A loose convention of some in the United States and Europe draws the limit of a skyscraper at 150 m or 490 ft. The tallest building in ancient times was the 146 m Great Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt and it was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the 14th century AD Lincoln Cathedral being conjectured by many to have exceeded it
7.
Montparnasse
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Montparnasse was absorbed into the capitals 14th arrondissement in 1669. Beneath the ground are tunnels of the Catacombs of Paris, students in the 17th century who came to recite poetry in the hilly neighbourhood nicknamed it after Mount Parnassus, home to the nine Muses of arts and sciences in Greek mythology. The hill was levelled to construct the Boulevard Montparnasse in the 18th century, during the French Revolution many dance halls and cabarets opened their doors. The area is known for cafes and bars, such as the Breton restaurants specialising in crêpes located a few blocks from the Gare Montparnasse. Montparnasse became famous in the 1920s, referred to as les Années Folles, virtually penniless painters, sculptors, writers, poets and composers came from around the world to thrive in the creative atmosphere and for the cheap rent at artist communes such as La Ruche. Living without running water, in damp, unheated studios, seldom free of rats, Jean Cocteau once said that poverty was a luxury in Montparnasse. First promoted by art dealers such as Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, today works by those artists sell for millions of euros, in post-World War I Paris, Montparnasse was a euphoric meeting ground for the artistic world. Fernand Léger wrote of that period, “man…relaxes and recaptures his taste for life, his frenzy to dance, manuel Ortiz de Zárate, Camilo Mori and others made their way from Chile where the profound innovations in art spawned the formation of the Grupo Montparnasse in Santiago. Montparnasse was a community where creativity was embraced with all its oddities and they became good friends, Hamnett later recounting how she once borrowed a jersey and corduroy trousers from Modigliani, then went to La Rotonde and danced in the street all night. Between 1921 and 1924, the number of Americans in Paris swelled from 6,000 to 30,000, Robert McAlmon, and Maria and Eugene Jolas came to Paris and published their literary magazine Transition. As well, Bill Bird published through his Three Mountains Press until British heiress Nancy Cunard took it over, the cafés and bars of Montparnasse were a meeting place where ideas were hatched and mulled over. The cafés at the centre of Montparnasses night-life were in the Carrefour Vavin, if they fell asleep, the waiters were instructed not to wake them. Arguments were common, some fuelled by intellect, others by alcohol, and if there were fights, and there often were, the police were never summoned. If you couldnt pay your bill, people such as La Rotondes proprietor, Victor Libion, as such, there were times when the cafés walls were littered with a collection of artworks, that today would make the curators of the worlds greatest museums drool with envy. There were many areas where the great artists congregated, one of them being near Le Dôme at no.10 rue Delambre called the Dingo Bar. When Man Rays friend and Dadaist, Marcel Duchamp, left for New York and this is where his career as a photographer began, and where James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau and the others filed in and posed in black and white. The rue de la Gaité in Montparnasse was the site of many of the great music-hall theatres, on their stages, using then-popular single name pseudonyms or one birth name only, Damia, Kiki, Mayol and Georgius, sang and performed to packed houses. And here too, Les Six was formed, creating music based on the ideas of Erik Satie and that could not be seen in my town
8.
Tour First
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Tour First is an office skyscraper in Courbevoie, in La Défense, the business district of the Paris metropolitan area. The tower was built in 1974 by Bouygues for the UAP insurance company, the building was 159 m at that time. Its ground shape was in the form of a star whose branches were separated each by a 120° angle. This particular shape was chosen to symbolize the merger of the three French insurance companies that were at the origin of UAP, the tower was renamed Tour AXA when UAP was bought by the AXA insurance company in 1996. Large-scale renovation of the began in 2007 and was completed in 2011. The exterior appearance of the building was changed, with extra height added to the tower. The renovated tower, now known as Tour First, is 225 m at roof height and it is currently the tallest skyscraper in France, only surpassed in height by the Eiffel Tower. Another AXA tower exists in New York City, which is 228.6 m tall, Tour AXA in Montreal, La Défense List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region Tour First
9.
Vinci (construction)
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Vinci, corporately styled VINCI, is a French concessions and construction company founded in 1899 as Société Générale dEnterprises. It employs over 179,000 people and is the largest construction company in the world by revenue, Vinci is listed at Euronexts Paris stock exchange and is a member of the Euro Stoxx 50 index. Its head office is in Rueil-Malmaison, the company was founded by Alexandre Giros and Louis Loucheur as Société Générale d’Entreprises S. A. in 1899. In 1986 SGE acquired Sogea, a business founded in 1878, started building Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, DPR of Korea. In 1988 the company acquired Campenon Bernard, a business founded in 1920, in 1991 SGE acquired Norwest Holst, a company founded in 1969. In 2000 it changed its name to Vinci, in 2001 it acquired Groupe GTM, which was a combination of Dumez, founded in 1880, and GTM founded in 1891. In 2006 the company acquired Autoroutes du Sud de la France, in February 2007 Vinci completed the acquisition of Soletanche-Bachy, the world second largest leading geotechnical specialist contractor after Bauer. In June 2007, Weaver PLC, established as William Weaver Limited in 1865, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwest Holst Limited, construction company based in Bromsgrove in the West Midlands, in September 2008 Vinci bought the UK operations of Taylor Woodrow Construction. In 2010, Vinci acquired Cegelec, and the European aggregates businesses of Tarmac, in September 2010, Vinci obtained Meteor Parking from the Go-Ahead Group. In 2012, Vinci signed a deal to buy ANA Aeroportos de Portugal for €3080 million, in December 2013, Vinci was awarded a contract worth €440 million to build an express-lane highway system in Atlanta, Georgia. Vinci and Orix won a 45-year contract in 2015 to operate Itami Airport and Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture, Japan, at a price of around $18 billion. SGE was owned by Compagnie générale délectricité, now Alcatel, from 1966 to 1984, then by Saint-Gobain from 1984 to 1988, Vinci bought Meteor Parking from the Go-Ahead Group in September 2010 and these locations were added to its portfolio. And the Atlantic Bridge, Panama which is under construction, Vinci is involved in construction of the first 43 km of the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll road through the valuable Khimki Forest. This construction has raised protests in Russia, 75% of the local community – about 208,000 citizens of Khimki – oppose the project. There have also been numerous human rights abuses surrounding the project, with journalists and activists arrested, assaulted and this project which is considered to be a useless imposed mega-project is financed through a public-private partnership with profits going to Vinci. Vincis Norwest Holst and Taylor Woodrow were revealed as subscribers to the UKs Consulting Association, exposed in 2009 for operating an illegal construction industry blacklist
10.
Tower
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A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are not built to be habitable but to serve other functions. Towers can be stand alone structures or be supported by adjacent buildings or can be a feature on top of a structure or building. Old English torr is from Latin turris via Old French tor, the Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, connected with the Illyrian toponym Βου-δοργίς. The oldest known may be the stone tower in walls of Neolithic Jericho. Some of the earliest towers were ziggurats, which existed in Sumerian architecture since the 4th millennium BC, the most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur, built the 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki, one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture. The latter was built in Babylon during the 2nd millennium BC and was considered the tallest tower of the ancient world, some of the earliest surviving examples are the broch structures in northern Scotland, which are conical towerhouses. These and other examples from Phoenician and Roman cultures emphasised the use of a tower in fortification, for example, the name of the Moroccan city of Mogador, founded in the first millennium BC, is derived from the Phoenician word for watchtower. The Romans utilised octagonal towers as elements of Diocletians Palace in Croatia, which monument dates to approximately 300 AD, while the Servian Walls, the Chinese used towers as integrated elements of the Great Wall of China in 210 BC during the Qin Dynasty. Towers were also an important element of castles, other well known towers include the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy built from 1173 until 1372 and the Two Towers in Bologna, Italy built from 1109 until 1119. The Himalayan Towers are stone towers located chiefly in Tibet built approximately 14th to 15th century, up to a certain height, a tower can be made with the supporting structure with parallel sides. However, above a height, the compressive load of the material is exceeded. This can be avoided if the support structure tapers up the building. A second limit is that of buckling—the structure requires sufficient stiffness to avoid breaking under the loads it faces, many very tall towers have their support structures at the periphery of the building, which greatly increases the overall stiffness. A third limit is dynamic, a tower is subject to varying winds, vortex shedding and these are often dealt with through a combination of simple strength and stiffness, as well as in some cases tuned mass dampers to damp out movements. Varying or tapering the outer aspect of the tower with height avoids vibrations due to vortex shedding occurring along the building simultaneously. Although not correctly called towers many modern skyscraper are often called towers, in the United Kingdom, tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks. In the United States, the original World Trade Center had the nickname the Twin Towers, the tower throughout history has provided its users with an advantage in surveying defensive positions and obtaining a better view of the surrounding areas, including battlefields
11.
