Paris

Paris is the capital of France, on the Seine River in the north of the country. Its name comes from the Parisii, a Gallic tribe who lived on the island now called the Île de la Cité. The Eiffel Tower, built by the company of Gustave Eiffel for the World's Fair of 1889, rises 330 m (1,083 ft) over the Champ de Mars.

The Romans built the town of Lutetia on the left bank of the river in the 1st century BC. Clovis made it the capital of the Franks in the early 6th century, and the Capetian kings made it the center of their kingdom from the 10th century. Notre-Dame Cathedral was begun on the island in the 12th century, and the University of Paris grew up on the left bank in the same period. The French Revolution began in the city at the end of the 18th century. Baron Haussmann rebuilt much of the center for Napoleon III in the 1850s and 1860s, with wide boulevards, parks and uniform stone apartment buildings.

LVMH, the group that owns Louis Vuitton, Dior and Moët & Chandon, has its headquarters on Avenue Montaigne. Hermès began as a harness maker for horse carriages in the 19th century and is now known for its silk scarves and its Birkin and Kelly bags. Chanel, founded by Coco Chanel on the Rue Cambon, makes the perfume Chanel No. 5 and the tweed suit.

The Louvre, a royal palace turned into a museum during the Revolution, holds the Mona Lisa and has a glass pyramid entrance designed by I. M. Pei. The Musée d'Orsay shows Impressionist paintings in a former railway station on the left bank. Montmartre, the hill in the north of the city, is crowned by the white domes of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Notre-Dame reopened in the 2020s after a fire, with its spire rebuilt as it was.