In the darkness of centuries past, when streets disappeared into shadow and uncertainty, Paris sparked a quiet revolution: light made available to all.

The story of public lighting begins in Paris in 1318, when King Philip V ordered a candle to be placed outside the Châtelet to improve security around the courthouse. A modest flame, yet one that marked the first step toward urban illumination. Under the reign of Louis XIV, the vision of Lieutenant General of Police Gabriel Nicolas de La Reynie transformed the capital. By the late seventeenth century, 2,736 lanterns illuminated 912 streets, a number that grew to 5,772 lanterns by 1729.

By the middle of the eighteenth century, when street lighting still relied on candles whose wicks had to be trimmed every hour, a major innovation reshaped the night: oil street lamps fitted with metal reflectors, and later glass chimneys, produced a brighter, steadier, and cleaner light. Suspended every fifty meters above the streets, they established Paris as the European benchmark for urban lighting. By 1821, the city already counted 12,761 street lamps.

Then came gas lighting, first introduced in 1829, accelerating this transformation even further. By 1870, more than 20,700 gas lamps illuminated the capital. Every evening, as many as 1,500 lamplighters walked the streets to light, maintain, and extinguish the lanterns, creating a spectacle that became one of Paris's defining images. Finally, in 1878, Avenue de l'Opéra ushered in the great age of electric lighting.

From the medieval candle to the electric lamp, through the golden age of oil and gas street lamps, Paris continually pushed the boundaries of innovation, becoming the first city in the world to embrace public lighting on a large scale. The capital transformed its streets into places that were visible, vibrant, and secure. Night was no longer something to fear, but a landscape to inhabit. Beneath the flickering glow of the street lamps, silhouettes emerged, footsteps lingered, and the city came alive in a new way. A new relationship with time and space was born, one in which security and freedom advanced together. More than a technological breakthrough, it was an urban transformation. Paris became a model for cities around the world and earned the nickname that has endured through the centuries: the City of Light.

Clarity. Innovation. Protection. Elegance. These are the forces that redefined the Parisian night. For here, even darkness is mastered with grace.

Today, that original light shines far beyond the city's streets, reminding us that some ideas illuminate the entire world...

Will you follow its glow?

#YesForParis #ParisWillBeBlue