Orly Airport
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Paris Orly Airport is an international airport located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi,7 NM south of Paris, France. Prior to the construction of Charles de Gaulle Airport, Orly was the airport of Paris. Orly Airport covers 15.3 square kilometres of land, originally known as Villeneuve-Orly Airport, the facility was opened in the southern suburbs of Paris in 1932 as a secondary airport to Le Bourget. Before this two huge airship hangars had been built there by the engineer Eugène Freyssinet from 1923 on, the 50th Fighter Group flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber aircraft from the airport until September, then liaison squadrons used the airfield until October 1945. The USAAF diagram from March 1947 shows the 6140-foot 27/207 runway with 5170-foot 81/261 runway crossing it at its north end. The November 1953 Aeradio diagram shows four runways, all 197 feet wide, 03L7874 ft, 03R6069 ft, 08L5118 ft. The American United States Army Air Forces 1408th Army Air Force Base Unit was the operator at Orly Field until March 1947 when control was returned to the French Government. The Americans left in 1967 as a result of Frances withdrawal from NATOs integrated military command, in May 1958 Pan Am DC-7Cs flew to Los Angeles in 21 hr 56 min, TWA, Air France and Pan Am flew nonstop to New York in 14 hrs 10-15 min. Air France flew to Tokyo in 31 hr 5 min via Anchorage or 44 hr 45 min on a seven-stop 1049G via India, Air Frances ten flights a day to London were almost all Viscounts, the only other London flight was Alitalias daily DC-6B. Paris-Orly Airport features two passenger terminal buildings, Terminal Sud and Terminal Ouest, The brick-style southern terminal building consists of six floors. The airside area and departure gates are located on the upper level 1, the waiting area, which features several shops as well, houses gates A1-A10 and A40-A42 and is furthermore connected to the gate areas Hall A and Hall B to each side of the building. 15 of the departure gates are equipped with jet-bridges, some of them are able to handle wide-body aircraft. The western terminal has a different layout than Terminal Sud, consisting of two floors and a area of four fingers rather than a brick-style layout. The ground level 0 features the arrivals facilities including 8 baggage reclaim belts as well as several service facilities, the departures area is located on level 1 with more stores and restaurants located here. This central departures area is connected to four areas named halls 1-4 which contain departure gates 10A-10P, 20A-20L, 31A-31F. 23 stands at this terminal are equipped with jet-bridges, with several of them able to handle wide-body aircraft. AOM French Airlines had its office in Orly Airport Building 363 in Paray-Vieille-Poste. After AOM and Air Liberté merged in 2001, the new airline, Air Lib, Orly Airport is connected to the RER B train line at Antony train station by the Orlyval automatic shuttle
12.
Pneumatically
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Pneumatics is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air. Pneumatic systems used in industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases, a centrally located and electrically powered compressor powers cylinders, air motors, and other pneumatic devices. A pneumatic system controlled through manual or automatic solenoid valves is selected when it provides a lower cost, more flexible, pneumatics also has applications in dentistry, construction, mining, and other areas. Pneumatic systems in fixed installations, such as factories, use compressed air because a sustainable supply can be made by compressing atmospheric air, the air usually has moisture removed, and a small quantity of oil is added at the compressor to prevent corrosion and lubricate mechanical components. Factory-plumbed pneumatic-power users need not worry about poisonous leakage, as the gas is usually just air, smaller or stand-alone systems can use other compressed gases that present an asphyxiation hazard, such as nitrogen—often referred to as OFN when supplied in cylinders. Any compressed gas other than air is an asphyxiation hazard—including nitrogen, compressed oxygen would not asphyxiate, but is not used in pneumatically-powered devices because it is a fire hazard, more expensive, and offers no performance advantage over air. Carbon dioxide is an asphyxiant and can be a hazard if vented improperly. The origins of pneumatics can be traced back to the first century when ancient Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria wrote about his inventions powered by steam or the wind, german physicist Otto von Guericke went a little further. He invented the pump, a device that can draw out air or gas from the attached vessel. He demonstrated the vacuum pump to separate the pairs of copper hemispheres using air pressures, the field of pneumatics has changed considerably over the years. It has moved from small handheld devices to large machines with multiple parts that serve different functions, both pneumatics and hydraulics are applications of fluid power. Pneumatics uses an easily compressible gas such as air or a suitable pure gas—while hydraulics uses relatively incompressible liquid media such as oil, most industrial pneumatic applications use pressures of about 80 to 100 pounds per square inch. Hydraulics applications commonly use from 1,000 to 5,000 psi, simplicity of design and control—Machines are easily designed using standard cylinders and other components, and operate via simple on-off control. Reliability—Pneumatic systems generally have long operating lives and require little maintenance, because gas is compressible, equipment is less subject to shock damage. Gas absorbs excessive force, whereas fluid in hydraulics directly transfers force, compressed gas can be stored, so machines still run for a while if electrical power is lost. Safety—There is a low chance of fire compared to hydraulic oil. Newer machines are usually overload safe, liquid does not absorb any of the supplied energy. Capable of moving much higher loads and providing much higher due to the incompressibility
13.
Virtualtourist
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VirtualTourist was a free, travel-oriented community website featuring user-contributed travel guides for locations worldwide. VirtualTourist hosted content such as tips and reviews, online forums, sells advertising, members of the general public were able to register on the site as a member and use a number of the websites services at no cost. VirtualTourist used social media techniques to enable a sense of community through its active travel forums, VTers regularly get together for face-to-face social events all over the world. For example, in May 2010, more than 150 VTers from around the world met in Krakow, Poland, the website had over a million registered members, providing 1.7 million travel reviews and 3.6 million photos on over 72,977 destinations. In February 2017 Virtual Tourist was closed by its parent company, the origin of Virtualtourist is found in a project at the University of Buffalo to provide a Web-based map of all servers on the Internet. This project was nominated for “Best Navigation Aid” at the Best of the Web Awards at the First World Wide Web Conference ever organized, in 1996, Brandon Plewe at the University of Buffalo registered “Virtual Tourist” as a trademark in the US, but abandoned the trademark in 1997. By 1999, Reissfelder and Kalkbrenner had a site with a few hundred city locations with links that people could add to. The site, which had links about “Hotels, Restaurants, Things to Do”, was doing about 1.5 million page views per month from about 500,000 unique visitors, in 1999, J. R. Johnson, an American attorney, met Reissfelder and Kalkbrenner. Together, they moved the company to the US, raised money, in July 2008, VirtualTourist. com, Inc. and sister site Onetime were acquired by global Internet travel company Expedia for a reported $85 million. On 6 January 2017 the parent company announced that VirtualTourist was closing down, VT offers several forums - a travel forum with a top-down structure to get to each destination, a miscellaneous forum and a technical help forum. Unlike Rick Stevess website, Tripadvisor, and Cruisecritic, VT has in practice only one miscellaneous or non-destination specific forum, Tripadvisor, for example, has some 35 non-destination specific forums. Having only one Miscellaneous Forum has the effect of forcing the entire VT community into one area, members have their own travel pages with space displaying their personal writing and photographs. These homepages can be more extensive in content when compared to the user profile at Tripadvisor. VirtualTourist takes advantage of its membership to periodically ask for Top Ten lists. These lists, humorous as well as informative, are repeated in the press around the world. On November 14,2008, Reuters carried a story on VirtualTourists list of the Worlds Top 10 Ugliest Buildings, boston City Hall came in first place. Travel Weekly, Gold Magellan Award Newsweek, Featured Travel Site Travel + Leisure one of 35 Best Travel Sites Time, most Popular Guide site AOL, Editors Pick USA Today, Hot Site U. S. News, Best of the Web Travel Site Yahoo. Most Popular Destination Guide Corriere della Sera listed VirtualTourist as one of the big three travel community websites in 2005, the newspaper commended VT for being easy to navigate, spartan, equipped with a search engine to goes down to the smallest town, and really covering the world
14.
