[233] of Other famous theatres include the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, next to the Luxembourg Gardens, also a state institution and theatrical landmark; the Théâtre Mogador, and the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse.[234]. For example, after the LGV Méditerranée opened in 2001, air traffic between Paris and Marseille declined from 2,976,793 passengers in 2000 to 1,502,196 passengers in 2014. It provides health care, teaching, research, prevention, education and emergency medical service in 52 branches of medicine. [29] Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known as Mons Martyrum (Latin "Hill of Martyrs"), later "Montmartre", from where he walked headless to the north of the city; the place where he fell and was buried became an important religious shrine, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, and many French kings are buried there.

Many traditional activities, such as metallurgy, food processing, and printing, progressively disappeared, while electronics, telecommunications, and other high-technology industries gained emphasis.

The hospitals receive more than 5.8 million annual patient visits.[326]. It has several major modern convention centres, notably the Palais des Congrès at the Maillot Gate (Porte Maillot), as well as important exhibition facilities, including those at Villepinte in the northern suburbs.

By 1857, the Grand boulevards were lit. [27], In 1974 France stopped allowing foreign workers into its borders.

Most French rulers since the Middle Ages made a point of leaving their mark on a city that, contrary to many other of the world's capitals, has never been destroyed by catastrophe or war.
[240], Paris is a city of books and bookstores.

According to the INSEE, between 4 and 5 million French residents were born or had at least one parent born in a predominantly Muslim country, particularly Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. [80], Most of the postwar's Presidents of the Fifth Republic wanted to leave their own monuments in Paris; President Georges Pompidou started the Centre Georges Pompidou (1977), Valéry Giscard d'Estaing began the Musée d'Orsay (1986); President François Mitterrand, in power for 14 years, built the Opéra Bastille (1985–1989), the new site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (1996), the Arche de la Défense (1985–1989), and the Louvre Pyramid with its underground courtyard (1983–1989); Jacques Chirac (2006), the Musée du quai Branly.
[159] This concerns in particular the many Christians and Jews from North Africa who moved to France and Paris after the times of independence and are not counted as immigrants due to their being born French citizens. [196], Station F is a business incubator for startups, located in 13th arrondissement of Paris. [145] The total number of residences in the City of Paris in 2011 was 1,356,074, up from a former high of 1,334,815 in 2006. [10], The Paris agglomeration has shown a steady rate of growth since the end of the late 16th century French Wars of Religion, save brief setbacks during the French Revolution and World War II. In 2010, it was the workplace of 144,600 employees, of whom 38 percent worked in finance and insurance, 16 percent in business support services. [104] In winter, sunshine is scarce; days are cool, and nights are cold but generally above freezing with low temperatures around 3 °C (37 °F). [246] Patrons danced the bourrée to the accompaniment of the cabrette (a bellows-blown bagpipe locally called a "musette") and often the vielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy) in the cafés and bars of the city. With 2.2 million inhabitants (19% of the Greater Paris Region’s population), Paris is the most populated commune in France. The city of Paris covers an area much smaller than the urban area of which it is the core. The regional council has 121 members from the Union of the Right, 66 from the Union of the Left and 22 from the extreme right National Front. In 2010, it was the workplace of 500,000 salaried employees, about 30 percent of the salaried employees in Paris and 10 percent of those in the Île-de-France. A luxury restaurant, La Taverne Anglaise, opened in 1786 in the arcades of the Palais-Royal by Antoine Beauvilliers; it featured an elegant dining room, an extensive menu, linen tablecloths, a large wine list and well-trained waiters; it became a model for future Paris restaurants. [275], The University of Paris, founded in the 12th century, is often called the Sorbonne after one of its original medieval colleges. Photography came to occupy a central role in Parisian Surrealist activity, in the works of Man Ray and Maurice Tabard. [259] On 2 February 2000, Philippe Binant realised the first digital cinema projection in Europe, with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments, in Paris.

[214] The Paris region hosts three other UNESCO Heritage sites: the Palace of Versailles in the west,[215] the Palace of Fontainebleau in the south,[216] and the medieval fairs site of Provins in the east. In 1982 there were 6,000 Asians in Marne-la-Vallée, making up 3-4% of the area's population. [33], As of 1990, in the City of Paris there were 3,802 Vietnamese citizens and 4,155 former Vietnamese citizens naturalized as French, making a total of 7,957.

Other quintessential grands magasins, such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, are found on the Right Bank. This problem was 'resolved' when its parent "District de la région parisienne" ('district of the Paris region') was reorganised into several new departments from 1968: Paris became a department in itself, and the administration of its suburbs was divided between the three new departments surrounding it. [28], By the end of the Western Roman Empire, the town was known as Parisius, a Latin name that would later become Paris in French.

Paris' urbanism laws have been under strict control since the early 17th century,[142] particularly where street-front alignment, building height and building distribution is concerned. [194] While the Paris economy is dominated by services, and employment in manufacturing sector has declined sharply, the region remains an important manufacturing centre, particularly for aeronautics, automobiles, and "eco" industries. Paris is the département with the highest proportion of highly educated people. The City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France, or Paris Region, which has an estimated official 2020 population of 12,278,210, or about 18 percent of the population of France. [270][271] Moreover, Paris is also the home of the world's largest cosmetics company: L'Oréal as well as three of the top five global makers of luxury fashion accessories: Louis Vuitton, Hermés, and Cartier. [334] Paris also holds the headquarters of the La Poste, France's national postal carrier. In the late 12th century, Philip Augustus extended the Louvre fortress to defend the city against river invasions from the west, gave the city its first walls between 1190 and 1215, rebuilt its bridges to either side of its central island, and paved its main thoroughfares. [190][191] While the Paris region's population accounted for 18.8 percent of metropolitan France in 2011,[192] the Paris region's GDP accounted for 30 percent of metropolitan France's GDP. The most expensive residential streets in Paris in 2018 by average price per square meter were Avenue Montaigne (8th arrondissement), at 22,372 Euros per square meter; Place Dauphine (1st arrondissement; 20,373 euros) and Rue de Furstemberg (6th arrondissement) at 18,839 Euros per square meter.