Sunset reflected on the Bibliothèque Francois Mitterrand

The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF, IPA: [bi.bli.jɔ.tɛk na.sjɔ.nal də fʁɑ̃s]) is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.

The 13th arrondissement of Paris (also known as "arrondissement des Gobelins") is one of the 20 arrondissements (administrative districts) of the capital city of France.

Situated on the Left Bank of the River Seine, it is home to Paris's main Chinatown, which is located in the southeast of the arrondissement in an area that contains many high-rise apartment buildings. The current mayor is Jérôme Coumet (Socialist), who was re-elected by the arrondissement council on 29 March 2008 after the list which he headed gained 70% of the votes cast in the second round of the French municipal elections, 2008.

The 13th arrondissement also hosts the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand and the newly built business district of Paris Rive Gauche.

La Rive Gauche (French pronunciation: [la ʁiv ɡoʃ], The Left Bank) is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two: looking downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank (or Rive Droite) is to the right.

"Rive Gauche" or "Left Bank" generally refers to the Paris of an earlier era; the Paris of artists, writers and philosophers, including Pablo Picasso, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, Henri Matisse, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and dozens of other members of the great artistic community at Montparnasse. The phrase implies a sense of bohemianism and creativity. Some of its famous streets are the Boulevard Saint-Germain, the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue de Rennes.

The Latin Quarter is a Left Bank area in the 5th arrondissement, so named because originally Latin was widely spoken by students in the vicinity of the University of Paris.