Boston City Hall
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Boston City Hall is the seat of city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council, the current hall was built in 1968 and is a controversial and prominent example of the brutalist architectural style. It was designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles with Campbell, Aldrich & Nulty, together with the surrounding plaza, City Hall is part of the Government Center complex, a major urban redesign effort in the 1960s. Most modern opinions of the building are negative, often calling it one of the worlds ugliest buildings, Boston City Hall was designed by Gerhard Kallmann, a Columbia University professor, and Michael McKinnell, a Columbia graduate student, who won an international, two-stage competition in 1962. Many of the elements in the design have seen as abstractions of classical design elements, such as the coffers. The designers designed City Hall as divided into three sections, aesthetically and also by use. The lowest portion of the building, the base, which is partially built into a hillside. The brick largely transfers over to the exterior of this section, the intermediate portion of City Hall houses the public officials, the Mayor, the City Council members, and the Council Chamber. The effect is of a city of concrete-sheltered structures cantilevered above the plaza. The cantilevers are supported by columns, spaced alternately at 14-foot-4-inch and 28-foot-8-inch. The upper stories contain the office space, used by civil servants not visited frequently by the public, such as the administrative. This bureaucratic nature is reflected in the window patterns, separated by pre-cast concrete fins. The top of the base was designed as an elevated courtyard melding the fourth floor of the city hall with the plaza. Because of security concerns, city officials in recent years blocked access to the courtyard and to the stairways to Congress Street. The courtyard is occasionally opened up for events, after 9/11 security was further increased. City Halls north entrance facing the plaza was barricaded with jersey barriers, all visitors entering the front and back entrances must pass through metal detectors. City Hall was constructed using mainly cast-in-place and precast Portland cement concrete, about half of the concrete used in the building was precast—roughly 22,000 separate components—and the other half was poured-in-place concrete. All of the used in the structure, excluding that of the columns, is mixed with a light
15.
Alain Robert
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Alain Robert is a French rock climber and urban climber, from Digoin, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. Because authorities will not normally give him permission for such dangerous exploits and his exploits attract crowds of onlookers who stop to watch him climb. As a consequence, Robert has been arrested many times, in various countries and his rock-climbing physical training and technique allow him to climb using the small protrusions of building walls and windows. Many of his climbs provide him no opportunity to rest and can last several hours and he sometimes has a small bag of climbing chalk powder fastened around his waist. Robert has climbed landmarks including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, in 1997 he climbed the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but was arrested at the 60th floor,28 floors below the top. In 1999 he climbed the Sears Tower, the man to do so after Dan Goodwin. In June 1999 Robert climbed the 170-metre Marriott Hotel in Warsaw, in February 2003, he legally climbed the 200-metre National Bank of Abu Dhabi, UAE, watched by about 100,000 spectators. It became more frequent for Robert to be paid to scale buildings as part of publicity efforts, in May 2003, he was paid approximately $18,000 to climb the 95-metre Lloyds building to promote the premiere of the movie Spider-Man on the British television channel Sky Movies. On 19 October 2004, he scaled the 187-metre headquarters of the French oil company Total while wearing a Spider-Man costume, Robert scaled Taipei 101 on 25 December 2004, a few days before its grand opening as the tallest building in the world. The 508-metre climb was legal, part of the weeks festivities, the skyscrapers outwardly slanting sides posed no apparent difficulty for him, but heavy rain resulted in a climb lasting four hours—double his estimate. On 11 June 2005 he climbed the Cheung Kong Centre in Hong Kong, scaling 283 metres to reach the top of the 62-story tower, on 1 September 2006, he climbed the tallest building in Lithuania and the Baltic States – Europa Tower,148 metres, in Vilnius. Wearing a black suit and using a safety rope, which he detached several times, he reached the deck of the building,114 metres. In 2006 he also climbed Torre Vasco da Gama in Portugal as part of an advertisement for Optimus and he finished the year climbing the Santa Fe World Plaza in Mexico City on 7 December 2006. On 23 February 2007, he climbed the headquarters building of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority on the coast of Abu Dhabi. On 20 March 2007, he climbed the Petronas Twin Towers. Upon reaching the 60th floor, he allowed himself to be apprehended and he flew the Malaysian flag and drew applause from waiting police, fire crew, and media representatives before handing himself in. He was handcuffed and escorted off the premises before being driven to a police station, on 31 May 2007, he scaled the 88-story Jin Mao Building in Shanghai—Chinas then tallest building, once again wearing a Spider-Man costume. He was later arrested and jailed for five days before being expelled from China, on 4 September 2007, he climbed the 244-metre Federation Tower office building in Moscow
16.
Asbestos
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They are commonly known by their colors, as blue asbestos, brown asbestos, white asbestos, and green asbestos. It was used in applications as electrical insulation for hotplate wiring. When asbestos is used for its resistance to fire or heat and these desirable properties made asbestos very widely used. Prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious and fatal illnesses including cancer, mesothelioma. Concern of asbestos-related illness in modern times began in the 20th century, by the 1980s and 1990s, asbestos trade and use were heavily restricted, phased out, or banned outright in an increasing number of countries. S. History and a much lesser legal issue in most other countries involved, asbestos-related liability also remains an ongoing concern for many manufacturers, insurers and reinsurers. Asbestos derives from the ancient Greek ἄσβεστος, meaning unquenchable or inextinguishable, the word is pronounced /æsˈbɛstəs/, /æzˈbɛstəs/ or /æzˈbɛstɒs/. Six mineral types are defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as asbestos including those belonging to the serpentine class, all six asbestos mineral types are known to be human carcinogens. The visible fibers are themselves composed of millions of microscopic fibrils that can be released by abrasion. Chrysotile is the member of the serpentine class. 12001-29-5, is obtained from rocks which are common throughout the world. Its idealized chemical formula is Mg34, chrysotile appears under the microscope as a white fiber. Chrysotile has been used more than any type and accounts for about 95% of the asbestos found in buildings in America. Chrysotile is more flexible than amphibole types of asbestos, and can be spun, the most common use was corrugated asbestos cement roofing primarily for outbuildings, warehouses and garages. It may also be found in sheets or panels used for ceilings and sometimes for walls, chrysotile has been a component in joint compound and some plasters. Amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite and actinolite are members of the amphibole class, one formula given for amosite is Fe7Si8O222. Amosite is seen under a microscope as a grey-white vitreous fiber and it is found most frequently as a fire retardant in thermal insulation products, asbestos insulating board and ceiling tiles. 12001-28-4, is the form of the amphibole riebeckite, found primarily in southern Africa
17.
Carcinogen
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A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer. This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes, several radioactive substances are considered carcinogens, but their carcinogenic activity is attributed to the radiation, for example gamma rays and alpha particles, which they emit. Common examples of non-radioactive carcinogens are inhaled asbestos, certain dioxins, although the public generally associates carcinogenicity with synthetic chemicals, it is equally likely to arise in both natural and synthetic substances. Carcinogens are not necessarily immediately toxic, thus their effect can be insidious, Cancer is any disease in which normal cells are damaged and do not undergo programmed cell death as fast as they divide via mitosis. Usually, severe DNA damage leads to apoptosis, but if the cell death pathway is damaged. Aflatoxin B1, which is produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus growing on stored grains, nuts and peanut butter, is an example of a potent, certain viruses such as hepatitis B and human papilloma virus have been found to cause cancer in humans. The first one shown to cause cancer in animals is Rous sarcoma virus, other infectious organisms which cause cancer in humans include some bacteria and helminths. Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds, benzene, kepone, EDB, vinyl chloride, from which PVC is manufactured, is a carcinogen and thus a hazard in PVC production. Co-carcinogens are chemicals that do not necessarily cause cancer on their own, after the carcinogen enters the body, the body makes an attempt to eliminate it through a process called biotransformation. The purpose of these reactions is to make the carcinogen more water-soluble so that it can be removed from the body, however, in some cases, these reactions can also convert a less toxic carcinogen into a more toxic carcinogen. DNA is nucleophilic, therefore soluble carbon electrophiles are carcinogenic, because DNA attacks them, for example, some alkenes are toxicated by human enzymes to produce an electrophilic epoxide. DNA attacks the epoxide, and is bound permanently to it and this is the mechanism behind the carcinogenicity of benzopyrene in tobacco smoke, other aromatics, aflatoxin and mustard gas. Carcinogenicity of radiation depends on the type of radiation, type of exposure, for example, alpha radiation has low penetration and is not a hazard outside the body, but emitters are carcinogenic when inhaled or ingested. Low-level ionizing radiation may induce irreparable DNA damage leading to pre-mature aging, not all types of electromagnetic radiation are carcinogenic. Higher-energy radiation, including radiation, x-rays, and gamma radiation, generally is carcinogenic. For most people, ultraviolet radiations from sunlight is the most common cause of skin cancer, in Australia, where people with pale skin are often exposed to strong sunlight, melanoma is the most common cancer diagnosed in people aged 15–44 years. Substances or foods irradiated with electrons or electromagnetic radiation are not carcinogenic, in contrast, non-electromagnetic neutron radiation produced inside nuclear reactors can produce secondary radiation through nuclear transmutation. Chemicals used in processed and cured such as some brands of bacon, sausages
18.
