Tourism
DISCOVER
- Tourism & Leisure in Paris -
The City of Light
Already have your guide on your smartphone? Let us still allow us this small selection for you. Enjoy your stay in the City of Light!
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde is located along the Seine and separates the Tuileries garden from the beginning of the Champs Elysées. Construction began in 1754 and was completed in 1763. It was then called Place Louis XV and was made to house an equestrian statue of the King. Today the square retains the general appearance it had in the eighteenth century. The statue of Louis XV, removed during the Revolution, was replaced by the Obelisk of Luxor offered by the Viceroy of Egypt, Mohamed Ali, to Louis Philip.
Place Vendôme
Place Vendôme, designed in 1699 by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, is a square in Paris, located in the 1st arrondissement. With the Place des Victoires, the Place de la Concorde, the Place des Vosges and the Place Dauphine, it is one of the five royal squares of the city. A large part of the facades are classified as historical monuments. In its center is the Vendôme column built in 1810, at the top of which sits the statue of Napoleon Bonaparte. Typical of French classical urbanism, it is one of the most famous squares in Paris and considered one of the most luxurious in the world. After being the center of Parisian fashion and elegance, it became the center of Parisian high jewelry.
On this square, you can also find the Hotel de Bourvallais, which is the seat of the Ministry of Justice.
Louvre Museum
The Louvre Museum is the largest museum in Paris by its surface area. Located in the heart of the city of Paris, the building is a former royal palace. It houses some of the most famous paintings in the world: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Eugène Delacroix's La Liberté guidant le peuple and Jacques Louis David's Le Serment des Horaces. With a record attendance of 8.3 million visitors in 2006, the Louvre is by far the most visited art museum in the world.
Champs-Élysées and Arc de Triomphe
"Most beautiful avenue in the world"? The Champs-Élysées begin at Place de la Concorde, where the Obelisk stands, and extend from east to west to Place Charles-de-Gaulle (formerly Place de l'Étoile), at the centre of which is the triumphal arch, built in the mid-18th century to commemorate Napoleon's victories. Its rectilinear layout offers a long perspective from the Louvre palace, in which the equestrian statue of Louis XIV in the Napoleon courtyard of the Louvre is aligned, theArc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the Tuileries Gardens, the Obelisk, the Arc de Triomphe, and further west, outside Paris, the Arc de la Défense. It is the historical axis of western Paris.
Garnier Opera
One of the structuring elements of the 9th arrondissement of Paris and the landscape of the French capital. Situated at the end of the Avenue de l'Opéra, the building is a particularly representative monument of European architecture.clectic of the second half of the 19th century and is in line with the transformations of Paris carried out by Napoleon III and the prefect Haussmann. This building was long considered the "Paris Opera", but since the opening of the Opéra Bastille in 1989, it has been referred to by the sole name of its author: Charles Garnier.
The Grand Palais
Since 1867, Paris has organised Universal Exhibitions every eleven years. The capital then flourished with ephemeral constructions, whose success sometimes led to the perpetuation of monuments, such as the Eiffel Tower, originally intended to be destroyed once the 1889 Universal Exhibition was over. From the outset, the Grand Palais was designed to last.
Hotel des Invalides
The construction of the hospice des Invalides began in 1671 by order of Louis XIV, who wanted to shelter the indigent and seriously wounded soldiers. The work was quickly completed, and a church was later added to it. The whole project took about 30 years to complete. You can visit the church, several museums and the tomb of Napoleon I, whose body was repatriated from St. Helena in 1830.
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddled iron tower built by Gustave Eiffel and his collaborators for the 1889 Universal Exhibition. Located at the end of the Champ-de-Mars, on the banks of the Seine, this Parisian monument, symbol of France and its capital, is the third most visited site in the country. Originally 300 metres high, later raised by numerous antennas culminating at 325 metres, the Eiffel Tower has remained the highest tower in the world for more than 40 years. Today it serves as a transmitter for radio and television programmes.
Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre-Dame de Paris is the most remarkable product of Gothic architecture in France and was at its completion the largest cathedral in Christendom. This masterpiece is located at the end of the Ile de la Cité, the historic centre of the city, close to the banks of the Seine. A bronze plate inlaid in the ground serves as the zero point of all road distances from Paris. Construction work began in 1163, and was completed 200 years later, around 1345.
Montmatre and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart
In Romano-Byzantine style, the basilica crowns the hill of Montmartre. Construction began in 1875 and was completed in 1914. Until the 19th century, Montmartre was just a village, located outside the walls of the Parisian fortifications.
The film Amélie Poulain gives a glimpse of the place, which is a must to visit, if only because it has no less than 7 museums to discover!
