Paris City Hall. Paris City Hall - Hôtel de ville

The modern City Hall of Paris traces its origins to a house on the banks of the Seine, bought in 1357 by the merchant provost Etienne Marcel to hold city meetings here. The Prevost felt an urgent need for this: he was the head of a reform movement trying to bring the monarchy under the control of parliament (the States General).

Thus, the house on the banks of the Seine already in the 14th century became a point of concentration of ideas and practices of city government. He retained this mission until our time.

In 1533, the Italian architect Boccador rebuilt the building, turning it into a real palace with a luxurious facade, as was customary during the Renaissance. The interiors of the building were not inferior to those of Versailles - wealthy merchants set the tone in the city municipality; they willingly invested money in the symbol of their power.

The square in front of the Town Hall was called Grevskaya for a long time. Public celebrations took place here, and public executions took place here. The square saw many riots and revolutions, but the Town Hall survived them safely until the Paris Commune broke out. She burned the building along with the city archives and library.

The current Town Hall was built specifically for the city authorities on a historical site in 1882. The building has become larger, but in its main features it is a replica of the old city hall. Of the additions that have appeared, it is worth noting 80 statues of prominent Parisians and figures of France, located in niches on the walls of the palace. Its interiors are still luxurious.

Today the city hall of Paris is located here. Officially, the Town Hall is called the Hotel de Ville (city palace). The city's first mayor was elected only in 1977; before that, such a position had not existed since the Paris Commune. The council meets in the building eleven times a year, solving problems of both Paris and the department of the same name (region of France). Council meetings are open and public.

The mayor of the capital personally receives the honored guests of Paris at the Hotel de Ville. The Town Hall plays not only an official role in the life of Paris: exhibitions and cultural events are constantly held here.

The central city hall of Paris is the Hôtel de ville.

Stop of the same name on metro lines No. 1, 11.

Hotel de Ville, city hall, town hall. Call this building what you want, but the main thing is that all the vital issues of managing such a colossus as Paris are resolved in it. A lot has been written about this building, as many important events in the life of the city took place here. I, like many, will of course repeat myself, because not telling about them means hiding details that decided the fate of not only Paris, but all of France.

Bridge of St. Louis
Pont de Saint Louis and Hotel de Ville

Paris City Hall – Hotel de ville

The history of Place de Grève goes back too deep to date and is too tied to the city hall itself to separate them. The word “grève” is translated as our similar root word “gravel”, that is, small stones in which you do not get stuck like in sand and are not large enough to twist your foot with a careless step. The square consisted of two parts. One flat area, actually, where people gathered waiting for odd jobs. Employers came here every morning and recruited a team for the day. Interestingly, the word “strike” sounds in French “grève”, which is where the tradition of general meetings to solve problems between workers and employers came from.

Hotel de Ville and Place de Greve

The second half of the square was an ideal gentle slope to the river, which from time immemorial was used as a place for unloading ships. Let's not forget that the ship "nef" appears on the coat of arms of Paris. By the way, the word nave in church construction means the hull of a boat turned upside down (single-nave church, central nave, and so on). There is also the term "vaisseau" which also means the hull of a ship and is used in construction.

Coat of arms of Paris with royal lilies on a blue background and a ship on the waves of the Seine

Place de Greve served as a place for public executions and punishments, as well as celebrations and fireworks to celebrate victories, weddings and births in the royal family. Moreover, it was the only large open space in a network of narrow streets in the medieval city.

If you look at old plans for Paris, it becomes clear that “big” is very relative. The area occupied about a third or a quarter of the current one.

In 1246, Saint Louis created the first city government body, headed by the “head” prevôt. Since in Paris the merchant guilds were in charge of all affairs and had real power, accordingly the prevôt was primarily the merchant head. Paris has always been two-headed; on the one hand, there has always been royal power and “popular” power, practically independent of the king. Perhaps this is where the eternal boil comes from, sometimes bubbling somewhere quietly in the basements, sometimes like boiling milk, splashing out anger and destroying the object of hatred. Royal power was exercised through a police and military structure based in Chatelet.

On July 17, 1357, the merchant head Etienne Marcel, a legendary figure to whom a separate page will be dedicated, bought for his own money (for 2880 Parisian livres) the House on Columns, in which an assembly of citizens and merchants began to meet to resolve topical issues of city management and trade affairs and the court decides. The word "municipes".

