Sorbonne, University of Paris

Imagine the warm morning sun spilling like honey onto stone buildings. Can you smell the sweet scent of fresh bread, called baguettes, drifting from a little shop, a boulangerie? Listen closely, and you might hear the cheerful music of an accordion playing by a river that flows right through my center. At night, a magnificent iron tower sparkles with thousands of tiny lights, like a diamond necklace against the dark sky. For centuries, I have watched artists set up their easels to paint my beautiful bridges, and I have heard the quiet whispers of love shared by people strolling along my riverbanks. I have seen kings and queens, inventors and dreamers. I am a story that is always being written. I am Paris, the City of Light.

My story began a very, very long time ago. I wasn't always a grand city. At first, I was just a small fishing village named Lutetia, nestled on an island in the middle of the Seine river. A Celtic tribe called the Parisii lived here, and they are the ones who gave me my name. Then, around the year 52 BCE, soldiers from a powerful empire arrived. They were the Romans. They built strong stone roads where my avenues are now, and they constructed arenas for big shows and bathhouses for people to relax. As centuries passed, I grew bigger and stronger. During the Middle Ages, kings built a mighty fortress to protect me, a fortress that would one day become a famous museum called the Louvre. Then, on the 12th of December, 1163, a truly amazing project began. Devoted builders started stacking stone upon stone to create a magnificent church with soaring towers and beautiful stained-glass windows: my Notre Dame Cathedral. I became a place where great thinkers came to study at my university and where people from all over came to pray, learn, and trade.

Like all living things, I have changed a lot over time. There were times of great excitement and even great struggle. On July 14th, 1789, a powerful change called the French Revolution began right on my streets. People wanted new ideas about fairness and freedom, and their actions changed not just me, but the whole world. Much later, in the mid-1800s, I got a grand makeover. A man named Baron Haussmann looked at my narrow, winding streets and had a big idea. He designed wide, straight avenues, perfect for strolling, and lined them with tall, leafy trees. He built beautiful parks for families to enjoy and designed rows of matching cream-colored buildings that still look so elegant today. But perhaps my most famous change came in 1889. The city was hosting a huge World's Fair, and an engineer named Gustave Eiffel built something spectacular to welcome everyone. He gave me a soaring tower made entirely of iron lattice. Some people thought it was strange at first, but soon everyone fell in love with how it reached for the sky, a symbol of new ideas and a new age.

Today, my heart still beats for the world. I am a home for dreamers of all kinds—artists who paint masterpieces, chefs who create delicious food, scientists who make new discoveries, and writers who tell amazing stories. I hold so many treasures inside my museums. If you visit the Louvre, you can see the famous, mysterious smile of a painting called the Mona Lisa. My story is never finished, and that's the most wonderful part. I hope you will come and walk my streets one day. Every person who enjoys a warm croissant at a cafe, listens to music in my gardens, or marvels at my art adds a new, wonderful chapter to my life. You help keep my light shining brightly for everyone to see.