In Paris, all it takes is one date to bring to life an entire swath of history. September offers a striking condensed snapshot: behind the streets, monuments and institutions we know today lie events some of which left a lasting imprint, while others have almost faded from the collective memory.
This historical calendar of Paris travels back through 30 ephemerides, one for each day in September. We encounter writers and scientists, rulers and revolutionaries, anonymous Parisians and figures who became famous. We also witness decisive days, the opening of emblematic sites, innovations, dramas, struggles and more unexpected episodes that, each in their own way, tell the story of the transformation of the City of Light.
The goal isn’t to line up 30 anniversaries, but to tell Paris through its micro- and macro-history, with documents and verified facts to back it up. From September 1 to 30, here’s what happened in Paris on that same date, sometimes decades ago, sometimes centuries earlier. Incredible but true stories!
Ephemeris for September 1st in Paris: The founding of the Sorbonne
On September 1, 1257, the Sorbonne was founded by Robert de Sorbon, chaplain and confessor to King Louis IX. Initially dedicated to destitute students, the school quickly became Europe's leading cultural and scientific center, thanks to the quality and wealth of its teaching. [Read more]
Ephemeris of September 2 in Paris: The September Massacres
On September 2, 1792, the Sans-Culottes broke into Paris prisons and massacred a thousand inmates suspected of being counter-revolutionaries and in favor of the King's return. [Read more]
Éphéméride du 3 septembre à Paris : On September 3 in Paris, the adoption of France's first constitution in its history
On September 3, 1791, the National Constituent Assembly in Paris approves the first written constitution in France’s history. Two years after the Revolution began, the text ends absolute monarchy and sets up a constitutional monarchy in which sovereignty now resides with the Nation. A political revolution on paper, but its delicate balance would last barely more than a year. [Read more]
On This Day in Paris, September 4: Gambetta Proclaims the Third Republic
On September 4, 1870, the Third Republic was proclaimed by Léon Gambetta on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, following the fall of the Second Empire triggered by Napoleon III's defeat at Sedan, and in the face of the Parisian people's stubbornness. [Read more]
This day in Paris history: Victor Hugo's return to Paris after 19 years in exile
On September 5, 1870, Victor Hugo returned to Paris after nearly 19 years in exile. Arriving from Brussels at 10 p.m. at Gare du Nord, the day after the proclamation of the Republic, the writer finds a huge crowd waiting to greet him. The discreet homecoming he had hoped for takes on the air of a popular triumph, as the Prussian armies were already marching toward the capital. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 6: The requisition of Parisian taxis, the "Taxis of the Marne"
On 6 and 7 September 1914, 1,300 Paris taxis were requisitioned by the French army to shuttle reinforcements to the front of the Battle of the Marne. The "taxis of the Marne" would carry 6,000 infantrymen and help slow the German advance toward Paris. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 7: Guillaume Apollinaire arrested in the Mona Lisa theft case.
On September 7, 1911, Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested in Paris and taken to La Santé prison. For two weeks, police have been hunting for the Mona Lisa, mysteriously removed from the Louvre. The poet did not steal the Leonardo da Vinci canvas, but his links to Géry Pieret, involved in several museum thefts, place him at the center of an inquiry that will also reach his friend Pablo Picasso. [Read more]
Paris, September 8: Joan of Arc's failed bid to retake the capital, during which she was wounded.
On September 8, 1429, a few weeks after guiding Charles VII to his coronation at Reims, Joan of Arc faced the walls of Paris. Her aim: bring the capital back under the king’s obedience. The assault concentrated on the Saint-Honoré Gate, near today’s André-Malraux Square. After hours of fighting, Joan was wounded in the thigh and the royal army had to retreat. Paris would not be retaken for another seven years. [Read more]
On this day in Paris: the premiere of Molière's The Miser at the Palais-Royal
On September 9, 1668, Molière stepped onto the stage at the Palais-Royal Theatre to present The Miser, his new five-act prose comedy in which he himself portrays Harpagon. While it would go on to become one of the most famous plays in French theatre, The Miser did not immediately win over Parisian audiences. [Read more]
On this date in Paris, September 10: A tornado tears through the heart of the city.
On September 10, 1896, a tornado forms in the very heart of Paris, just a stone's throw from Place Saint-Sulpice. In just a few minutes, the phenomenon sweeps across the capital, laying waste to everything in its path. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 11: The consecration of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral.
On September 11, 1861, Paris unveiled one of its most singular religious buildings: the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky. Since it became a cathedral, it has stood as a key landmark in the history of Russians in Paris, frequented by the likes of Turgenev, Picasso, Kandinsky, and Tarkovsky. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 12: The birth of Maurice Chevalier in Ménilmontant.