Jussieu Campus
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The Jussieu Campus is a higher education campus located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the campus of the Pierre and Marie Curie University. The Paris Diderot University, was originally located on the Jussieu campus. Many ties continue to exist between the two universities, because of reconstruction programs in progress, various facilities have been moved out of the campus to other parts of Paris. The campus was opened in 1951 and eventually it would host a part of the old faculty of sciences of the Sorbonne. Built on the site of the old Halle aux vins, a wine market created by Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1957, the first university buildings were built along the Eastern bank of the River Seine, and Rue Cuvier. In order to allow the wine. unclear to remain on the site, however, in 1964, with over 20,000 science students graduating high school, the old Sorbonne could not accommodate the influx of students. Cultural minister André Malraux entrusted the architect Édouard Albert with the task of constructing a new science campus on the site. Alberts grand vision of modular buildings, designed to facilitate interdisciplinary work and improve teaching, was never achieved. Most of the consists in a regular grid of 6-floor wings, at the points of intersection are staircases. The grid is built on a large elevated slab, and the wings do not reach to the bottom of the slab, underneath the slab are ground-level and underground facilities, including a car park. The main front of Jussieu is bounded by a 10 meter deep dry moat, the high security features of the campus are likely a response to the student riots that occurred in 1968 in this neighborhood. In the center of the campus is the Tour Zamansky, or Tour Jussieu, with 24 floors, certain research libraries are among the largest and with the widest selection of books in France. Campus restaurants are located in the northeast corner of the campus, the campus is generally decried as an architectural failure. The hollow space under the building wings enables wind to build up its force, the regular grid plan may be confusing, since it is sometimes difficult to know where one is located, especially since not all corridors allow through crossing. The most worrisome aspect of the Jussieu architecture is its use of asbestos as a fire retardant. Asbestos fibers are carcinogenic when inhaled, as a consequence, the use of asbestos in buildings is prohibited in France, but was not at the time when the campus was built. The risks are particularly acute for workers who maintain the building, in addition, the fire retardation is not considered sufficient, so that its metal frames would collapse in a large fire
19.
AccorHotels
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Accor S. A. using the brand name AccorHotels, is a French multinational hotel group, part of the CAC40 index, which operates in 95 countries. Headquartered in Paris, France, the group owns, operates and franchises 3,700 hotels representing several brands, from budget and economy lodgings to five-star hotels. In 1967, Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson founded the Société dinvestissement et dexploitation hôteliers hotel group, in 1974, they launched the Ibis brand with the opening of the Ibis Bordeaux. The following year, SIEH acquired the Courtepaille and Mercure brands, and in 1980 the Sofitel hotel brand, in 1982, the SIEH bought Jacques Borel International, the then world-leading brand offering restaurant vouchers. In 1983, the group, which had restaurant tickets and hotels, in 1985, it launched Hotel Formule 1 brand, offering basic accommodation at low prices. P. In the 1990s, it diversified to include Accor Casinos and in 2004, in June 2010, the shareholders of Accor approved the demerger of its hotel and voucher businesses. The two entities started trading as separate companies on the Paris stock exchange from 2 July 2011, in 2011, Accor introduced its new brand positioning with the slogan, Open new frontiers in hospitality. In November 2013, Accor redefined its business model on two core competencies, hotel operator and brand franchisor and hotel owner and investor. In October 2014, Accor transferred management of its Central European operations to Orbis, in December 2014, Accor announced an alliance with Huazhu to accelerate expansion in China. In June 2015, Accor became AccorHotels and adopted a new slogan Feel Welcome, in December 2015, Accor announced the purchase for US$2.9 billion in cash and shares of FRHI Hotels & Resorts, the owner of the Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel chains. The transaction adds landmark properties such as the Savoy Hotel in London, Raffles Hotel in Singapore, in 2016, AccorHotels acquired John Paul, the worldwide leader in concierge services. In 2017, the European group declared plans to three hotels in Ethiopia. In 2006, Gilles Pélisson, nephew of Accor co-founder Gerard Pélisson, took over the group as CEO, Accor appointed Serge Weinberg, head of Weinberg Capital Partners, chairman of the supervisory board. In February 2009, CEO Gilles Pélisson was appointed chairman and CEO, Gilles Pélisson was co-vice-president of the Novotel brand in 1994. In 2009, Denis Hennequin joined the board of directors. He stepped down in April 2013 and Yann Caillère was appointed CEO for a transitional period, in August 2013, Sebastien Bazin was named Chairman and CEO, replacing Yann Caillère who left the group. The companys head office, which houses the executive management, is located in the Immeuble Odyssey in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. This facility is the registered office
20.
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
21.
Arc de Triomphe
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The Arc de Triomphe should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I and it set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. Inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe has an height of 50 metres, width of 45 m. The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m high and 8.44 m wide, three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane under the archs primary vault, with the event captured on newsreel. Pariss Arc de Triomphe was the tallest triumphal arch until the completion of the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City in 1938, the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982, is modelled on the Arc de Triomphe and is slightly taller at 60 m. The Arc is located on the bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes, the architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811 and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. On 15 December 1840, brought back to France from Saint Helena, prior to burial in the Panthéon, the body of Victor Hugo was displayed under the Arc during the night of 22 May 1885. The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off on the day, it is said, the relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. On 7 August 1919, Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the Arc, Jean Navarre was the pilot who was tasked to make the flight, but he died on 10 July 1919 when he crashed near Villacoublay while training for the flight. Following its construction, the Arc de Triomphe became the point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns. Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. A United States postage stamp of 1945 shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background as victorious American troops march down the Champs-Élysées, after the interment of the Unknown Soldier, however, all military parades have avoided marching through the actual arch. The route taken is up to the arch and then around its side, out of respect for the tomb, both Hitler in 1940 and de Gaulle in 1944 observed this custom. By the early 1960s, the monument had grown very blackened from coal soot and automobile exhaust, and during 1965–1966 it was cleaned through bleaching. In the prolongation of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a new arch, after the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile, the Grande Arche is the third arch built on the same perspective. In 1995, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria placed a bomb near the Arc de Triomphe which wounded 17 people as part of a campaign of bombings, the astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin, in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe, Jean-Pierre Cortot, François Rude, Antoine Étex, James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire
22.
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. Its stated mission is to study and report on all aspects of the planning, design, the Council was founded at Lehigh University in 1969 by Lynn S. Beedle, where its office remained until October 2003 when it moved to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. The CTBUH ranks the height of buildings using three different methods, Height to architectural top, This is the criterion under which the CTBUH ranks the height of buildings. Heights are measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the top of the building, inclusive of spires but excluding items such as flagpoles and antennae. Highest occupied floor, Height to the level of the highest floor that is occupied by residents. Height to tip, Height to the highest point of the building, including antennae, flagpoles, a category measuring to the top of the roof was removed from the ranking criteria in November 2009. This became the CTBUH official definition of a building’s completion, the CTBUH maintains an extensive database of the tallest buildings in the world, organized by various categories. Buildings under construction are included, although not ranked until completion. The CTBUH also produces an annual list of the ten tallest buildings completed in that particular year. Second on the 2008 list was the 363-metre Almas Tower in Dubai, third was the Minsheng Bank Building in Wuhan which stands at 331 metres, whilst fourth was The Address Downtown Burj Dubai. All in all, six of the ten tallest buildings completed in 2008 are located in Asia, the CTBUH also hosts annual conferences and a World Congress every three to five years. The most recent World Congress was held in Shanghai between 19 and 21 September 2012, the next World Congress will be held in Shanghai between 16 and 19 September 2014. The CTBUH also bestows Tall Building Awards each year, with four awards to the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Among these four regional awards, one is given the Best Tall Building Award Overall, there are also two lifetime achievement awards. Starting in 2010, these awards are presented at a symposium, in 2012 the CTBUH added two new awards for Innovation and Performance. In addition to the newsletter and daily updated global news archive. The Journal includes peer-reviewed technical papers, in-depth project case studies, book reviews, interviews with prominent persons in the building industry. The CTBUH also publishes guidebooks, reference manuals, and monographs related to the building industry
23.
