Gregory Phillips, age 16, of Asbury Park, N.J., for his question:
DOES PARIS, FRANCE, GO BACK TO ANCIENT TIMES?
A Celtic tribe of fishermen called the Parisii in ancient times lived in what is now Paris. They occupied an island in the Seine River that is now called the Ile de la Cite.
The Romans invaded in 52 B.C. and established a colony there, calling it Lutetia. The town spread out on both banks of the river and became known as Paris about A.D. 300.
Clovis, the first rulerof~the Great Frankish kingdom, made Paris the capital in 507. Hugh Capet, who was the count of Paris and duke of the surrounding region, became king of France in 987.
As the French kings became more powerful, the capital grew in importance and in population. Philip II, who ruled from 1180 to 1223, developed Paris as a great center of learning, culture and government.
During the Renaissance, the culture and beauty of Paris were further developed by the kings of France. The men they hired to design the new boulevards, palaces and squares looked to ancient Greece and Rome for ideas and models.
The Louvre, a fortress that was built about 1200, was rebuilt as the royal palace during the 1500s. Many French rulers later built additions to the Louvre and made it the largest palace in the world.
Paris was the center of the bloody French Revolution from 1789 to 1793.
During the early 1800s, Napoleon Bonaparte built many new buildings, laid out public gardens and made many other improvements in Paris. Napoleon III, emperor from 1852 until 1870, did much to give Paris its present appearance. He built banks, hospitals, railroad stations, theaters and extremely wide avenues.
Germans did some damage to Paris with long range guns during World War I. The Germans broke through French defenses in June of 1940 and occupied Paris through most of World War II until August, 1944.
Paris today is in the middle of a vast renewal program.
The renewal project in Paris was started in 1960 and isn't expected to be completed until the year 2000. At that time, the Paris metropolitan area is expected to have a population of more than 12 million.
Today's old buildings and other facilities that will not be able to serve the future population are being replaced. But old monuments, palaces and other buildings valued for their beauty are being restored.
Building owners are required to sandblast and wash the fronts of their buildings. This is making Paris a gleaming city.
Much new construction is now going on. A law prohibiting skyscrapers was amended some years back and modern housing projects and high rise office buildings are now part of the city.