Paris

Paris is the capital city of France, as well as the capital of the Île-de-France région, whose territory encompasses Paris and its suburbs. The city of Paris proper is also a département, called Paris département (French: département de Paris). It is a wonderful city for aimless wandering of which features a wide variety of style and décor and boasts a wide assortment of entertainment to satisfy even the most benign of tastes.

Administration

The city of Paris is itself a département of France (Paris, 75), part of the Île-de-France région. Paris is divided into twenty numerically arranged districts, the arrondissements. These districts are numbered in a spiral pattern with the 1er arrondissement at the center of the city.

Related Topics:
Département - Île-de-France - Région - Arrondissement - 1er arrondissement

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The city of Paris also comprises two forests: the Bois de Boulogne on the west and the Bois de Vincennes on the east.

Related Topics:
Bois de Boulogne - Bois de Vincennes

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Prior to 1968, département 75 was the Seine département, which contained the city of Paris and its immediate suburbs. The splitting up of the Seine département resulted in the creation of four new départements: Paris proper (75), and three départements (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) forming a ring around Paris, often called la petite couronne (i.e. the "small ring", as opposed to the "large ring" of the more distant suburbs of Paris).

Related Topics:
Seine - Département - Hauts-de-Seine - Seine-Saint-Denis - Val-de-Marne

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As an exception to the normal rules for French cities, some powers normally vested in the mayor of the city are instead vested in a representative of the national government, the Prefecture of Police which also controls the Paris Fire Brigade. As an example, Paris has no municipal police force, though it has some traffic wardens. This is a legacy of the situation that up to 1977, Paris had no mayor and was essentially run by the prefectoral administration.

Related Topics:
Prefecture of Police - Paris Fire Brigade - Police

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Citizens of Paris elect in each arrondissement some municipal council members. Each arrondissement has its own council, which elects the mayor of the arrondissement. Some members of the arrondissement councils form the Council of Paris, which elects the mayor of Paris, and has the double functions of a municipal council and the general council of the département.

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Bertrand Delanoë has been the Mayor of Paris since March 18, 2001. Mr Delanoë is openly homosexual.

Related Topics:
Bertrand Delanoë - March 18 - 2001 - Homosexual

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Former mayors Jacques Chirac and Jean Tiberi were cited in corruption scandals in the Paris region.

Related Topics:
Jacques Chirac - Jean Tiberi - Corruption scandals in the Paris region

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Unlike other French cities, Paris does not have an intercomunality to govern the whole metropolitan area (ie Paris and its suburbs) and is not expected to have one any time soon.

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List of Paris mayors since the French Revolution

Before the French Revolution, the municipality of Paris was headed by the provost of the merchants (prévôt des marchands). On July 14, 1789, at the end of the afternoon, following the storming of the Bastille, the provost of the merchants of Paris, Jacques de Flesselles, was shot by the crowd on the steps of Paris city hall. The next day, the first mayor of Paris was elected.

Related Topics:
The French Revolution - Provost of the merchants - July 14 - 1789 - Bastille - Jacques de Flesselles

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• July 15, 1789 - November 18, 1791: Jean-Sylvain Bailly (guillotined)
• November 18, 1791 - October 15, 1792: Jérôme Pétion (committed suicide in 1794 as he was about to be arrested)
• December 8, 1792 - February 2, 1793: Nicolas Chambon
• February 14, 1793 - May 10, 1794: Jean-Nicolas Pache (deposed and arrested, survived)
• May 10, 1794 - July 27, 1794: Jean-Baptiste Fleuriot-Lescot (guillotined)
• 1794 to 1977: office of mayor abolished, no mayor (except briefly in 1848 following the overthrow of Louis-Philippe and in 1870 to 1871 following the overthrow of Napoleon III)
• March 20, 1977 - May 16, 1995: Jacques Chirac
• May 22, 1995 - March 24, 2001: Jean Tiberi
• March 25, 2001 - now: Bertrand Delanoë