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The Fountains in Paris originally provided drinking water for city residents, and now are decorative features in the city's squares and parks. Paris has more than two hundred fountains, the oldest dating back to the 16th century. It also has more than one hundred Wallace drinking fountains. [1] Most of the fountains are the property of the ...
Water for the fountains was supplied by the canal de l'Ourcq, begun by Napoleon at the beginning of his reign. The original fountains had no pumps and operated by gravity- water flowed from the basin at La Villette, where the water of the canal arrived in Paris, at a higher elevation than the Place de la Concorde. The overflow water went into ...
Paris grew very quickly during the early Middle Ages and soon extended from the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève to the roads leading to the abbey of Saint-Denis. A new wall was begun in 1190 on the order and funding of King Philip II of France (also known as Philip Augustus) and was completed by 1213, [ 2 ] enclosing 253 hectares on both sides of ...
Paris has an average annual precipitation of 641 mm (25.2 in), and experiences light rainfall distributed evenly throughout the year. However the city is known for intermittent abrupt heavy showers. Paris has a rich history of meteorological observations, with some going back as far as 1665.
In the 16th century, Paris became the book-publishing capital of Europe, though it was shaken by the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants. In the 18th century, Paris was the centre of the intellectual ferment known as the Enlightenment , and the main stage of the French Revolution from 1789, which is remembered every year ...
The Louvre Pyramid (French: Pyramide du Louvre) is a large glass-and-metal structure designed by the Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei.The pyramid is in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre Palace in Paris, surrounded by three smaller pyramids.
In 486, Saint Genevieve negotiated the submission of Paris to Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, who chose Paris as his capital, in 508. The first cathedral of Paris , that of Saint Étienne, was constructed in 540–545, close to the west front of the present Notre Dame de Paris and just a few hundred meters from the Royal Palace.
Unlike the Southern France, Paris has very few examples of Romanesque architecture; most churches and other buildings in that style were rebuilt in the Gothic style.The most remarkable example of Romanesque architecture in Paris is the church of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, built between 990 and 1160 during the reign of Robert the Pious.