A park of 962 ha/2380 acres situated on the W outskirts of Paris, France. Originally a royal hunting forest, it became a popular recreation area for Parisians in the 17th-c, and in 1852 was relandscaped along the lines of London's Hyde Park. The Longchamp racecourse was opened there in 1857.
The Bois de Boulogne is a park located along the western edge of the 16ème arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt.
The Bois de Boulogne has an area of 8.459 km² (3.266 sq.
The northern part of the Bois is occupied by the Jardin d'Acclimatation, a kind of amusement park with a menagerie and other attractions.
The Bois de Boulogne is notorious for the presence of prostitutes, especially transgendered Brazilians, at night.
History
these "Boulogne Woods" are a remnant of the ancient oak forest of Rouvray, which was first mentioned in 717, in the charter of Compiègne.
During the Hundred Years War, the forest became the haunt of robbers; Under Louis XI, the estate, now called the Bois de Boulogne, was reforested and two roads were opened through it.
After François I built the Château de Madrid (completed 1526) in the Bois de Boulogne, the woodlands became a site of festivities. His repudiated wife Marguerite de Valois retired to her refuge in the Château la Muette, in the Bois.
In November 1783, from the grounds of the Château de la Muette, Pilâtre de Rozier and the marquis d'Arlandes made the first successful flight in a hot-air balloon built by the Montgolfier brothers.
The site was made into a park by Napoleon III in 1852;
The Bois de Boulogne was officially annexed by the city of Paris in 1929, and was incorporated into the 16ème arrondissement. (Like the Bois de Vincennes, it is however generally not counted as part of Paris proper, since it only consists of public land with no population except for custodians.)
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