If you have ever been to Paris around Christmas, chances are you’ll have seen the Christmas lights on the Champs Élysées.
The Champs Élysées in 2008
Electric street lights came into existence in Paris at the end of 19th century, but only in the most frequented areas. It was only after the World Fair of 1881 that the “electricity fairy” began to be perceived as a universal service. In 1883, the department store Le Printemps is the first to be lighted entirely by electric lights. The other Grands Magasins (department stores) follow, with impressive light displays year after year: the BHV Marais, the Galeries Lafayette, the Samaritaine, and the Bon Marché.
The Galeries Lafayette in 2007
As for the Champs Élysées, the “Illuminations de Noël” or Christmas lights, start at the end of November and last till the beginning of January. Each year, a celebrity is invited to switch on the lights on the first night. In order to save energy, not only are all lights LED, but as of 2022, the duration has been shortened by one week and finishes on January 2nd, 2023. The lights are switched off two hours earlier than usual, at 23h45.
World Fairs, or universal exhibitions, exist since the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Since 1931, they are overseen and regulated by the International Bureau of Expositions. The first World Fair was held in London in 1851. It is said to have been inspired by the French Exposition nationale des produits de l’industrie agricole and the Exposition des produits de l’industrie française, the latter having existed since 1798.
Prior to 1931, 20 World Fairs were held, five of those in Paris. As in other countries, these Expositions universelles, despite consisting mostly of temporary structures, have left a mark on the host city.
1855
The Palais de L’Industrie was built on the Champs Élysées. It was inaugurated by Napoléon III and was the emblem of the World Fair which had over five million visitors. Contrary to the Crystal Palace of the 1851 London World Fair, the Palais de l’Industrie was meant to become a permanent exhibition space.
1867
The second World Fair to be held in Paris took place on the Champ de Mars, as decided by emperor Napoléon III three years prior. The transformation of Paris by Baron Haussmann had just been completed. On the Champ de Mars, a military site, a giant oval building was constructed, the Palais Omnibus. A young entrepreneur specializing in metallic structures, was tasked with building the galérie des machines, where cranes, weaving looms, machine tools, power hammers, locomotives etc. would be displayed. His name was Gustave Eiffel.
1878
The third Paris World Fair was again held on the Champ de Mars. For the occasion, the Palais du Trocadéro was built on the opposite bank of the Seine, on the Chaillot hill (la colline de Chaillot).
No longer does the Palais du Trocadéro stand on the colline du Chaillot!
One of the main attractions of the exhibit was the head of the Statue of Liberty, and among the inventions presented was Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
1889
The tenth World Fair and fourth to be held in Paris, celebrated the centenary of the French Revolution. As a result, European monarchies refuse to attend. However, some of them were represented by private initiatives. The Fair was held mainly on the Champ de Mars but also on the Esplanade des Invalides.
Champ de Mars
Esplanade des Invalides
Its main attraction, while controversial at the time and destined to be dismantled after the end of the fair, can still be visited there today.
1900
The fifth Paris World Fair was no longer restricted to the Champ de Mars. While previous World Fairs already includes the Jardins du Trocadéro on the south-eastern slope of the Colline de Chaillot and the Esplanade des Invalides, this fair also occupies the riverbanks on both sides of the Seine, from the new Pont Alexandre III to the Pont d’Iéna.
Pont Alexandre III with Grand Palais in the background
While the Pont d’Iéna links the Champ de Mars to the Trocadéro, the Pont Alexandre III links the Esplanade des Invalides on the left bank to the Champs Élysées on the right bank. Two palaces were built for this World Fair in the place of the Palais de l’Industrie, demolished in 1896: the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.
Aerial view of the Grand and the Petit Palais
The Petit Palais
Of those five Expositions universelles held in Paris, it is the 1900 one that has left behind the most landmarks and structures still in existence. Not only the Pont Alexandre III built in a way to allow for a view from the Champs Élysées past the Grand and Petit Palais and across the river to the Esplanade des Invalides and the Invalidesitself, but also the Gare d’Orsay (today Musée d’Orsay), the Statue of Liberty on the Pont de Grenelle, and, above all, the first sections of the Métropolitain, inaugurated on July 19, 1900.
The Musée d’Orsay still looks like the train station it once was.
The Statue of Liberty on the Pont de Grenelle
early métro trains looked like this
Take a ride on métro line 1, the first métro line which, at its inauguration in 1900, ran from Porte de Vincennes to Porte Maillot.
