Paris Police Prefecture

The siege of Paris of 885–886 was part of a Viking raid on the Seine, in the Kingdom of the West Franks. The siege was the most important event of the reign of Charles the Fat, and a turning point in the fortunes of the Carolingian dynasty and the history of France. It also proved for the Franks the strategic importance of Paris at a time when it also was one of the largest cities in West Francia. The siege is the subject of an eyewitness account in the Latin poem Bella Parisiacae urbis of Abbo Cernuus. With hundreds of ships, and possibly tens of thousands of men, the Vikings arrived outside Paris in late November 885, demanding tribute. This was denied by Odo, Count of Paris, despite the fact he could assemble only several hundred soldiers to defend the city. The Vikings attacked with a variety of siege engines but failed to break through the city walls despite days of intense attacks. The siege was maintained for months but without any significant assaults after the initial attack. As the siege continued, most of the Vikings left Paris to pillage further upriver. The Vikings made a final unsuccessful attempt to take the city during the summer. In October, Charles the Fat arrived with his army. To the frustration of the Parisians who had fought to defend the city, Charles stopped short of attacking the Viking invaders. Instead, he allowed them to sail further up the Seine to raid Burgundy (which was in revolt) and promised a payment of 700 livres (257 kg) of silver. Odo, highly critical of this, attempted to defy Charles' promises. When Charles died in 888, Odo was elected the first non-Carolingian king of the Franks.

The place Louis-Lépine is a square in the 4th arrondissement of Paris on the île de la Cité. It is bounded by the rue de la Cité (east), rue de Lutèce (south), rue Aubé (west), the quai de la Corse (north), and is crossed by the allée Célestin-Hennion. It is named after Louis Lépine, a notable prefect of the Paris police. The Metro station Cité has its only entrance on the square. It is the venue for the Marché aux fleurs Reine-Elizabeth-II, a flower and bird market. The prefecture of police is a large building located between the Place Louis Lépine and the Quai du Marché neuf. This building was built as a barracks for the Garde républicaine from 1863 to 1867 (architect Pierre-Victor Calliat) and was occupied by the Prefecture in 1871.

The Marché aux fleurs Reine-Elizabeth-II is a flower market in Paris. It was formerly known as the Marché aux fleurs et aux oiseaux Cité but was renamed for Queen Elizabeth II after a state visit in 2014.It sells caged birds on Sundays but this trade has been forbidden on the grounds of animal welfare and so is expected to cease after a period of renovation and reorganisation scheduled from 2023 to 2025.

The siege of Paris of 845 was the culmination of a Viking invasion of West Francia. The Viking forces were led by a Norse chieftain named "Reginherus", or Ragnar, who tentatively has been identified with the legendary saga character Ragnar Lodbrok. Reginherus's fleet of 120 Viking ships, carrying thousands of men, entered the Seine in March and sailed up the river. The Frankish king Charles the Bald assembled a smaller army in response but after the Vikings defeated one division, comprising half of the army, the remaining forces retreated. The Vikings reached Paris at the end of the month, during Easter. They plundered and occupied the city, withdrawing after Charles the Bald paid a ransom of 7,000 French livres [2,570 kg (83,000 ozt)] in gold and silver.

Île de la Cité (French: [il də la site]; English: City Island) is an island in the river Seine in the center of Paris. In the 4th century, it was the site of the fortress of the Roman governor. In 508 Clovis I, the first King of the Franks, established his palace on the island. In the 12th century it became an important religious center, the home of Notre-Dame cathedral, and the royal chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, as well as the city's first hospital: the Hôtel-Dieu. It is also the site of the city's oldest surviving bridge, the Pont Neuf. With the departure of the French kings to the Louvre Palace and then to the Palace of Versailles, the island became France's judicial centre. In 1302 it hosted the first meeting of the Parliament of Paris and was later the site of the trials of aristocrats in the French Revolution. Today, it is the home of the Prefecture de Police, the Palais de Justice, and the Tribunal de commerce de Paris. The Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation, a memorial to the 200,000 people deported from Vichy France to the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War, is located at the eastern end of the island. The city's most famous landmark, Notre-Dame de Paris, was badly damaged by a fire in 2019 and is closed, but it is expected to reopen in time for the Paris Olympics in 2024. As of 2016, the island's population was 891.

Lutetia, (UK: loo-TEESH-ə, also US: ; Latin: [luːˈteːtia]; French: Lutèce [lytɛz]) also known as Lutetia Parisiorum ( pə-RIZ-i-OR-əm; Latin: [... pariːsiˈoːrʊ̃ː]; lit. 'Lutetia of the Parisii'), was a Gallo–Roman town and the predecessor of modern-day Paris. Traces of an earlier Neolithic settlement (c. 4500 BC) have been found nearby, and a larger settlement was established around the middle of the 3rd century BC by the Parisii, a Gallic tribe. The site was an important crossing point of the Seine, the intersection of land and water trade routes. In the 1st century BC, the settlement was conquered by Romans and a city began to be built. Remains of the Roman forum, amphitheatre, aqueduct and baths can still be seen. In the 5th century it became the capital of the Merovingian dynasty of French kings, and thereafter was known as Paris. Many artifacts from Lutetia have been recovered and are on display at the Musée Carnavalet.

Cité (French: [site] (listen)) is a metro station on Line 4 of the Paris Métro in the 4th arrondissement of Paris.

The Petit Pont (Little Bridge) is a bridge crossing the River Seine in Paris, built in 1853, although a structure has crossed the river at this point since antiquity. The present bridge is a single stone arch linking the 4th arrondissement and the Île de la Cité, with the 5th arrondissement, between quai de Montebello and quai Saint-Michel. The Petit Pont is notable for having been destroyed, at least thirteen times since its original inception during Gallo-Roman times to the mid-19th century. It is served by the Metro station Saint-Michel.

Sainte-Geneviève-des-Ardents (French pronunciation: ​[sɛ̃t ʒə.nə.vjɛv də.z‿aʁ.dɑ̃]), known as Sainte-Geneviève-la-Petite in the Middle Ages, was a church located at present-day Parvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul-II in the Île de la Cité in Paris, France. It is dedicated to Saint Genevieve, the miracles imputed to whom included "the cessation of a horrible plague, called the mal ardent, which desolated Paris in the reign of Louis le Gros".

The Tribunal judiciaire de Paris (abbreviated TJ; in English: Judicial Court of Paris), located at the Judicial Campus of Paris in Batignolles, is the largest court in France by caseload. It replaced the capital's former Tribunal de grande instance (Court of major instance) and Tribunal d'instance (court of petty instance) under an amalgamation of jurisdictions that came into effect on January 1, 2020.

Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche is considered the narrowest street in Paris. It is only 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) wide for the whole of its 29 m (95 ft) length. It is in the 5th arrondissement, on the Rive Gauche of the Seine, and runs from Quai Saint-Michel to Rue de la Huchette,

The Bouquinistes of Paris, France, are booksellers of used and antiquarian books and rare vintage postcards who ply their trade along large sections of the banks of the Seine: on the right bank from the Pont Marie to the Quai du Louvre, and on the left bank from the Quai de la Tournelle to Quai Voltaire. The Seine is thus described as 'the only river in the world that runs between two bookshelves'.