Emporis
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Emporis GmbH is a real estate data mining company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. The company collects and publishes data and photographs of buildings worldwide, Emporis offers a variety of information on its public database, Emporis. com, located at www. emporis. com. Emporis is frequently cited by media sources as an authority on building data. Emporis previously focused exclusively on high-rise buildings and skyscrapers, which it defines as buildings between 35 and 100 metres tall and at least 100 metres tall, respectively, today, the database has expanded to include low-rise buildings and other structures. Michael Wutzke started a website about skyscrapers in Frankfurt in 1996, in 2000 he started skyscrapers. com which was folded into Emporis in 2003. In 2004, Stephan R. Boehm assumed the role of Chairman, Wutzke was Chief Technology Officer and managing director until 2010, when he left the company. In 2007 venture capital firm Neuhaus Partners and KfW Bankengruppe invested several million Euro in the company, effective January 1,2009, the company moved its headquarters from Darmstadt to Frankfurt. In 2011, the company moved from Frankfurt to Hamburg, in 2000 a group of Emporis senior editors began presenting the Emporis Skyscraper Award. Eligible buildings are selected from a list of all buildings in the world at least 100 meters tall which were completed that year
24.
SkyscraperPage
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SkyscraperPage is an internet forum for skyscraper hobbyists and enthusiasts that tracks existing and proposed skyscrapers around the world. SkyscraperPage. com drawings have appeared in National Geographics website, Wired, Condé Nast, The Globe and they are based in Victoria, British Columbia. The site has a database of scale-model illustration skyscrapers and other major macro-engineering projects, the scale of the drawings are one pixel per meter. The images are created using pixel art, using these diagrams, skyscrapers and other tall structures from any cities can be compared. General information is given about each structure, such as the location, the year built, if available. In 2008, the site had over 22,000 custom made drawings of skyscrapers, there were 600 artists signed up with the site, about half of whom were active. List of Internet forums List of tallest buildings in the world
25.
BBC News
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BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the worlds largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, the service maintains 50 foreign news bureaux with more than 250 correspondents around the world. James Harding has been Director of News and Current Affairs since April 2013, the departments annual budget is in excess of £350 million, it has 3,500 staff,2,000 of whom are journalists. BBC News domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in Millbank in London. Through the BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England, as well as national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland, all nations and English regions produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes. As with all media outlets, though, it has been accused of political bias from across the political spectrum. The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin from radio station 2LO on 14 November 1922, on Easter weekend in 1930, this reliance on newspaper wire services left the radio news service with no information to report. The BBC gradually gained the right to edit the copy and, in 1934, however, it could not broadcast news before 6 PM until World War II. Gaumont British and Movietone cinema newsreels had been broadcast on the TV service since 1936, a weekly Childrens Newsreel was inaugurated on 23 April 1950, to around 350,000 receivers. The network began simulcasting its radio news on television in 1946, televised bulletins began on 5 July 1954, broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. The publics interest in television and live events was stimulated by Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953 and it is estimated that up to 27 million people viewed the programme in the UK, overtaking radios audience of 12 million for the first time. Those live pictures were fed from 21 cameras in central London to Alexandra Palace for transmission and that year, there were around two million TV Licences held in the UK, rising to over three million the following year, and four and a half million by 1955. This was then followed by the customary Television Newsreel with a commentary by John Snagge. It was revealed that this had been due to producers fearing a newsreader with visible facial movements would distract the viewer from the story. On-screen newsreaders were finally introduced a year later in 1955 – Kenneth Kendall, Robert Dougall, mainstream television production had started to move out of Alexandra Palace in 1950 to larger premises – mainly at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherds Bush, west London – taking Current Affairs with it. It was from here that the first Panorama, a new programme, was transmitted on 11 November 1953. On 28 October 1957, the Today programme, a radio programme, was launched in central London on the Home Service. In 1958, Hugh Carleton Greene became head of News and Current Affairs and he set up a BBC study group whose findings, published in 1959, were critical of what the television news operation had become under his predecessor, Tahu Hole
26.
Tour Les Poissons
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Tour Les Poissons is a 42-storey,129.5 m skyscraper completed in 1970 in Courbevoie, near La Défense business district, west of Paris, France. In 2006, the spire, a 22 m cylindrical concrete barometer that glowed, the design of Tour Les Poissons includes a white tower joined with a smaller black tower. The lower thirty floors of the building hold residential apartments, the difference in usages is visible from outside, as the office floors have wider windows. La Défense List of tallest structures in Paris
27.
Breda Tower
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Torre Breda is a 30-storey,117 m skyscraper in Milan, Italy. The tower was built in 1954 on a design by architect Luigi Mattioni, the eight floors of the lower body are devoted exclusively to offices, while the rest of the building houses residential apartments. The building is currently under restyling, torre Breda was the highest building in Italy when constructed, until 1960 when the 127 m Pirelli Tower was completed. It is now the fifth tallest building in Milan and the 13th in Italy, List of buildings in Milan List of tallest buildings in Italy
28.
Pirelli Tower
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Pirelli Tower, is a 32-storey,124.1 m skyscraper in Milan, Italy. The base of the building is 1,900 m2, with a length of 75.5 m, the construction used about 30,000 m3 of concrete. The building weighs about 70,000 t with a volume of 125,324 m3, characterized by a structural skeleton, curtain wall façades and tapered sides, it was among the first skyscrapers to abandon the customary block form. From its completion to 1995 it was the tallest building in Italy, Pirelli building was the inspiration for the design of the Pan Am Building in New York. In 1950 Alberto Pirelli, president and owner of the giant Pirelli tyre company, the project was developed by architect Gio Ponti, with the assistance of Pier Luigi Nervi and Arturo Danusso. Construction of the began in 1956 when Italy was experiencing an economic boom. The tower was to be surrounded by low lying buildings on a plot of land. Upon its completion in 1958, it became a not only of Milan. At 127 m, it was the tallest building in Italy at the time, the building was sold to the Lombardy regional administration in 1978. It has been the seat of the assembly until the completion of the new Palazzo Lombardia in 2010. Photo by Paolo Monti In the afternoon of 18 April 2002, a Rockwell Commander 112, the aircraft was apparently scheduled to fly from Locarno to Milan. The plane was low on fuel and Linate Airport was preparing an emergency landing prior to the crash, the pilot and two people inside the tower were killed in the accident. Architecture of Italy List of tallest buildings in Italy Terranova, Antonino, Valeria Manferto
29.
Messeturm
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The MesseTurm is a 63-storey,257 m skyscraper in the Westend-Süd district of Frankfurt, Germany. It is the second tallest building in Frankfurt, the second tallest building in Germany and it was the tallest building in Europe from its completion in 1991 until 1997 when it was surpassed by the Commerzbank Tower, which is also located in Frankfurt. The Messeturm is located near the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds, helmut Jahn designed the Messeturm in a postmodern architectural style. Despite its name, the Messeturm is not used for trade fair exhibitions, the Messeturm is similar in design to towers by other architects including the Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia and Key Tower in Cleveland, Ohio. Frankfurters often call it Bleistift due to its shape, the construction of the buildings foundation set a world record for the longest continuous concrete pour. Ninety trucks poured concrete for 78 hours into the 6-metre deep foundation and its ground floor area is just 1,681 m2, and features a 36.3 m pyramid at the top. The tower uses numerous geometric shapes in its design such as the square footprint which is the main shape used throughout the tower and it then rises to a cylindrical shape which finally completes in a pyramid, probably as expression of the masonry. It is one of the few buildings in Germany with their own code, the others being Opernturm, another Frankfurt skyscraper. There are 900 parking places in a parking garage and a direct connection to the subway. The building also appears in the European tileset for the game SimCity 4, List of tallest buildings in Frankfurt List of tallest buildings in Germany List of tallest buildings in the European Union List of tallest buildings in Europe
30.
