5 Places to visit in Paris
France’s largest city, Paris, is a city that impresses and challenges. Paris is a very concentrated city where architectural nuggets are scattered all over the place.
But Paris is above all a city that is a capital and a show city. Because there is always something to do here, impossible to get bored. But this great city is also a place of power. A city that has always wanted to concentrate everything, to centralize everything. The result is therefore incredible and almost always seduces visitors. It is not for nothing that we call Paris the City of Light.
1. “ The louvre ”
It is one of the emblematic monuments of Paris. Former residence of the kings of France, this place now houses a very large number of works of art. The Louvre Museum’s collections are divided into departments (Egyptian Antiquities, Greek Antiquities, Oriental Antiquities, Sculptures, etc.). The Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace and the Mona Lisa show you their beauty.
2. Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, is the most visited monument in France. Located in the historic centre of Paris, at the end of the Ile de la Cité, its construction began in the Middle Ages. The work began in the 13th century and was completed in the 15th century. Very damaged during the French Revolution, the cathedral was restored in the 19th century under the direction of architect Viollet-le-Duc. The many visitors admire the stained glass windows and rosettes, the towers, the arrow and the gargoyles.
3. The Arc de triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile is located in the eighth arrondissement of Paris, on the Place de l’Étoile, at the end of the Champs-Elysées. Its measurements are as follows: 55 metres high, 45 metres wide and 22 metres deep. Built to bear witness to the victories of the French armies, it is today both one of the symbols of Paris and the guardian of the memory of the soldiers who died in the war.
4. Les champs Elysées
Between the place de l’étoile and la Concorde, it is the emblematic part of a perspective stretching from the pyramid of the Louvre to La Défense. Its expansion began in 1900, when luxury seized the western part of the capital. The avenue was then adorned with prestigious palaces, car palaces, terraces and cinemas, now joined by ready-to-wear brands and high-tech showrooms. Everything is on the Champs, a must for shopping and leisure: films, dresses, lunches, cotton and compresses, racing cars, yoghurts and fresh vegetables, books, records, perfumes… from dawn to dusk, sometimes 24 hours a day, often 7 days a week.
5. The Eiffel Tower
If you go to Paris, the monument not to be missed is the Eiffel Tower.
It is since the end of the 19th century that the Eiffel Tower has been rising in the sky of Paris (it celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2009). Symbol of the country, at the beginning this work was not intended to last. The key date associated with the history of the Eiffel Tower is undeniably the 1889 Universal Exhibition. On the occasion of the centenary of the French Revolution, a major competition was organised, the purpose of which was to “make it possible to build a square-based iron tower on the Champ de Mars, 125 metres wide and 300 metres high”. Of the 107 projects, Gustave Eiffel’s was selected.
