In fifteen years, Baron Haussmann – the prefect of Paris – changed the face of Paris forever. In 1853, when the work ordered by Emperor Napoleon III began, Paris was a tangle of narrow, unhealthy medieval streets that made travel hazardous and even dangerous at night due to the lack of lighting. Accidents with horse-drawn carriages and omnibuses were legion. Commerce was concentrated on the right bank of the Seine, while the left bank, occupied by the universities, was not very lively. By creating large avenues, sewers and railway stations, Haussmann embellished, cleaned up, and modernised Paris.