When you find yourself with an avalanche of human bones in your basement, you know it’s time for change.
Which is what the city of Paris did when exactly that happened to neighbors of the Cimetière des Innocents in 1774. Looking for a place to store the bones from the overflowing inner-city cemetery, they came up with the idea to put them in the decommissioned stone quarries underneath the city.
After arrangements had been made, bones from the various cemeteries of Paris, Les Innocents included, were carted to a chute in the avenue René Coty (near Place Denfert-Rochereau) to be stored underground. The name Catacombes was borrowed from Ancient Rome, even though there were no graves and funerary monuments. At first, the bones were stacked along the tunnels over hundreds of meters. It was only after the first VIP visits at the beginning of the 19th century that the bones were somewhat organized. More cemeteries had to be closed as the city grew, and their bones were added to the ones already in residence.
Signs were added to indicate the cemetery of origin, and the gravediggers arranged skulls and bones in patterns that can still be seen today.
In 1809, the Catacombes became a museum that today is part of the Musée Carnavalet and gives visitors access to a small fraction of the tunnel network of Paris’ ancient stone quarries.
In one of the first sections of the visit, sculptures made by a quarryman in the late 18th century can be seen. They represent sites from Port-Mahon on the Spanish island of Minorca where he was said to have been a POW.
There used to be a long line of visitors starting out from the old entrance and winding back around the square behind the eastern lodge of the barriére d’Enfer (entry point of the General Farmers’ Tax Wall), but recently, it was closed in favor of a new entrance, and the ticket sale has shifted online, so now visitors can book their spot in advance and don’t need to queue any longer.
old entrance
new entrance
exit at 21 avenue René Coty
signage in the métro station Denfert-Rocherreau
N° 2: Catacombes entrance, n° 5: Catacombes exitLocation of the Catacombes entrances on a map of Paris
The European Heritage Days, based on an initiative of the then French Minister for Culture, Jack Lang, in 1984, now exist in 50 countries across Europe. In France, the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, take place on the third weekend of September. This means sites that are usually closed to the public will be open, other sites will be free of charge, many will offer special activities and/or guided tours. Some will require reservations, but many will just let you drop in, from well-known institutions in big cities to ancient buildings in small villages. Often there will be activities for younger visitors.
At some point, when you got in line at 5am at the Elysée Palace, you might be lucky and shake hands with the president, or do the same with the prime minister after queuing at the Hôtel Matignon. I once stood in line at the Senate, the Palais du Luxembourg and indeed met the president of the Senate, the upper house of Parliament. He is the third person of the state in order of importance, after the president and the prime minister, and before the president of the national assembly.
Gérard Larcher, President of the French Senate
I am not sure though if you still queue for these institutions nowadays or sign up online, as I did to visit the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, more recently.
When you choose your visits, don’t overlook small events. You never know a hidden gem until you find it. For example, on year in the Latin Quarter, a college offered the visit of ongoing preventive archaeology digs – it turned out there were Gallo-Roman ruins on a site marked for construction, and archaeologists were trying to unearth and save as much as they could. This is something that will never be seen again!
Here are glimpses of some other interesting places I’ve visited during Heritage Days in and around Paris over the years:
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The Garde Républicaine
The Jeu de Paume (ancestor of tennis) court at Fontainebleau Palace – that’s me playing!
The minister’s desk at the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs at Quai d’Orsay
The French Senate
King George VI’s bathtub at the French Foreign Ministry
Paris-plages (Paris Beach, or more accurately, Paris Beaches) operates every summer within the period of mid-July to the end of August. Its exact duration has evolved since its inception in 2002. A 3.5km-long stretch of the expressway (now pedestrianized year round) along the river on the right bank accommodates the sorts of installations and activities you would find by the sea – palm trees, deckchairs, hammocks, strand bars, sports activities etc.
From 2002 to 2016, actual sand was provided, allowing kids to build sandcastles (the “building tools” were also provided) and city-dwellers to feel the sand under their feet. The sand delivery partnership was cancelled by the City of Paris after 2016, citing political reasons.
Paris-plage with and without sand (2016 vs. 2018)
The very first edition of Paris-plage in 2002, seen by night
The origins of the beach operation go back to 1996, when the town of Saint Quentin in the north of France, opened a beach in front of city hall. But it was only when Paris picked up the idea in 2002 that cities and towns big and small all over France and across the world copied it. Even my small town in the suburbs has its beach, including hammocks, swimming pool, and a giant water slide.