The building itself consisted of two similar ones (one of them already belonged to Marcel’s cousin), with their facades facing the square with a triangular-shaped upper part (gable). The houses themselves were raised on carved columns to protect the interior from river floods. This is where the name House on Columns came from. Inside there were two courtyards, two large ceremonial halls where the rulers of the city met, a chapel and a small city arsenal in the attic.
King Francis I built a new, more spacious building around it and in 1589 the House on the Pillars itself was demolished. By that time it was already falling apart and outwardly did not correspond to the function assigned to it.

The modern building is precisely the construction of Francis I, of course much expanded over the centuries. This king was fascinated by the Italian Renaissance and it was he who established this style in France. Before him, Charles VIII brought elements of the Renaissance to the Loire from the Italian military campaigns, but it was Francis who spread it everywhere.

Construction began in 1533 and ended in 1628. The plans for the building were created by the Italian architect Dominic of Cortona, whom the French nicknamed Boccador. Initially, it was a central two-story building, stretched along the square and two square wings on the sides. The courtyard was organized according to the tastes of the era. The mayor's office existed in this form until the reign of Louis Philippe. In 1837, with the help of architects Godde and Lesieux, he expanded the complex to its current volume, while maintaining the general style of the French Renaissance. Currently, City Hall occupies an entire block. You can enter it like any administrative building. On the other side of the block on Lobo Street there is a huge ceremony hall. I was lucky enough to be invited to the graduation ceremony. Not far from the entrance to this part of the city hall, in the center of the hall between the main staircases, there is an equestrian statue of Charles Martel, the founder of the Carolingian dynasty, the man who stopped the Arab invasion from the Pyrenees.

The nickname Martel came from the verb marteler (to hammer), as Charles had a heavy hand when it came to the Saracens.

Karl (Charles) Martel in the lobby

Stained glass windows on the windows facing the courtyard, in small halls there are coffered ceilings (a load-bearing structure in the form of a chessboard) Sculptures in the spaces between the windows, in the central hall a mirror wall reflects the windows. The ceiling is covered with stucco and paintings. What bothered me was our presence. Despite the fact that everyone dressed up for the occasion, against the backdrop of such splendor both the buffet and the audience looked too simple, only the interior was spoiled.

Coats of arms of corporations of gem polishers and jewelers on a stained glass window.

Let's return to our sheep.

The tragedy happened during the Paris Commune. And again due to the fault of people like us, commoners, who are not able to appreciate and preserve what was once done by ordinary workers. Hatred, as we know, is blind and destroys everything indiscriminately. After all, it was not the king himself who carved sculptures with his sleek hands, painted ceilings or painted reliefs, but the same poor, always hungry and uneducated hard workers, like the communards themselves. Although the work of specialized masons and sculptors was better paid than many other types of work, they still remained poor and hungry. In 1871, many magnificent palaces and monuments were smashed and burned. The city hall remains in black ruins. A library of 100 thousand volumes, accumulated since the 16th century, burned down. It contained unique maps and plans, handwritten archives, the first printed books and much more. Magnificent furniture and sculptures were also missing. In Parc Monceau there is a colonnade left over from the fire. After the Paris Commune, the monarchy was never restored, so we live under a republic. Very quickly, the city government regretted the loss (we are also familiar with these regrets, aren’t we) and a competition for restoration was organized. The project of the architects Ballyu and Depert was approved. The exterior decoration was completely restored according to Boccador, and the interiors were redesigned, but also in style. Everyone knows that restoring something is much more difficult than razing it to the ground and rebuilding it. Engravings, drawings and descriptions were found, which formed the basis for the jewelry work of restorers. And on June 30, 1882, the new old city hall opened.

One of the stairs

Festive hall with windows overlooking Lubo Street

Just the decor of one of the arches

Hotel de Ville- a complex of buildings where city authorities have been located since ancient times. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of the French capital and consists of the city hall itself and the square in front of it, also called Hotel de Ville.

The territory on which the square is located was previously called Place de Greve (la Greve), and since this place was located near the port and there was a town hall, the townspeople gathered in this square, and from here popular uprisings began and spread throughout the city. From 1310 to 1830 it was a place intended for the execution of criminals.

The City Hall is a majestic palace built in the neo-Renaissance style. The Hotel de Ville building serves several functions - this luxurious palace houses the city municipality and the prefecture of the Parisian department, and also serves for ceremonial receptions and other important events of the city.