Commerzbank Tower
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Commerzbank Tower is a 56-story,259 m skyscraper in the Innenstadt district of Frankfurt, Germany. An antenna spire with a light on top gives the tower a total height of 300.1 m. It is the tallest building in Frankfurt and the tallest building in Germany and it had been the tallest building in Europe from its completion in 1997 until 2003 when it was surpassed by the Triumph-Palace in Moscow. The Commerzbank Tower is only two metres taller than the Messeturm, which is located in Frankfurt. The Messeturm had been the tallest building in Europe before the construction of the Commerzbank Tower, Commerzbank Tower was designed by Foster & Partners, with Arup and Krebs & Kiefer, J. Roger Preston with P&A Petterson Ahrens, Schad & Hölzel. Construction of the began in 1994 and took three years to complete. The building provides 121,000 m2 of office space for the Commerzbank headquarters, including gardens and natural lighting. The building is lighted at night with a lighting scheme that was designed by Thomas Ende who was allowed to display this sequence as a result of a competition. In its immediate neighbourhood are other skyscrapers including the Eurotower, the Main Tower, the Silberturm, the Japan Center and the Gallileo, the area forms Frankfurts central business district, commonly known as Bankenviertel. When the building was planned in the early 1990s, Frankfurts Green Party, the result was the worlds first so-called ecological skyscraper, besides the use of sky-gardens, environmentally friendly technologies were employed to reduce energy required for heating and cooling. Commerzbank Tower is shaped as a 60-metre wide rounded equilateral triangle with a central, at nine different levels, the atrium opens up to one of the three sides, forming large sky gardens. These open areas allow more light in the building, reducing the need for artificial lighting. At the same time it ensures offices in the two other sides have a view of either the city or the garden. In order to eliminate the need of supporting columns in the sky gardens and it was the first skyscraper in Germany where steel was used as the main construction material. Commerzbank Tower appears in the Euro Contemporary tileset in SimCity 4, in 2007, Wrebbit released a 3D puzzle from the Towers Made To Scale Collection, which includes Commerzbank Tower and Messeturm in one box-set. List of tallest buildings in Frankfurt List of tallest buildings in Germany List of tallest buildings in the European Union List of skyscrapers Commerzbank Tower
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The Shard
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Standing 309.7 metres high, the Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom, the fourth-tallest building in Europe and the 107th-tallest building in the world. It is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, the Shards construction began in March 2009, it was topped out on 30 March 2012 and inaugurated on 6 July 2012. Practical completion was achieved in November 2012, the towers privately operated observation deck, The View from The Shard, was opened to the public on 1 February 2013. The glass-clad pyramidal tower has 72 habitable floors, with a gallery and open-air observation deck on the 72nd floor. It was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and replaced Southwark Towers, the Shard was developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned by Sellar Property and the State of Qatar. Sellar flew to Berlin in the spring of 2000 to meet the Italian architect Renzo Piano for lunch, the inquiry took place in April and May 2003, and on 19 November 2003, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced that planning consent had been approved. The government stated that, Mr Prescott would only approve skyscrapers of exceptional design, for a building of this size to be acceptable, the quality of its design is critical. He is satisfied that the tower is of the highest architectural quality. This enabled them to pay off the costs incurred and to buy out the Southwark Towers occupational lease from the buildings tenants. Vacant possession of the site was secured a year later, after PricewaterhouseCoopers completed the relocation of their operations, in September 2007, preparations for the demolition of Southwark Towers began. However, later that month, turbulence in the financial markets reportedly put the Shards construction in jeopardy. In November 2007, building contractor Mace was awarded the contract to build the Shard for a price of no more than £350 million. However, this increased to almost £435 million in October 2008. In April 2008, demolition of Southwark Towers was visibly under way, and by October, the building had been reduced in height. The demolition was completed in early 2009, and site preparation began for the construction of the Shard, in late 2007, the gathering uncertainty in the global financial markets sparked concerns about the viability of the Shard. However, in January 2008, Sellar announced that it had secured funding from a consortium of Qatari investors, the consortium included Qatar National Bank, QInvest, Qatari Islamic Bank and the Qatari property developer Barwa Real Estate, as well as Sellar Property. The deal involved a buyout of the Halabi and CLS Holdings stakes, the new owners promised to provide the first tranche of finance, allowing construction of the tower to begin. In 2009, the State of Qatar consolidated its ownership of London Bridge Quarter, including the Shard, London Bridge Quarter is today jointly owned by the State of Qatar and Sellar Property
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Tourism in Paris
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Tourism in Paris is a major income source for Paris and the city ranks in the worlds most visited cities. In 2013, the City of Paris welcomed 15.6 million international visitors, the Paris Region received 32.3 million visitors in 2013, putting it just ahead of London as the worlds top tourist destination region, measured by hotel occupancy. In the Paris region, the largest numbers of tourists came in order from Britain. In 2012,263,212 salaried workers in the city of Paris, or 18.4 percent of the number, were engaged in tourism-related sectors, hotels, catering, transport. In 2014 visitors to Paris spent 17 billion dollars, the third highest sum globally after London, the Eiffel Tower is acknowledged as the universal symbol of Paris and France. It was originally designed by Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, in March 1885 Gustave Eiffel, known primarily as a successful iron engineer, submitted a plan for a tower to the French Ministre du Commerce et de lIndustrie. He entered a competition for students studying at the university, the winning proposal would stand as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition. Eiffels was one of over 100 submissions, eiffels proposal was finally chosen in June 1886. Even before its construction, the Towers uniqueness was noticed, the Eiffel Tower was finally inaugurated on March 31,1889. Currently about 6.9 million people visit the Eiffel tower each year, Centre Georges Pompidou was officially opened on January 31,1977 by President Valéry Giscard dEstaing. The designers of Pompidou are Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, the Centre Pompidou has had over 150 million visitors since 1977. Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil, in 1997 renovations had begun to drastically change the interior spaces of the Centre Pompidou. The renovation also developed the capacity to host the performing arts. The Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile is one of the most famous monuments in Paris and it stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It should not be confused with an arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. The Arc de Triomphe is the linchpin of the historic axis – a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, the Musée dOrsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It started to be constructed in 1897 and was designed by Gae Aulenti, Victor Laloux, the Musée dOrsay is an art museum for works from 1848 to 1914 and has an emphasis on French Impressionism artwork
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Landmarks in Paris
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This article presents the main landmarks in the City of Paris within its administrative limits divided by the 20 Arrondissements of Paris. Landmarks located in the suburbs of Paris, outside of its administrative limits, the 1st arrondissement forms much of the historic centre of Paris. The old Halles were demolished in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles, the central market of Paris, the biggest wholesale food market in the world, was transferred to Rungis, in the southern suburbs. The former Conciergerie prison held some prominent Ancien Régime members before their deaths during the French Revolution, the 2nd arrondissement of Paris lies to the north of the 1st. The Boulevard des Capucines, Boulevard Montmartre, Boulevard des Italiens, Rue de Richelieu, also of note are the Académie Julian, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Café Anglais and Galerie Vivienne. The 3rd arrondissement is located to the northeast of the 1st, Le Marais is a trendy district spanning the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. It is architecturally very well preserved, and some of the oldest houses and it is a very culturally open place, known for its Chinese, Jewish and gay communities. Several hotels are located in this district including Hôtel de Guénégaud, the 4th arrondissement is located to the east of the 1st. Place de la Bastille is a district of historical significance, for not just Paris. Bibliothèque de lArsenal, La Force Prison, Centre Georges Pompidou, roads running through the 4th arrondissement include Rue Charlemagne, Rue de Rivoli, Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, and Rue des Rosiers. It is known for its atmosphere and many bistros. The Panthéon church is where many of Frances illustrious men and women are buried, the 6th arrondissement, to the south of the centre and Seine has numerous hotels and restaurants and also educational institutions. Among the museums located in the 6th arrondissement are the Musée Bible et Terre Sainte, Musée dAnatomie Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière, Musée Dupuytren, and Musée Edouard Branly. A symbol of the Revolution are the two Statues of Liberty located on the Île aux Cygnes in the Luxembourg Garden of the 6th arrondissement and on the Seine between the 15th and 16th arrondissements. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to the United States in 1886, the Odéon-Théâtre de lEurope is located in this district, as is the Luxembourg Palace. The Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf, and Pont Saint-Michel bridges lead across the Seine to the historic centre, the 7th arrondissement lies to the southwest of the centre, across the Seine. The Eiffel Tower is the most famous landmark of the 7th arrondissement and it was a temporary construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition, but was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris, instantly recognized throughout the World. The Axe historique is a line of monuments, buildings, many hotels are located in this district including Hôtel Biron, Hôtel de Castries, Hôtel de Conti, Hôtel de Mademoiselle de Condé, Hôtel du Châtelet, and Hôtel Matignon
