Historical quarters of Paris

The Île de la Cité is the central and historic district of Paris, with a secular and religious history that dates to the 10th century.

Rive Droite (English: "Right Bank"), formerly a marshland between two arms of the Seine, remained largely uninhabited until the early 11th century.

[citation needed] "Le Châtelet," a stronghold/gatehouse guarding the northern end of a bridge from the Île de la Cité, was the origin of early Rive Droite growth.

[citation needed] Just to the east of the Place du Châtelet lies Paris's Hôtel de Ville (City Hall).

This quarter has 17th and 18th century buildings, as well as some of Paris' more grandiose constructions, namely along the avenue de l'Opéra, from the Haussmann era.

The massive buildings on the northern side of the rue de Rivoli, with their covered and columned arcades, are a result of Paris' first attempt at reconstruction in a larger scale in the early 1840s, and today house the quarter's most tourist-oriented shops, boutiques and night-clubs.

The streets behind the Avenue and in the neighbourhood surrounding are filled with Haussmanian buildings that host some residences, but are largely dominated by offices.

Many of Montmartre's windmills and much of its "old village" charm had already been destroyed when Paris's tourist boom began in the early 20th century, but investors and speculators rebuilt it.

The Moulin Rouge is the most prominent remaining example of the once numerous saloons and dance halls that lined the north side of the boulevard.

The surrounding boulevards, especially to the east of the Moulin Rouge towards Place Pigalle, are home to sex-oriented businesses (sex shops, peep shows, strip clubs).

Inaugurated as the "Place Royale" in 1612, much of the land surrounding was built with vast and luxurious hotels by those seeking closer relations to royalty, and many remain today.

This area fell out of royal favour when the King's court left for the Louvre then Versailles, and was in a state of almost abandon by the 19th century.

Odéon is named for the 18th-century theatre standing between the boulevard Saint-Germain and the Luxembourg gardens, but today it is best known for its cinemas and cafés.

The land to the south of the Seine river to the east of the Boulevard Saint-Michel, around its Sorbonne university, has been a centre of student activity since the early 12th century.

The surrounding neighbourhood is filled with student-oriented commercial establishments such as bookstores, stationery stores and game shops.

Although its narrow streets are charming, as they have remained unchanged from medieval times, they are filled with souvenir shops and tourist restaurants.

Open from 1824, it attracted the ateliers of sculptors and engravers to the still-inbuilt land nearby, and these in turn drew painters and other artists looking for calmer climes than the saturated and expensive Rive Droite.

To the south-east of the boulevard Montparnasse, to the bottom of the northward-running Avenue Denfert-Rochereau at the square of the same name, is one of Paris' few-remaining pre-1860s "prolype" gateways.

At its origin a jumbled bone depository, it was renovated in the early 19th century into uniform rooms and hallways of neatly (and even artistically) arranged skulls and tibias, and opened to the public for paid visits from 1868.

The project to build the Grande Arche was initiated by the French president François Mitterrand, who wanted a 20th-century version of the Arc de Triomphe.