Paris too claims to be the city of light! We just witnessed the glorious opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games 2024 which for the first time was not held in a stadium but along the river Seine, paying tribute to its beautiful architectures with iconic buildings like the Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame and the Louvre. All majestically illuminated and integral to the Olympic opening ceremony experience. I thought it was a master stroke to use the Seine river for this purpose. I had to watch the ceremony as a rerun the next day as it happened in the middle of the night for me in Australia. But it certainly had its iconic moments, all glued together by lighting.

So why do we call Paris the City of Light? I did some digging and found the following.

Surprisingly it is not only the actual lighting that earned Paris its title. Yes, there are more the 300 illuminated sites in Paris, it’s national buildings, monuments, it’s bridges, churches, including it’s famous Champs Élysées, the Trocadero and apparently more than 50,000 streetlights. So plenty of lighting at night, but history shows that there was another origin to what earned Paris the title of being the city of light. The city owes its moniker also to what is know as the Age of Enlightenment.    

In the 18th century Paris became the centre of intellectual and philosophical movements that founded the modern western political and intellectual culture. This Enlightenment modernised thinking and introduced liberal democratic values to the world and Paris was the centre of this movement motivating philosophers, poets, engineers, scientists in finding their voice. 

So this was not really about light bulbs but about the light of knowledge. According to history, this period had its peak after the death of King Louis XIV in 1715 all the way till the French Revolution in 1789. 

It should be noted though that Paris was the first European city to introduce streetlights. This was done so on the orders from King Louis XIV, which he issued to combat the crime that was so rive in the city. He ordered the installation of about 3000 streetlights, to prevent crooks from hiding in the shadows. That of course also contributed to calling Paris a city of light because of its actual lighting! The things you learn…

Enjoy the Games!