yawiki.org entry for Île de la Cité

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The Île de la Cité, one of two islands in the Seine River (the other being Île Saint-Louis), is the centre of Paris, France, and the location where the city was founded.
The western end has held a palace since even Roman times, and its eastern end since the same period has been consecrated to religion, especially after the 10^th century construction of a cathedral preceding today's Notre Dame. The land between the two was, until the 1850s, largely residential and commercial, but since has been filled by the city's Prefecture de Police, Palais de Justice, Hôtel-Dieu hospital and Tribunal de Commerce. Only the westernmost and northeastern extremities of the island remain residential today, and the latter preserves some vestiges of its 16^th century canonic houses.

    Île de la Cité
        History
        Sights
        Transportation

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History

Most scholars believe that in 52 BC, at the time of Vercingetorix's struggle with Julius Caesar, a small Celtic tribe, the Parisii, were living on the island. At that time, the island was a low-lying area subject to flooding that offered a convenient place to cross the Seine and was also a refuge in times of invasion. However, some modern historians believe the Parisii were based on another, now sunken island. After the conquest of the Celts, the Roman Labenius created a camp on the island. Further Roman settlement developed.

Later Romans under Saint Genevieve escaped to the island when their city was attacked by "barbarians". Clovis established a Merovingian capital. The island remained an important military and political center throughout the Middle Ages. Eudes used the island as a defensive position to fend off Viking attacks in 885. In the 10^th century, a cathedral (the predeccessor of Notre Dame) was built on the island.

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Sights

Three medieval buildings remain on the Île de la Cité (east to west):

The Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, built from 1163 on the site of a church dedicated to Saint Étienne, which in turn occupied a sacred pagan site of Roman times. During the French Revolution the cathedral was badly damaged, then restored by Viollet-le-Duc. A plaque in the square in front (Place du Parvis de Notre-Dame) is the zeropoint for measurements "from Paris."

Louis IX's Sainte-Chapelle (1245), built as a reliquary to house the Crown of Thorns and a piece of the True Cross, enclosed within the Palais de Justice.

The Conciergerie prison, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette awaited execution in 1793.

The oldest remaining residential quarter is the "Ancien Cloître". Baron Haussmann demolished some of the streets, but was dismissed in 1869 before the entire quarter was lost.

The small park at the downstream tip, the "stern" of the island-ship, is "Vert Galant" park, named for Henri IV of France, the "Green Gallant" king. It shows the original low-lying riverside level of the island. Nearby, a discreet plaque commemorates the spot where Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burnt at the stake, March 18, 1314.

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Transportation

The Île de la Cité is connected to the rest of Paris by bridges to both banks of the river and to the Île Saint-Louis. The oldest surviving bridge is the Pont Neuf ('New Bridge'), it lies at the western edge of the island.

The island has one station on the Paris Metro, "Cité", and the RER station "Saint-Michel-Notre-Dame" on the Left Bank has an exit on the island in front of the cathedral.

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