In these terrible days for the French capital we remember with pleasure a famed and extraordinary essay on Paris [1] by Paul Valéry – not about Paris in general, but about its function, which makes it unique and different to all other cities.
Valéry does not talk to us about the real Paris that is made up of visitable monuments and places, but about its function, which is of “a more subtle order” than the functions that characterise other cities. It is a function necessary to Parisians, to the French, to the Europeans and to all humankind. Over the course of time, it has even acquired it own autonomy.