All roads lead to Paris

The cup had the shape of a driving wheel, resting on the heads of two camels. Its golden splendor was put on top of a marble base with a map of the route from Peking to Paris adorned with laurel and oak leaves. Prince Scipione Borghese received the allegoric work of art representing his race of countless hardships amidst the thousands of spectators assembled in the rainy Jardins des Tuileries on 10 August 1907. Earlier that day he had paraded through the centre of Paris in his Itala automobile, preceded by a thirty-seat charabanc decorated with Italian and French flags containing a full brass band playing the Triumphal March of Verdi's Aida.

The Peking to Paris race celebrated the global reach of automobilism, just like the 1908 New York to Paris race that sought to emulate it. The finish of both these extravagant events in Paris was not a coincidence. The French capital was the central stage for the automobile in its early years. The City of Light became one of the first automobilized metropoles and turned into the prime hub for automobile innovation and production around the turn of the century. The first Salon d’Automobile took place on 15 June 1898 in the Tuileries and made the city a showcase for automobility. Paris’ pioneering role in the development of the automobile was supported by the fact that Parisians widely and enduringly embraced the automobile until the 1970s Thus the city came to play an important role in embedding the automobile in early twentieth century France and Europe.

The city highlights several relevant aspects for the development of international motorized road traffic in Europe. First, Paris served as the start for four international automobile races, the so-called Courses des Capitales between Paris and other major European cities (1898-1903). The well-publicized events symbolized fraternal bonds between major European countries. Second, France in general and Paris in particular became a prime destination for European motorists.