Paris is an influential city in the arts.
Paris ( French pronunciation : [ pɑʁi ] , [ paʁi ] ) is the capital and most populous city of France . By the 17th century , Paris was one of Europe 's major centres of finance , commerce , fashion , science , and the arts , and it retains that position still today . Paris has many important cultural institutions : its Louvre museum is the most visited in the world ; its Musée d'Orsay is noted for its collection of French Impressionist art , and its Pompidou-center Musée National d'Art Moderne has the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe . Paris in the 17th century . It was also a flourishing center of French science and the arts ; it saw the founding of the Paris Observatory , the French Academy of Sciences and the first botanical garden in Paris , which also became the first park in Paris open to the public .