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Paris Bourse
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The Paris Bourse is the historical Paris stock exchange, known as Euronext Paris from 2000 onwards. The building, known as the Palais Brongniart, is located in the Place de la Bourse, in the II arrondissement, historically, stock trading took place at several spots in Paris, including rue Quincampoix, rue Vivienne, and the back of the Opéra Garnier. Brogniart had spontaneously submitted his project, which was a rectangular neoclassical Roman temple with a giant Corinthian colonnade enclosing a vaulted and arcaded central chamber and his designs were greatly admired by Napoleon and won Brogniart a major public commission at the end of his career. Initially praised, the building was attacked for academic dullness. The authorities had required Brogniart to modify his designs, and after Brogniarts death in 1813, Labarre altered them even further, from 1901 to 1905 Jean-Baptiste-Frederic Cavel designed the addition of two lateral wings, resulting in a cruciform plan with innumerable columns. According to the architectural historian Andrew Ayers, these alterations did nothing to improve the reputation of this uninspiring monument. From the second half of the 19th century, official stock markets in Paris were operated by the Compagnie des agents de change, the number of dealers in each of the different trading areas of the Bourse was limited. There were around 60 agents de change, in Paris, only agents de change could receive a commission, at a rate fixed by law, for acting as an intermediary. However, parallel arrangements were usual in order to some clients quote. The Commodities Exchange was housed in the building until 1889. Moreover, until about the middle of the 20th century, a market known as La Coulisse was in operation. Until the late 1980s, the market operated as an open outcry exchange, in 1986, the Paris Bourse started to implement an electronic trading system. This was known generically as CATS, but the Paris version was called CAC, by 1989, quotations were fully automated. The Palais Brongniart hosted the French financial derivatives exchanges MATIF and MONEP, in the late 1990s, the Paris Bourse launched the Euronext initiative, an alliance of several European stock exchanges. List of works by James Pradier External sculpture Lehmann, P. -J,1991 La Bourse de Paris, Paris, Dunod. 1997 Histoire de la Bourse de Paris, Paris, PUF, muniesa, F.2005 Contenir le marché, la transition de la criée à la cotation électronique à la Bourse de Paris, Sociologie du Travail 47, 485-501. Walker, D. A.2001 A factual account of the functioning of the nineteenth-century Paris Bourse, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 8, 186-207. Foucault, T. and Hillion, P.1997 Microstructure des marchés financiers, institutions, modèles et tests empiriques, Paris, hamon, J.1995 Marché dactions, architecture et microstructure, Paris, Economica
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Catacombs of Paris
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The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of the ancient Mines of Paris tunnel network. Nightly processions of bones from 1786 to 1788 transferred remains from cemeteries to the reinforced tunnels, the Catacombs are among the 14 City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées since January 1,2013. The catacombs are known formally as lOssuaire Municipal or Catacombes officiels and have been called The Worlds Largest Grave due to the number of remains buried. Although the ossuary comprises only a section of the underground carrières de Paris. Paris earliest burial grounds were to the outskirts of the Roman-era Left Bank city. Thus, instead of burying its dead away from inhabited areas as usual, by the end of the same century Saints Innocents was neighbour to the principal Parisan marketplace Les Halles, and already filled to overflowing. To make room for more burials, the long-dead were exhumed and their bones packed into the roofs, much of the Left Bank area rests upon rich Lutetian limestone deposits. This stone built much of the city, but it was extracted in suburban locations away from any habitation, Paris had annexed its suburbs many times over the centuries, and by the 18th century many of its arrondissements were or included previously mined territories. This resulted in the creation of the inspection Générale des Carrières service, the need to eliminate Les Innocents gained urgency from May 30,1780, when a basement wall in a property adjoining the cemetery collapsed under the weight of the mass grave behind it. The cemetery was closed to the public and all intra muros burials were forbidden after 1780, the problem of what to do with the remains crowding intra muros cemeteries was still unresolved. Lenoir endorsed the idea of moving Parisian dead to the subterranean passageways that were renovated during 1782, after deciding to further renovate the Tombe-Issoire passageways for their future role as an underground sepulchre, the idea became law during late 1785. It would take two years to empty the majority of Paris cemeteries, cemeteries whose remains were moved to the Catacombs include Saints-Innocents, Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Madeleine Cemetery, Errancis Cemetery, and Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux. In addition to directing the stacking of skulls and femurs into the patterns seen in the catacombs today, also created was a room dedicated to the display of the various minerals found under Paris, and another showing various skeletal deformities found during the catacombs creation and renovation. Later they opened for daily visits. After an incident of vandalism, the Catacombs were closed to the public during September 2009, the entry to the catacombs is in the western pavilion of the former Barrière dEnfer city gate. Soon after, they find themselves before a stone portal, the ossuary entry, CEST İCİ LEMPİRE DE LA MORT. Beyond begin the halls and caverns of walls of carefully arranged bones, along the way there are other monuments created in the years before catacomb renovations, such as a source-gathering fountain baptised La Samaritaine because of later-added engravings. There are also rusty gates blocking passages leading to other parts of the catacombs – many of these are either un-renovated or were too un-navigable for regular tours
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Conciergerie
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The Conciergerie is a building in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, formerly a prison but presently used mostly for law courts. It was part of the royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which consisted of the Conciergerie, Palais de Justice. Hundreds of prisoners during the French Revolution were taken from the Conciergerie to be executed by guillotine at a number of locations around Paris, the west part of the island was originally the site of a Merovingian palace, and was known initially as the Palais de la Cité. From the 10th to the 14th centuries it was the palace of the medieval Kings of France. During the reigns of Louis IX and Philippe IV the Merovingian palace was extended and fortified more extensively, Louis IX added the Sainte-Chapelle and associated galleries, while Philippe IV created the towered facade on the Seine river side and a large hall. Both are excellent examples of French religious and secular architecture of the period, the Sainte-Chapelle was built in the French royal style to house the crown of thorns that was brought back from the Crusades and to serve as a royal chapel. The Grande Salle was one of the largest in Europe, and its lower story and it was used as a dining room for the 2,000 staff members who worked in the palace. It was heated with four fireplaces and lit by many windows. It was also used for banquets and judicial proceedings. The neighboring Salle des Gardes was used as an antechamber to the Great Hall immediately above, the early Valois kings continued to modify the palace during the 14th century, but Charles V abandoned the palace during 1358, relocating across the river to the Louvre Palace. The palace continued to serve a function and still included the chancellery. In the kings absence, he appointed a concierge to command of the palace, during 1391, part of the building was converted for use as a prison and took its name from the ruling office. Its prisoners were a mixture of common criminals and political prisoners, in common with other prisons of the time, the treatment of prisoners was dependent on their wealth, status and associates. Wealthy or influential prisoners usually got their own cells with a bed, desk, less-well-off prisoners could afford to pay for simply furnished cells known as pistoles, which would be equipped with a rough bed and perhaps a table. The poorest, known as the pailleux from the paille that they slept on, would be confined to dark, damp, vermin-infested cells known as oubliettes. In keeping with the name, they were left to live or die in conditions that were ideal for the plague and other infectious diseases, the building was extended during the reigns of later kings with Frances first public clocks being installed about 1370. The current clock dates from 1535, despite lasting only ten months, the Reign of Terror had a profound effect on France. More than 40,000 people died from execution and imprisonment, the National Convention enacted the Law of Suspects on September 17,1793
37.