On the right bank of the Seine, east of the town hall, there are two quarters that became the scene of the most important historical events. This is also the area adjacent to the Bastille.

Sasha Mitrakhovich 30.11.2015 17:06

The history of Paris begins with the Ile de la Cité, located on the Seine, where the ancient Romans founded the settlement of Lutetia. As the population grew, people from there began to move to the sandy right bank of the river. Opposite the island, the first Parisian square appeared, known to everyone under the name Greve Square (la Greve).

The guild of merchants that arose in the city began to actively develop this area, which, by the will of fate, became the center of Paris. Greve Square is divided into two unequal parts: the one close to the shore has become a river port (Port de Greve), the more distant one has become a gathering place for people seeking work, justice or simply a better life. It was called: “the place where people go on strike” (faire la greve).

Until the 13th century, the administration of Paris was concentrated in the hands of the viceroy of France, but then it passed to the guilds. The strongest among them - the merchants - decided to build a city administration building in the Grevskaya Square area.

History of the Hotel de Ville begins in 1357, when Etienne Marcel, a representative of the Parisian merchant nobility, by order of the city authorities, bought the so-called “House with Pilasters”, located on the right bank of the Seine and served for unloading river ships, and later annexed to the Place de Grève, which for a long time used for public executions. Since then, the city authorities of Paris have lived only in this place.

A few decades later, it was decided to build a new building instead of the existing building. The author of the project was the Italian Domenico Li Cortone, who proposed to build a house in the style of the Italian Renaissance. The merchants opposed this, and the next author of the project was the French architect Pierre Chambige, under whose auspices the construction of the new building began in 1533. The result of the fusion of two schools - the Italian Renaissance and French Gothic - was the city hall building that still stands today, Palace Hotel de Ville. True, the historical building has not been preserved - the palace was burned down during the Paris Commune.

The reconstruction of the new city hall in the same place began 2 years later, and in 1882 its official opening took place. Externally, the building is a copy of the burnt town hall, but the internal design has undergone noticeable changes.

The Hôtel de Ville palace, whose beauty is admired by tourists all over the world, was designed by French architects Ballu and Deperthes, who decorated the façade and roof of the building with symbols of the largest cities in France and statues of 108 famous Parisians, including Molière, Voltaire, Eugene Sue, Charles Perrault and the Cardinal Richelieu. Also on the central tower of the facade you can see an ancient clock surrounded by female figures symbolizing Work, Education and other virtues. In the square at the entrance, visitors are greeted by sculptures of Art and Science.

Sasha Mitrakhovich 24.01.2016 11:00

The Town Hall attracts attention with the exquisite architecture of the new building Hotel de Ville: This is a powerful original structure with a turret in the center and domes on the truncated pyramids of the various pavilions. Its main facade is decorated with 136 statues installed in niches, they depict:

• great French figures of history, science and culture
• symbols of major cities in France
• allegorical images of morality and vices

An ancient clock is installed on the central tower of the building, surrounded by female and male figures. At the main entrance there are statues symbolizing art and science.

The eastern façade is decorated with 4 bronze lions, and on the south side terrace there is an equestrian statue of Etienne Marcel, the head of Parisian merchants and the instigator of the unrest that engulfed the city in the 14th century. In the center of the courtyard there is another interesting bronze work - “Glory to Victory” by Mercier.

The interior decoration of the palace corresponds to the pompous and luxurious Empire style - with painted ceilings, bright stained glass windows, frescoes, antique furniture and multi-tiered crystal chandeliers. The authors of the artistic design of the interior spaces are the most famous French painters of the 19th century.

Particularly noteworthy is the Fetes hall for banquets and balls - a copy of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles - with an interior decorated with gold and paintings by Moreau and Benjamin Constant. Official receptions and meetings of foreign guests take place within its walls. On the ceiling of the hall are written three words that mean so much to every Frenchman - “Freedom. Equality. Brotherhood" is the motto of the French Republic.

Other halls Hotel de Ville correspond to the basic ideas and aesthetic requirements of the Third Republic - the painting on the ceiling and walls of the dining room glorifies the work of peasants and is dedicated to agriculture, in the Salon des Arkades they found an artistic embodiment of the idea of ​​​​the development of crafts, science and literature, and in the salon des Arts you can admire the painting “Triumph” by Leon Bonneau arts". In addition, the building houses a huge library.

