page_title: Paris in the 16th century
section_title: The Paris of Francis and Henry III
hierarchical_section_title: Paris in the 16th century / Events / The Paris of Francis and Henry III
caption_attribution_description: The jousting match at the Hôtel des Tournelles in Paris in 1559, in which Henri II of France loses his life. Etching. Iconographic Collections Keywords: Jean Jacques Perrissim
context_page_description: During the 16th century, Paris was the largest city in Europe, with a population of about 350,000 in 1550.
  The 16th century saw the Renaissance arrive in Paris, expressed in the city's architecture, art and cultural life. The Kings of France returned to Paris from the Loire Valley. Paris. In 1534, Francis I became the first French king to make the Louvre his residence.
  Under King Francis I, the Renaissance style of architecture, imported from Italy, was widely used in churches and public buildings, replacing the Gothic style. Paris landmarks built during the 16th century include the Tuileries Palace, the Fontaine des Innocents, the Lescot wing of the Louvre; the church of Saint-Eustache; and the Hôtel Carnavalet, begun in 1545, now the museum of the history of Paris.
  During the century, Paris was the second most important centre of book publishing in Europe, after Venice. The University of Paris devoted its attentions largely to fighting the Protestant heresy, the King founded the Collège de France as a new centre of learning independent of the university.
  Tensions between Protestants and Catholics grew, culminating in the St.
context_section_description: Louis XI died in 1483, and his successors, Charles VIII and Louis XII, also chose to live in the Loire Valley.  Louis XII died in 1515 without a male heir, and was succeeded by his cousin, Francis I, who was much more interested in the city.  Francis gradually moved closer to Paris, first to the Palace of Fontainebleau, then to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, then to the Chateau de Madrid, an enormous hunting lodge that he built in the Bois de Boulogne. Finally, on March 15, 1528, he declared his intention to live in Paris.  Since the old royal palace on the Île-de-la-Cité was occupied by the Parlement of Paris, he announced that he would live in the old fortress of the Louvre.
  While the Louvre was being reconstructed to his tastes, Francis I resided at the Hôtel des Tournelles, near the Bastille, in a house that the Kings used when passing through Paris.  At the direction of the King, the architect Pierre Lescot started to transform the Louvre from a grim fortress into a modern residence; he tore down the massive central keep, or tower, to give more light to the square courtyard, and widened the windows. He then built a new wing, decorated in the new Renaissance style imported from Italy. The new wing designed by Lescot became a model for French Renaissance buildings throughout France.  He moved into the Louvre in 1534.
  As he built his palace, Francis I commissioned in 1532 the construction of a new city hall for the City of Paris, designed by a master of the Italian Renaissance, Domenico da Cortona, also in the new Renaissance style.  The King himself came several times to the unfinished city hall building to the assembly of Paris merchants, appealing for funds for his military campaigns.   The new building was not finished  until 1628.
  Francis I strengthened the position of Paris as a center of learning and scholarship. In 1500, there were seventy-five printing houses in Paris, second only to Venice. During the 16th century, Paris became first in Europe in book publishing. In 1530, Francis I created a new faculty at the University of Paris with the mission of teaching Hebrew, Greek and mathematics. It became the Collège de France.  In 1540, the Jesuit order established its first schools in Paris.  In 1549, the first textbook of the French language, La Défense et illustration de la langue Française, by Joachim du Bellay, was published.
  Francis I died in 1547.  His son, Henry II, made his official entrance into Paris in 1549 with a lavish procession and ceremony; the first Renaissance fountain in the city, the Fontaine des Innocents, was commissioned as a tribute to the King's arrival. Henry continued the grand projects begun by Francis I. He built the Pavillon du Roi, a massive construction at the southwest corner of the Louvre, where his apartment was placed on the first floor.  On the ground floor inside the Lescot Wing, he built a lavish new hall for ceremonies, the Salle des Cariatides.  He also began construction of a new wall around the growing city, which was not finished until the reign of Louis XIII.
  Henry II died 10 July 1559 from wounds suffered while jousting at his residence at the Hôtel des Tournelles. His widow, Catherine de Medicis, had the old residence demolished in 1563. In 1612, construction began on the Place des Vosges, one of the oldest planned squares in Paris. Between 1564 and 1572 she constructed a new royal residence, the Tuileries Palace perpendicular to the Seine, just outside the wall built by Charles V around the city. To the west of the palace she created a large Italian-style garden, the Jardin des Tuileries.  She abruptly abandoned the palace in 1574, due to the prophecy of an astrologer that she would die close to the church of Saint-Germain, or Saint-Germain-l'Auxerois. She began building a new palace on rue de Viarmes, near Les Halles, but it was never finished, and all that remains is a single column.
caption: The tournament at the Hotel des Tournelles in 1559 at which King Henry II was accidentally killed
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