Flame of Liberty
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The monument, which measures approximately 3.5 metres in height, is a sculpture of a flame, executed in gilded copper, supported by a pedestal of gray-and-black marble. It is located near the end of the Pont de lAlma, on the Place de lAlma. It was offered to the city of Paris in 1989 by the International Herald Tribune on behalf of donors who had contributed approximately $400,000 for its fabrication and it represented the culmination of that newspapers 1987 celebration of its hundredth anniversary of publishing an English-language daily newspaper in Paris. This project was overseen by the director of the French craft unions at that time, Jacques Graindorge. He foresaw an installation of the Flame of Liberty in a square called Place des États-Unis in the 16th arrondissement. After a protracted period of negotiations, it was decided that the Flame would be placed in an area near the intersection of lAvenue de New-York. The monument was dedicated on May 10,1989 by Chirac, on the base of the monument, a commemorative plaque recounts the following story, The Flame of Liberty. An exact replica of the Statue of Libertys flame offered to the people of France by donors throughout the world as a symbol of the Franco-American friendship, on the occasion of the centennial of the International Herald Tribune. Anthropologist Guy Lesoeurs said, Most people who come here think this was built for her, a new Flame of Liberty, a sculpture by Jean Cardot, was unveiled on June 14,2008. It symbolizes the warm and respectful relations between the French and the Americans
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Grand Palais
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The structure was built in the style of Beaux-Arts architecture as taught by the École des Beaux-Arts of Paris. One of its pediments calls it a “monument dedicated by the Republic to the glory of French art”, reflecting its original purpose, a monumental bronze quadriga by Georges Récipon tops each wing of the main façade. The one on the Champs-Élysées side depicts Immortality prevailing over Time, the grand inauguration took place 1 May 1900, and from the very beginning the palace was the site of different kinds of shows in addition to the intended art exhibitions. These included a competition that took place annually from 1901 to 1957, but were mainly dedicated to innovation and modernity, the automobile, aviation, household appliances. The golden age of the art exhibitions as such lasted for thirty years. The builders attempted to compensate for this subsidence, and for a tendency of the ground to shift, by sinking supporting posts down to firmer soil and these measures were only partially successful. Further damage occurred once the building was in use, additional problems due to the construction of the building itself revealed themselves over the course of time. Differential rates of expansion and contraction between cast iron and steel members, for example, allowed for water to enter, leading to corrosion and further weakening. When finally one of the ceiling panels fell in 1993, the main space had to be closed for restoration work. The Palais served as a hospital during World War I. The Nazis put the Palais to use during the Occupation of France in World War II, first used as a truck depot, the Palais then housed two Nazi propaganda exhibitions. The Parisian resistance used the Grand Palais as a headquarters during the Liberation of Paris, on 23 August 1944 an advancing German column was fired upon from a window on the Avenue de Sèlves, and the Germans responded with a tank attack upon the Palais. The attack ignited hay that was set up for a circus show, by 26 August, American jeeps were parked in the nave, followed by tanks from the French 2nd Armored Division, completing the liberation of the building. The buildings west wing contains a science museum, the Palais de la Découverte. The couture fashion house Chanel annually hosts many of its fashion shows here, setting up elaborate and expensive surroundings for its models and it was the host venue of the 2010 World Fencing Championships. This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish Wikipedia, official Grand Palais website The Grand Palais, current photographs, and photographs from the 1900s. New recent pictures and great information on the Grand Palais Paris Félix Charpentier, photos from the rooftops of the Grand Palais
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Petit Palais
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The Petit Palais is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, the Petit Palais is located across from the Grand Palais on Avenue Nicolas II, today Avenue Winston-Churchill. The other façades of the face the Seine and Avenue des Champs-Elysees. The Petit Palais is one of 14 museums of the City of Paris that have incorporated since January 1,2013. In 1894 a competition was held for the 1900 Exhibition area, the Palais de lIndustrie from the 1855 World’s Fair was considered unfitting and was to be replaced by something new for the 1900 Exhibition. Architects had the option to do what they pleased with the Palais de l’Industrie, in the end, Charles Girault won the competition and built the Petit Palais as one of the buildings that replaced the Palais de l’Industrie. The construction of the Petit Palais began on October 10,1897 and was completed in April 1900, the total cost of the Petit Palais at the time of the construction was 400,000 pounds. Charles Girault largely draws on the seventeenth and early eighteenth century French style for the Petit Palais. Additionally his work, such as the central porch and the triple arcade, has many references to the stables at Chantilly. Girault’s plan for the Petit Palais had minimal alterations from the design to the execution, the plan was original and fit perfectly in its given location. The Petit Palais is a shape with its larger side as the main façade facing the Grand Palais. The building’s shape makes a semi-circular courtyard at the center, the Beaux-Arts style Petit Palais was designed by Charles Girault, and is around an octi-circular courtyard and garden, similar to the Grand Palais. Its ionic columns, grand porch, and dome echo those of the Invalides across the river, the tympanum depicting the city of Paris surrounded by muses is the work of sculptor Jean Antoine Injalbert. The Petit Palais was built to be a building that would become a permanent fine arts museum after the exhibition. The materials of the building—stone, steel, and concrete as well as the decoration were to demonstrate that the Petit Palais was built to be enduring, the main façade of the building faces the Grand Palais. The focal point of the façade is the entrance, “a central archway set in an archivolt topped by a dome. Two wings flank the main entrance and these wings, continuing to the end pavilions, are embellished with free-standing columns that frame the tall windows. The exterior of the pavilions are embellished with arched windows from the side around to the rear façades and these grand windows provide side lighting for the outer three galleries of the interior museum
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Institut de France
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The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française. The Institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and it also awards prizes and subsidies, which amounted to a total of €5,028,190.55 for 2002. Most of these prizes are awarded by the Institute on the recommendation of the académies, the Institut de France was established on 25 October 1795, by the French government. Académie française – initiated 1635, suppressed 1793, restored 1803 as a division of the institute, Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres – initiated 1663. Académie des sciences – initiated 1666, the Royal Society of Canada, initiated 1882, was modeled after the Institut de France and the Royal Society of London
41.
Les Invalides
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Louis XIV initiated the project by an order dated 24 November 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers, the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant, the selected site was in the then suburban plain of Grenelle. By the time the project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 196 metres and the complex had fifteen courtyards. It was then felt that the veterans required a chapel, Jules Hardouin-Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel was finished in 1679 to Bruants designs after the elder architects death. This chapel was known as Église Saint-Louis des Invalides, and daily attendance of the veterans in the services was required. Shortly after the chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme from its most striking feature. The domed chapel was finished in 1708, because of its location and significance, the Invalides served as the scene for several key events in French history. On 14 July 1789 it was stormed by Parisian rioters who seized the cannons, Napoleon was entombed under the dome of the Invalides with great ceremony in 1840. In December 1894 the degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus was held before the main building, the building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans until the early twentieth century. In 1872 the musée dartillerie was located within the building to be joined by the musée historique des armées in 1896, the two institutions were merged to form the present musée de larmée in 1905. At the same time the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centres outside Paris, the building accordingly became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex does however include the facilities detailed below for about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers. On the north front of Les Invalides Hardouin-Mansarts chapel dome is large enough to dominate the long façade, at its far end, the Pont Alexandre III links this grand urbanistic axis with the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais. The Pont des Invalides is next, downstream the Seine river, the Hôpital des Invalides spurred William III of England to emulation, in the military Greenwich Hospital of 1694. The buildings still comprise the Institution Nationale des Invalides, an institution for disabled war veterans. The institution comprises, a retirement home a medical and surgical centre a centre for medical consultations. In 1676 Jules Hardouin-Mansart was commissioned with the construction of a place of worship on the site and he designed a building which combined a royal chapel with a veterans chapel. In this way, the King and his soldiers could attend mass simultaneously, while entering the place of worship though different entrances, when the Army Museum at Les Invalides was founded in 1905, the veterans chapel was placed under its administrative control
42.
Louvre Pyramid
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The Louvre Pyramid is a large glass and metal pyramid designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The large pyramid serves as the entrance to the Louvre Museum. Completed in 1989, it has become a landmark of the city of Paris, commissioned by the President of France, François Mitterrand, in 1984, it was designed by the architect I. M. Pei. The structure, which was constructed entirely with glass segments and metal poles, reaches a height of 21.6 metres and its square base has sides of 34 metres and a base surface area of 1,000 square metres. It consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments, the pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. of Montreal and Rice Francis Ritchie of Paris. Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then re-ascend into the main Louvre buildings, for design historian Mark Pimlott, I. M. Pei’s plan distributes people effectively from the central concourse to myriad destinations within its vast subterranean network. Several other museums have duplicated this concept, most notably the Museum of Science, the Dolphin Centre, featuring a similar pyramid, was opened in April 1982, by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The construction work on the base and underground lobby was carried out by the Vinci construction company. In 1839, according to one account, in ceremonies commemorating the glorious revolution of 1830, The tombs of the Louvre were covered with black hangings. In front and in the middle was erected a monument of a pyramidical shape. The construction of the pyramid triggered many years of strong and lively aesthetic, Pei being insufficiently French to be entrusted with the task of updating the treasured Parisian landmark. Meanwhile, Political critics referred to the structure as Pharaoh Francois Pyramid, while some continue to feel the harsh modernism of the edifice is out of place, others consider the juxtaposition of contrasting architectural styles a successful merger of the old and the new. During the design phase, there was a proposal that the design include a spire on the pyramid to simplify window washing, Pei objected, however, and this proposal was eliminated. It has been claimed by some that the glass panes in the Louvre Pyramid number exactly 666, the story of the 666 panes originated in the 1980s, when the official brochure published during construction did indeed cite this number. The number 666 was also mentioned in various newspapers, the Louvre museum, however, states that the finished pyramid contains 673 glass panes. A higher figure was obtained by David A. Shugarts, who reports that the pyramid contains 689 pieces of glass, Shugarts obtained the figure from the Peis offices. The side with the entrance, however, has 11 panes fewer, however, David A. Shugarts reports that according to a spokeswoman of the offices of Pei, the French President never specified the number of panes to be used in the pyramid. La Pyramide Inversée is a skylight in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum and it looks like an upside-down and smaller version of the Louvre Pyramid