Paris added additional sites, such as the beach volleyball fields outside city hall, and the Bassin de la Villette in the 19tharrondissement, hence the change from Paris-plage to Paris-plages (plural).
Some years, the Louvre museum offers activities, a small library is set up along with a board games library, pools (since swimming in the Seine is scheduled only for the Paris Olympics in 2024), sports activities such as Tai Chi, yoga, boxing, beach volleyball, dancing and much more. There are water misters installed to help people stay cool, and of course the essential deck chairs and sunshades!
I want to encourage you to open your eyes and look around you when you visit Paris. There are two kinds of tourists I see: those who are herded around in groups by tour guides and ferried from one stop to the next in coaches, and those who explore the town by themselves. This is for you, those who don’t follow a tour guide. Who walk until your feet hurt instead of taking the metro so you don’t miss out on anything.
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Look at that red brick building! It says on the façade “Bains douches municipaux”. These are public baths and showers, provided by the City of Paris, with individual cabins. You have to bring your own soap and towel, though.
Look down! Isn’t that a magnificent hopscotch mosaic?
Have you seen this building? It’s the narrowest house of Paris. Can you imagine what the rooms inside must look like? I wonder how much space is allocated to the staircase.
When the Grand Mosque of Paris meets Haussmann buildings, the contrast looks like this.
The Mosque is located in the 5th arrondissement. It was building about one hundred years ago in the Spanish-Moorish revisal style, and it’s minaret is 33m tall.
Sometimes it’s just another Haussmann façade. Remember Baron Haussmann and his transformation of Paris, liking to the kind-of-uniformized façade style? If you look closely, you’ll see the little differences even between two neighboring Haussmann buildings.
Sometimes, you just turn into a street, and there’s this totally not Haussmann building with huge stained-glass windows, but definitely not a religious building, and when you read the inscription above the windows, it says “Compagnie Parisienne de distribution d’électricité” – Paris Electricity Distribution Company.
Prior to the 19th century, stock trading took place in different spots of Paris. Napoleon Ier instigated the construction of a building to provide a stable location for stock trading activities. Paris being Paris, the construction works running from 1808 to 1826 yielded not just any building but a palace – the Palais Brongniart.
The Bourse de Paris was integrated into Euronext in the year 2000, and today the Palais Brongniart has become a convention center, offering 4 000m² of exhibition surface and accommodating 200 000 visitors per year.
To celebrate, I’ll go back to the beginning and share some fun facts of the Eiffel Tower.
The Tower takes its name from its architect, Gustave Eiffel.
Construction of the Tower took 2 years.
It was built for the World Fair of 1889, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.
Originally 312m high, the Eiffel Tower was the highest building in the word l for 40 years.
The highest viewing platform, the upper level of the third floor, is at 279,11m, the highest observation platform in the European Union and the second-highest in Europe:
The antennas at the top of the tower are used for the transmission of radio and digital tv signals.
For the fireworks of the national holiday Bastille Day on July 14, the Eiffel tower is incorporated into the show.
The name of this métro station on line 10 indicates two important sites it serves – the Sorbonne University and the Hôtel de Cluny which houses the Musée national du Moyen Âge, the Museum of the Middle Ages (and also Roman thermal baths).
The station was opened in 1930, initially named only Cluny. At the beginning of WWII, in September 1939, it was closed and due to its proximity to the next station on either side, was not reopened for many years, becoming a “phantom station”. (There are still a few of those in Paris today.)
Cluny was finally reopened in December 1988 to create a correspondence with the RER B and C at the nearby station Saint Michel-Notre Dame (also served by line 4). For this occasion, the station undergoes a full renovation and is renamed Cluny-La Sorbonne.
When you enter the platform, you will immediate notice the mosaics on the ceiling, called The Birds, by French painter Jean Bazaine, as well as a number of mosaic signatures of famous Sorbonne students, among them Racine, Molière, and Victor Hugo.
This métro station in the 3rdarrondissement is served by the lines 3 and 11. It takes its name from the nearby National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (Conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers) that today houses the excellent museum of the same name (Musée des Arts et Métiers).
The station was first opened in 1904 for line 3. Today, however, we will visit the platform of line 11 which joined line 3 in 1935. When you access the platform, you will find yourself in a steampunk Nautilus-style submarine. Everything is covered in copper, including the trash cans, and some giant gears hang from the ceiling. The seats are made from wood, and no billboards ruin the atmosphere.
Ready to dive Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea Paris?
