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Paris - The City
of Lights

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France.
Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is
in the centre of the Île-de-France region, also known as the
région parisienne, "Paris region". The City of Paris has an
area of 105.4 km2, and as of January 2013, a population of
2,273,305 people. With an estimated 10,843,285
inhabitants as of 2015, Paris's urban area is the most
populous in the European Union, and third most populous
in Europe, behind Moscow and Istanbul. Paris metropolitan
area is the second most populous in the European Union
after London with a population of 12,161,542.

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people
called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. By the 12th
century, Paris was the largest city in the western world, a
prosperous trading centre, and the home of the University
of Paris, one of the first in Europe. In the 18th century, it
was the centre stage for the French Revolution, and
became an important centre of finance, commerce, fashion,
science, and the arts, a position it still retains today.

The Paris Region has a GDP of €612 billion (US$760
billion) in 2012, ranking it as one of the wealthiest five
regions in Europe; it is the banking and financial centre of
France, and contains the headquarters of 30 companies in
the Fortune Global 500. In 2013 the City of Paris received
29.3 million visitors, making it one of the world's top tourist
destinations.

Paris is the home of the most-visited art museums in the
world, the Louvre, as well as the Musée d'Orsay, noted for
its collection of French Impressionist art, and the Musée
National d'Art Moderne, a museum of modern and
contemporary art. The notable architectural landmarks of
Paris include the Notre Dame Cathedral (12th century);
Sainte-Chapelle (13th century); the Eiffel Tower (1889);
and the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre (1914).