On September 12, 1888, in Ménilmontant, a boy was born who would become one of France's most famous figures of his era. Maurice Chevalier, a child of popular Paris, would leave the neighborhood cabarets to conquer the Folies Bergère and then Hollywood. His smile, his Parisian accent, and his famous boater would eventually, abroad, help shape a certain image of France. [Read more]
September 13 in Paris: When Place Royale Became Place des Vosges
On September 13, 1800, one of Paris’s best-known squares was given the name it still bears today: Place des Vosges. Yet not a single famous Vosgian native ever lived there, and the Marais’ landscape has nothing in common with the Vosges Mountains in the east. So, where does it get its name? [Read more]
On this day in Paris: Olympe de Gouges publishes the Declaration of the Rights of Woman
On September 14, 1791, Olympe de Gouges published in Paris a text radical for its time: the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen. In 17 articles, she demands full and complete equality between the sexes. [Read more]
On this date in Paris: The Publicis drugstore attack in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
On September 15, 1974, a grenade exploded in the Saint-Germain drugstore, killing 2 people and wounding 34 others. The attack was blamed on the revolutionary terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as Carlos. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 16: The astonishing burglary of the Crown Jewels.
In September 1792, the treasure of the kings of France vanishes almost entirely from the Garde-Meuble, today the Hôtel de la Marine. Several bands of thieves take advantage of the revolutionary chaos to pull off one of the most spectacular burglaries in Parisian history. [Read more]
September 17 in Paris: Bomb attack outside the Tati store on rue de Rennes.
On September 17, 1986, Paris is once again the target of a terrorist attack on Rue de Rennes. For two weeks, the assaults have been multiplying across the capital, claimed by a pro-Iranian terrorist network acting on behalf of Hezbollah of Lebanon. The bomb, planted in front of the Tati store, leaves seven dead and 55 injured, and marks the end of this "Black September." [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 18: the founding of the Paris Fire Brigade battalion
A deadly blaze at an imperial ball reshapes how emergency services are organized in the capital. On September 18, 1811, Napoleon I handed firefighting to a professional military unit: the Paris Fire Battalion, the ancestor of today’s BSPP. [Read more]
This day in Paris history: Farm animals soar in a hot-air balloon at Versailles
Long before the first human flights, three unlikely passengers served as the Montgolfier brothers’ guinea pigs. In Versailles, on September 19, 1783, a sheep, a duck, and a rooster took to the air before Louis XVI and the court, in a decisive experiment in the history of ballooning. [Read more]
Éphéméride du 20 septembre à Paris : Johnny Hallyday prend la scène de l’Olympia pour la première fois.
On September 20, 1961, Johnny Hallyday made his debut at the Olympia. At 18, the performer who had been almost unknown a year earlier became the headliner of one of Paris’s most prestigious venues. This first run of concerts marked a decisive milestone in the ascent of the man who would become the Idol of the Young. [Read more]
On this day in Paris history: The Lion of Belfort is installed on Denfert-Rochereau Square.
For nearly 150 years, its imposing silhouette has watched over Denfert-Rochereau Square. On September 21, 1880, Paris unveiled its Lion of Belfort, a copper replica of Auguste Bartholdi’s monumental sculpture celebrating Belfort’s resistance during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 22: the giant banquet for France’s 23,000 mayors at the Tuileries
On September 22, 1900, the Tuileries Gardens played host to a banquet of epic proportions, with nearly 23,000 mayors gathered around one long table! Set against the backdrop of the Universal Exposition, this Republic-inspired feast required miles of tables, thousands of waiters, and food quantities that are hard to imagine today. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 23: The first French airmail flight during the Siege of Paris.
On September 23, 1870, as Paris lay besieged by the Prussian army, the first tethered balloon lifted off from Place Saint-Pierre. Named Le Neptune, the airship carried 125 kilograms of official dispatches destined for the government members who had taken refuge in Tours. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 24: The birth of the Paris Stock Exchange... women were barred.
On September 24, 1724, a decree of the King's Council officially established the Paris Bourse. Situated on Rue Vivienne, in the Hôtel de Nevers, the new institution was entrusted with restoring order to a market scarred by the collapse of John Law’s system. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 25: The first aeronautics exhibition at the Grand Palais.
On September 25, 1909, the Grand Palais hosted the First International Exhibition of Aerial Locomotion, regarded as the ancestor of the Bourget International Air and Space Show. A few weeks after Louis Blériot's crossing of the Channel, airplanes, airships and engines took over the Grand Palais' vast nave! [Read more]
On this day in Paris history: the opening of the RER C
On September 26, 1979, Prime Minister Raymond Barre inaugurated the railway link between the Invalides and Orsay stations. A mere kilometer of tunnel was enough to unite two networks that had faced off for decades, giving birth to the Transversale Rive Gauche, soon renamed the RER C. [Read more]
On this day in Paris, September 27: Champollion reveals how to decipher hieroglyphs
On September 27, 1822, Jean-François Champollion stood before the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres to unveil the ideas that finally unlocked Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. At 31, after a decade of work, the French savant showed that some signs represent sounds, opening the path to reading texts that had remained largely indecipherable for nearly 15 centuries. [Read more]
This day in Paris history: September 28 — The Le Printemps department store fire.
In the morning of September 28, 1921, forty years after a first blaze, the Le Printemps department store was the scene of a fire that ravaged the interior of the second building under construction. [Read more]
Find the locations of these historical milestones by clicking the map at the bottom of the article
Dates and Opening Time
From September 1, 2026 to September 30, 2026
