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Heavy rainfall has caused sewage overflows into Paris’s Seine River, leading to dangerous E. coli bacteria levels. This problem has already led to the cancellation of several test events, raising significant health concerns even less than a month before the event. Massive cleanup efforts began with a €1.4 billion investment in reducing pollution. The aim is to ensure the Seine is safe for swimming for the first time in 100 years. However, with no backup plan, the 2024 Summer Olympics triathlons could revert to duathlons if the water quality doesn’t improve.

In April 2024, the iconic red windmill sails of Paris’s famed Moulin Rouge unexpectedly fell off overnight – the first such event in the cabaret’s 135-year history. The incident, which did not result in injuries, was due to a technical issue. While the venue continued to host its shows without interruption, the absence of the sails left a visual void in the Paris skyline. New blades were installed on July 5, 2024.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Nov. 27, 2023, that she was quitting X, formerly known as Twitter. She criticized the platform for devolving into a source of disinformation, hatred, anti-Semitism, and racism, heightening tensions and conflicts in society. Or, as she put it, a ‘global sewer’ destroying democracies. Several major advertisers paused their campaigns on X due to similar concerns about the platform. Hidalgo’s stance may be rooted in the criticism she received for a partially taxpayer-funded trip to Tahiti. This trip was intended to view a 2024 Olympics surfing site, but it was also noted that she visited her daughter, who lives there.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (originally titled Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482) is a French novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. In 1998, Notre-Dame de Paris, with music by Riccardo Cocciante and lyrics by Luc Plamondon, premiered in Paris and became an instant success.

When did Notre Dame de Paris premiere in New York City?

“Notre Dame de Paris” had its New York premiere at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on July 13, 2022.

Construction of the Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) cathedral began in 1163 and was largely completed by 1260 – in the 12th and 13th centuries. In March 2022, archaeologists found an ancient lead sarcophagus in the lower levels of the building, which is currently under reconstruction after a devastating fire in 2019. The lead casket probably belonged to a high dignitary and could date back to the 14th century.

On Sept. 12, 2021, a team of 95 rope technicians began wrapping Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in 25,000 sq. meters of material, concluding a 60-year project for the artist Christo.

Who was Christo?

The Bulgarian-born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and his French wife Jeanne-Claude worked together under the name Christo. In 1995 they famously wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin for two weeks, drawing five million spectators. Ten years earlier, they oversaw the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris. Christo died in May 2020, while his wife died in 2009.

Why was Paris’s Arc de Triomphe wrapped in 2021?

The late Christo couple left detailed drawings and instructions for the Arc de Triomphe to be wrapped in recyclable polypropylene fabric in silvery blue and red rope. The idea was revived in 2017 to coincide with a Christo exhibition displayed in multiple Paris galleries starting Sept. 2021. “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” was be on view for 16 days from Saturday, Sept. 18 to Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021.

Le Parisien newspaper reported Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021, that singer, dancer, actress, civil rights activist, and perhaps most notable, French Resistance agent, Josephine Baker, will be reburied at the Pantheon monument Paris. Baker is the first Black woman to get France’s highest honor. French President Emmanuel Macron decided on a Nov. 30, 2021, ceremony at the Paris monument, which houses the remains of scientist Marie Curie, the French philosopher Voltaire, writer Victor Hugo, and other French greats.

The Eiffel Tower was given the nickname The Iron Lady in 1925 and is still called this today.

Eiffel Tower Fact

Paris’ Eiffel Tower was ordered shut in October 2020 as France battled its second virus surge of the coronavirus pandemic. The monument reopened Friday, July 16, 2021, for the first time in nearly nine months.

In 2023, Paris and other French cities experienced a notable increase in bedbug infestations, leading to widespread public and mental health concerns. The French government, recognizing the severity of the issue, hosted emergency meetings to devise strategies to manage the situation, especially in light of the ongoing Rugby World Cup and the upcoming 2024 Olympics. Bedbugs, notorious for their blood-sucking habits, can cause physical discomfort and psychological distress despite not being carriers of diseases. The resurgence of these pests observed not just in France but globally, has been attributed to factors like globalization and bedbug adaptation to resist chemical eradication methods used in the past.