Interesting Facts about Paris Lights

Some Interesting Facts About What Makes Paris the City of Lights:

If you’ve ever wondered why Paris is called the “City of Lights“, here are some interesting Paris facts that will enlighten.

• City lights – There are over 296 illuminated sites in Paris covering hotels, churches, statues, fountains and national buildings and monuments. Furthermore, 33 of Paris’ 37 bridges are illuminated at nightfall.
• The sparkling Eiffel Tower – It takes 40 km of illuminated garlands made up of 20,000 sparkling light bulbs to light up this famous Paris landmark.
• Champs-Elysées – The world’s most beautiful and romantic boulevard lights up during the Christmas illuminations. This is truly a sight to behold!  There are over 2.4 km of lights from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, including 450 decorated trees – 330 trees sparkle along the avenue and 120 trees on the pavement.
• Illuminations at the Grands Magazins – The façade of Galeries Lafayette on the Grands Boulevards is decorated in 2,000m² of light during the festive season, using some 250,000 light bulbs.  This is one amazing Paris fact.
• Lighting on the Paris tramway – In the south of Paris, all along the Boulevard des Maréchaux, over 4,000 luminous points set off the new tramway at night.
• Public lightings contribute to 113,251 above ground light sources, 14,443 underground light sources and over 50,000 street lights.
• Paris is synonymous with cinema and cinema lights add to Paris’ night lights!

Why is Paris really called City of Lights?

Street lighting aside, Paris’ reputation as the “City of Lights” is accredited to its position as the intellectual centre during the Age of Enlightenment.  “La Ville-Lumière” as it was then called, Paris was the birthplace of the Age of Enlightenment and it was famous as a centre of education and ideas throughout Europe.

Paris’ early adoption of street lighting probably also contributed to its “City of Lights” tag.  Based on the interesting facts above, the city continues to uphold its reputation as the City of Lights, from a wattage perspective.

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