An ordinary walk in Paris feels like a trip back in time: the Eiffel Tower represents the 1880s, the Arc de Triomphe in the early 19th century, the Palais des Congrès in the late 18th century, Notre Dame de Paris in between 14th century, Sainte-Chapelle in the middle of the 13th century and so on. But the history of Paris is still much deeper than many tourists imagine.
To discover it, one must go deeper and literally down into the Archaeological Crypt of Ile de la Cite. Located opposite Notre Dame, this underground museum contains artifacts of the city as it was 2,000 years ago, when it was a medium-sized Gallo-Roman city called Lutetia, or Lutèce in French.
In the Archaeological Crypt you will see exhibits representing Lutetia in three dimensions at the height of the Roman Empire. When it was first mentioned by Julius Caesar in 53 BC, he wrote about a city located on an island of the Seine.
The current name of the city was created around the year 360 and comes from the Gallic tribe of Parisii, which occupied the area from the 3rd century BC, writes CNN.gr.