- published: 12 Jan 2016
- views: 6234
Parys (pronounced [pârés]) is a town situated on the banks of the Vaal River in the Free State province of South Africa. The name of the town is the Afrikaans translation of Paris. The name was given by a German surveyor named Schilbach who had participated in the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and the location next to the Vaal reminded him of Paris on the River Seine.
Many artists have settled in the town and many new interesting shops and attractions make it the ideal breakaway close to Gauteng and big centres. A unique attraction in Parys, the suspension bridge, was built in 1918 to connect Golf Island to the town. The current Town Hall was built in the 1930s in the typical Art Deco Style, after the original town Hall was destroyed by a fire. Parys is in the 5 km buffer zone of the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site.
Springboks great Frik du Preez, named South Africa's rugby player of the 20th century, was educated at Parys High School, although he was born in Rustenburg. Former NFL (American football) placekicker Gary Anderson was born in Parys, although raised in Durban. Parys was the original home of Johann van Schalkwyk, designer of the 2010 World Standards Day poster for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) [1]
Actors: Josef Príhoda (actor), Vladimír Repa (actor), Radovan Lukavský (actor), Frantisek Kreuzmann (actor), Karel Höger (actor), Jirí Dohnal (actor), Eduard Kohout (actor), Eman Fiala (actor), Frantisek Filipovský (actor), Svatopluk Benes (actor), Eduard Cupák (actor), Josef Hlinomaz (actor), Alois Dvorský (actor), Raoul Schránil (actor), Václav Krska (actor),
Genres: ,