Revolution, Napoleon & Haussmann
The French Revolution (1789)
On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille — a prison that had become a symbol of royal tyranny. The French Revolution changed not only France but the world: human rights, abolition of the monarchy, separation of church and state. The Parisian sites: the Bastille (now a square with the July Column), the Place de la Concorde (where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were guillotined), the Palais des Tuileries (destroyed in 1871), and the Conciergerie on the Île de la Cité (the revolutionary prison, now a museum).
Napoleon (1799–1815)
Napoleon Bonaparte made himself emperor in 1804 — and Paris the center of an empire that encompassed half of Europe. He left monumental marks on the city: the Arc de Triomphe (completed in 1836), the Rue de Rivoli, the Canal Saint-Martin, the Vendôme Column, and the Louvre as a public museum. Napoleon's tomb under the golden dome of the Invalides is one of the city's most impressive monuments.
Baron Haussmann (1853–1870)
Georges-Eugène Haussmann transformed Paris on behalf of Napoleon III from a medieval city into the modern metropolis we know today: Wide boulevards cut through the maze of the old town (also to make barricades more difficult), uniform Haussmann facades (light limestone, zinc roofs, balconies on the 2nd and 5th floors) shaped the cityscape, and generous parks (Bois de Boulogne, Buttes-Chaumont) created green lungs. The sewer system, water supply, and gas lighting made Paris the most modern city in the world — and gave it the nickname "Ville Lumière" (City of Lights).