Sasha Mitrakhovich 24.01.2016 11:09

Today Hotel de Ville is one of the most visited attractions in Paris, which is facilitated by the beauty of the building itself and the presence within walking distance of other places no less significant for tourists, in particular. All the main tourist routes of the city pass through the Hotel de Ville square, which is how the Place de Greve became known after the overthrow of royal power.

City events and events are regularly held here. It could be a beautiful flower exhibition, a folk festival, or another strike.

What to see at the Hotel de Ville

Chamber of Consuls- meeting place for representatives of municipal authorities. It was here that the fate of the city was decided more than once during the centuries-old history of Paris.

Plan
Introduction
1 Building
2 Municipal authorities
2.1 Mayors of Paris

3 Paris budget
4 Sister cities

Introduction Paris City Hall (fr. hotel de ville de Paris) is the city palace Hotel de Ville ( Hotel de Ville), where the Parisian authorities have been located since 1357. The Hôtel de Ville, with a 110 m long façade, is located on the former medieval Place de Grève ( place de Greve Since 1975, Paris has been both a city and a department, led by the Parisian mayor at the head of the Paris Council ( Conseil de Paris), meeting 11 times a year, whose public (open to the public) sessions last up to two days. The first mayor was elected only in 1977; the authorities were in no hurry to give the capital complete administrative freedom. But to this day, Paris remains the only city in France where the municipal police reports directly not to the mayor, but to the police prefect appointed by the President of the Republic. 1. Building The building was built between 1874 and 1882. according to the plans of architects Theodore Ballue ( Théodore Ballu) and Edouard Depert ( Édouard Deperthes). The Renaissance-style façade was rebuilt after the building was destroyed by fire during the Paris Commune (1871). 2. Municipal authorities Paris Council ( Conseil de Paris) has 163 members, elected indirectly by Parisians, who participate in the Municipal Council ( conseil municipal) and the General Council ( conseil general), deciding by vote the administrative issues of the city and department respectively. The newly elected Paris Council, in turn, elects the mayor of the city and about 40 of his deputies ( adjoints) responsible for a specific sector: city economic development, transport, international relations, gender equality, schools and environmental care. The mayor also becomes president of the General Council, which administers the life of the department. Since 1964, the municipality has had the official name “Ville de Paris” ( Ville de Paris). In 2005, it consisted of almost 40 thousand employees in 3 thousand municipal services of the city. In addition to the buildings of the Hotel de Ville and the 20 city halls of the districts, the municipality owns many administrative and technical buildings, as well as museums, libraries, sports facilities, schools, kindergartens, etc. The number of municipal employees is comparable to the population of French cities such as Chartres or Bayonne . 2.1. Mayors of Paris The current mayor is Bertrand Delanoë, a member of the French Socialist Party, elected on March 18, 2001 and again in March 2008. 3. Paris budget In 2003, the capital's budget amounted to 6.9 billion euros, of which 1.2 billion was for the department. Approximately 3,200 euros per Parisian. Each budget 100 euros is distributed approximately like this:

29 - for social needs; 18 - for school, culture and sports; 15 - administrative expenses; 15 - for water, maintaining cleanliness, for gardens, parks and squares; 11 - for roads, urban services and housing; 6 - for public transport; 6 - to maintain safety.

4. Twin cities

Rome, Italy (1956) is the only sister city of Paris, because “only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris" (fr. Seule Paris est digne de Rome; seule rome est digne de paris).

The French capital has also concluded agreements of friendship and cooperation with the following cities:

1958: Kyoto 1982: Tokyo 1985: Cairo 1987: Amman, Sanaa, Berlin 1991: Seoul 1992: Moscow, Beirut 1995: Jakarta 1996: Chicago, San Francisco 1997: Santiago, Riyadh, Beijing, Prague, Tbilisi, St. St. Petersburg 1998: Lisbon, Sofia, Sydney, Yerevan 1999: Mexico City, Warsaw, Buenos Aires 2000: Washington, Madrid, Athens 2001: London, Porto Alegre 2002: Geneva 2003: Algiers, Quebec 2004: Sao Paulo, Rabat, Casablanca, Tunisia 2005: Copenhagen 2006: Montreal 2007: Tangier

Twin Cities

The Hôtel de Ville – Paris City Hall is located on the former Place de Greve, which has been called the Hôtel de Ville Square since 1803. The city authorities have been located in the building of the Paris Town Hall for about 7 centuries; now the City Hall of Paris is located here.

Address and how to get to the Town Hall

• Address of the Town Hall - Place de l"Hotel de Ville
• Metro station - Hotel de Ville.

