The settlement that spawned the city of Paris may have been established in the Iron Age, by the Parisii people (who were involved in the uprising against Julius Ceasar.) The settlment’s population grew in the centuries following, due its strategic waterways location providing a constant source of fresh water and constant trade. The city was Christinized in the early centuries and over the the course of the time faced invasions and occupation from barbarians, vikings, and land-grabbing neighbors, as well as popular uprisings of every stripe. Generations came and went, but Paris the city still survived.

On this day, July, in 1951, the city of Paris, formerly Lutetia, Latin for “midwater dwelling,” celebrated its 2000th anniversary.

Robert Garric, a noted author and Catholic reformer, published for the city’s anniversary a special collection reflecting its history and people. He described in his 1951 Portrait of Paris the cosmopolitan nature of the city: “The people of Paris have their gatherings, their holidays … their music, their songs, their newspapers. And Paris is the melting pot, it absorbs them all.”