Consider this edition your personal Parisian address directory for the renowned that have historically shaped France and the world. This illustrated guide transports you geographically and photographically to famous residences formerly occupied by historical leaders, noteworthy figures, revolutionaries, famous writers, performers, composers and visual artists. It is your map of the stars within Paris with profiles framing the unique impact and background of the occupants. Known and unknown history, hidden delights and fascinating stories pervade the history of Paris. This kaleidoscope of discovery, personalities, egos, scandals, conflict framed by sheer beauty creates a vivid tapestry defining over two millenniums. You may imagine that you already know Paris, but that view is solely a prism of the whole. Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. This Famous Historic Guide is your alternative to conventional travel. It accommodates the restless visitor, tourist and resident seeking a unique and different perspective to traditional tourism. Paris remains one of the most beguiling, seductive and enchanting cities of the world. Its famed personalities are as statuesque and substantial as its iconic monuments. HISTORICAL FIGURES: Joan of Ark, Nicholas Flamel, Diane de Poitiers, Queen Margot of Navarre, Cardinal Richelieu, Marquises of Montespan and Maintenon, Madame du Barry, Benjamin Franklin, Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, Jacques Necker, Marie Le Normand, Eugene Vidocoq, Duke de Praslin, Napoleon III, La Paiva, Otto von Bismarck, Madame Claude, George Boulanger, Coco Chanel, Francois Mitterrand, Charles Parnell, Jacques Verges. John Adams, Karl Lagerfeld and Samuel de Champlain. BONAPARTE ERA: Napoleon Bonaparte, Desiree Clary, Empress Josephine, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, James Monroe, Pauline Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington. THINKERS/PHILOSOPHERS/WRITERS: Rene Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Marquis de Sade, Thomas Paine, Andre Chenier, Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Oscar Wilde, Colette, Sylvia Beach, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Alexandre Dumas, Alexis de Tocqueville, Alfred de Musset, Alphonse Daudet, Andre Breton, Andre Malraux, Guillaume Apollinaire, Arthur Rambeau, Blaise Pascal, Charles Baudelaire, Theophile Gautier, Duke of Saint Simon, Ernest Hemingway, Vicomte de Chateaubriand, Ezra Pound, Francoise Sagan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Sand, Gertrude Stein, Gustave Flaubert, Heinrich Heine, Ivan Turguenev, James Baldwin, James Joyce, Jean Cocteau, Leo Tolstoy, Jules Verne, Marcel Proust, Stendhal and PERFORMANCE ARTS: Moliere, Pierre Beaumarchais, Gioachino Rossini, Frederick Chopin, Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Jacques Offenbach, Sarah Bernhardt, George Bizet, Jean Sibelius, Isadora Duncan, Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Jacques Tati, Brigitte Bardot, Francois Truffaut, Jeanne Moreau, Serge Gainsbourg, George Moustaki, Dalida, Alain Delon and Jim Morrison, VISUAL ARTS: Jacques-Louis David, Auguste Rodin, Theo van Gough, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Alfonse Mucha, Amedeo Modigliani, Andre Masson, Constantin Brancusi, Camille Claudel, Edgar Degas, Eugene Delacroix, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Claude Monet, Francis Bacon, Gustave Dore, Gustave Moreau, Henri Matisse, Honore Daumier, Jean Renoir, Joan Miro, Kiki de Montparnasse, Man Ray, Yves Klein, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp and Paul Gauguin, REVOLUTIONARIES: Count Mirabeau, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Maximilien Robespierre, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Ho Chi Minh and Jean-Paul Marat.

Discover the rich history and culture of some of the world¿s most influential historical places with these highly illustrated books, packed with informative and enlightening descriptions and information

Paris abounds in the history of more than 2,000 years old legacy of wars, enriched culture and high-class literature with poetry, prose, drama and world-class architectural designs to amaze the world. The Gauls of the Parisii tribe settled here in Paris around 250 and 200 B.C. They went on to find a fishing village on an island situated in the river which is the “Ile de la Cite” of the present day. This was the main center around which the entire city of Paris was built and structured. Paris was known as “Lutetia” (Lutece) in the medieval times and was occupied by Julius Caesar in 52 B.C. Paris continued to subsist as a regional center under the influence of the Romans during the early Middle Ages. In 987, the Count of Paris named as Hugh Capet became the King of France. Under his successors and clan which came to be known as the Capetians, Paris continued to flourish as the national capital city of France. The people of Paris were considered to be rebellious and high-spirited as they went on to declare themselves as an independent commune in 1355-58 under the leadership of Etienne Marcel. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille was the first in the series of actions which was accelerated by the people of Paris and this came to be known as the French Revolution. During the years 1830 and 1848, Paris played a major role in the French Revolution as it became the center of all prime activities which took place on the social, economic, political domains of the revolutionary period.

Paris, the City of Light, is one of the most romantic cities in the world. The millions of visitors which flock to the French capital every year follow in the footsteps of countless artists, writers and composers who for centuries have been drawn to this magnificent city. Some composers, Chopin and Rossini among them, found success and contentment, and remained in Paris for the rest of their lives. But for others, Paris brought nothing but disappointment and disillusionment. Mozart, who came to Paris as a 22-year-old seeking a permanent position, was so bitter about the cavalier manner in which he was treated that he professed an aversion to all things French until the end of his days. Wagner was so upset by his treatment here that he once described Paris as "a pit into which the spirit of the nation has subsided." And yet he was drawn back to the city time and again. This book charts the musical history of Paris. It discusses the composer and musicians, both French and foreign, who were drawn here and the impact they made on the world of music, on this great city, and vice versa. It includes a wealth of biographical details, including where the artists lived and, where relevant, where they died and are buried. It also draws from and points to suitable scholarly literature, making it an accessible introduction to students of the musical history of Paris. The book also describes another feature which, if it did not enrich, most certainly enlivened Parisian musical life: The full-scale musical riot. The most notorious of these took place at the Theatre des Champs Elysées in 1913 at the premiere of Stravinsky’s ballet Le sacre du printemps. Less physical, but no less vociferous, was the reception accorded to Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Opéra in 1860. Other composers who incurred the displeasure of Parisian audiences included Satie, Varese and Xenakis. These riots were not half-hearted affairs; police involvement was required and hospital casualty departments were kept busy. There are also chapters which discuss the musical history of the many theatres of Paris and the churches which played such an important part in the city’s musical past. The text is clear and accessible in order to appeal to both students and the general reader.