Place de Greve and Town Hall in Paris

In the old days, near the Place de Greve on the banks of the Seine, there was the first pier, so here you could make money loading and unloading ships. But most of all, Place de Greve became famous as the place of public executions, which took place here for four centuries.

In his novel Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo called Place de Greve a symbol of medieval justice - cruel and bloody. It was here that the heroine of the novel, the beautiful Esmeralda, was executed.

Nowadays, the Hotel de Ville square is a meeting place for Parisians; thousands of tourists come here. The square is paved with stone, and after reconstruction in the 1980s it became a pedestrian zone, it was decorated with lanterns and fountains and it looks formal and a little boring.

To soften its formality, carousels are installed here in the summer, and an ice skating rink is installed in the winter from December to February.

The Town Hall is the main building on the square; its façade is 110 meters long.

From the history of the Town Hall

By the middle of the 14th century, Parisian merchants had no power, although thanks to them, the capital of France flourished. In 1357, the head of the merchant class, Etienne Marcel, achieved the status of city elder and acquired a house in the very center of Paris on the right bank of the Seine for the new institution of power. Despite its considerable age - about 100 years, the stone building was well preserved, it was built on pillars and the people called this building the House on Stilts. Now the building was called the Town Hall, which means the Palace of the city, and since 1537 it began to house the authorities of Paris.

In 1529, King Francis, a famous philanthropist and art connoisseur, decided to rebuild the palace. The project was carried out by the Italian architect Domenic de Cortone and the Frenchman Pierre Chambige. Construction began in 1533 and lasted 95 years. During this time, four kings changed and St. Bartholomew's Night happened, the country experienced several palace coups and civil wars. The construction of the palace was completed in 1628 under Louis XIII.

City Palace - decoration

The palace was built in the style of the Italian Renaissance - neo-Renaissance, the halls were spacious and richly decorated, the walls were gilded and painted on the ceilings, and there were crystal chandeliers on the ceilings.

For more than 200 years, the palace remained in its original form, but in 1835, the Prefect of Paris, Rambuteau, decided that the building had become too cramped and, on his instructions, two wings of the building were connected, as a result of which its area increased three times.

The Town Hall witnessed all the historical events of the 18th - 19th centuries. After the capture of the Bastille, the rebels moved here, Robespierre hid here, and since 1848 the new government met in the City Palace. After the fall of the Second Empire in May 1871, the Communards decided to burn all the documents, which resulted in a fire and the Town Hall was completely burned down. Only the walls remained - all the valuables and decorations were lost in the fire.

In 1833, it was decided to restore the palace. The work was carried out under the direction of the architects Ballue and Depert and was completed in 1843. From the outside, the Palace acquired its original historical appearance; inside, its decoration has changed somewhat.

Town Hall - decoration

On the four facades and the roof there are statues - allegorical symbols of the main cities of France and statues of 108 famous Parisians, including the writers Moliere and Voltaire, Eugene Sue and Charles Perrault, the physicist Leon Foucault and Cardinal Richelieu, the artists Jacques Louis David and Charles Lebrun.

In front of the facade facing the Seine, there is a monument to Etienne Marcel. Despite the fact that in 1358 the Parisians suspected him of treason and killed him, a monument was erected to the famous rebel and head of Parisian merchants and one of the streets of Paris near the Church of Saint-Eustache was named after him.

On the central tower of the facade there is an ancient clock surrounded by female figures of virtues, at the entrance to the square there are sculptures of Art and Science.

The most famous and talented masters of the 19th century took part in the decoration of the palace halls. They created painted ceilings, bright stained glass windows and frescoes, exquisite furniture and crystal chandeliers.

The hall for banquets and balls is a copy of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, its interior is decorated with gold and paintings, and on the ceiling you can read the motto of the French Republic - Liberty Equality Fraternity.

Now this hall hosts meetings and receptions of foreign guests, as well as other official events.

In the remaining rooms, the paintings on the ceiling correspond to various types of activities - here you can see paintings dedicated to agriculture, crafts and science, literature and art. There is also a library in the City Palace.

The Town Hall in Paris is the venue for many exhibitions. You can visit the City Palace and see the interior of its halls by making an appointment by phone.

With its opposite façade, the Hotel de Ville faces the long Rue de Rivoli, where the BHV supermarket has been located at number 52 for 150 years, where you can purchase a variety of goods - from perfumes to building materials.