Paris

Révision des Monuments

L’Arc de Triomphe

- Rive Droite (Place Charles de Gaulle)

- To commemorate Napoléon’s military victories

- Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

La Tour Eiffel

- Rive Gauche

- Built of steel/iron for 1889 World’s Fair

- Radio/TV antenna kept it from being torn down

Le Musée du Louvre

- Rive Droite

- Former fortress & royal palace

- Largest museum in Paris

- New pyramid entrance

- Mona Lisa, Vénus de Milo, Winged Victory

La Cathédrale deNotre-Dame de Paris

- Ile de la Cité

- Gem of Gothic architecture with flying buttresses

- Now houses the Crown of Thorns in its Treasury

- Known for stained glass rose windows

- Inspiration for Victor Hugo’s novel about “Hunchback”

Le Centre Georges Pompidou

- Rive Droite

- Multipurpose & controversial cultural center commissioned by former President of France

- Includes Museum of Modern Art

- Built on the site of previous “Halles” (market)

La Basilique de Sacré-Coeur

- Rive Droite

- Romano-Byzantine church built on highest hill in Paris

- Located in Montmartre (Legend of Saint-Denis, first bishop of Paris – decapitated)

- Place du Tertre with painters

L’Opéra Garnier

- Rive Droite

- Built for performances of operas/ballets

- Very large stage; marble staircase; underground lake (inspired story of Phantom); ceiling by Chagall

- Now there is also Opéra Bastille

La Sainte Chapelle

- Ile de la Cité

- Built by Saint Louis to house Crown of Thorns

- Known for lavish stained glass

- Part of the Palais de Justice complex

La Conciergerie

- Ile de la Cité

- Former royal residence then prison

- Where Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and many others awaited the guillotine during the French Revolution

La Place de la Concorde

- Rive Droite

- Between le Jardin des Tuileries and les Champs-Elysées

- Octagon square, largest in Paris; fountains, statues

- Obelisque from Egypt in center (where guillotine once stood)

Les Champs-Elysées

- Rive Droite

- Extends from Place de la Concorde to Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly l‘Etoile)

- “Elysian Fields”; now wide street with many cafés, shops

Les Champs-Elyséeset

l’Arc de Triomphe-Rive Droite

-part of the axis that runs from l’Arc du Carrousel in le Jardin des Tuileries through l’Arc de Triomphe and on to la Grande

Arche de la Défense

Le Jardin des Tuileries

- Rive Droite

- Part of the former royal palace (burned down) and gardens

- Named for tiles that were once made from the clay here

- Large basin and several statues

Le Panthéonet le Quartier Latin

- Rive Gauche-Area named for language used by Romans, then by

professors and students in the University of Paris (la Sorbonne)

- Mausoleum for illustrious Frenchmen (originally a church for Sainte Geneviève – patron saint of Paris)

L’Hôtel des Invalides

- Rive Gauche

- Built as a hospital for wounded soldiers

- Now a military museum and tomb of Napoléon I (granite/marble tomb with 6 coffins)

Le Palais de Versailles

- Outside Paris- Extravagant palace built by Louis XIV, enjoyed by Louis XV,

paid for by Louis XVI (guillotined during Revolution)- Site of 2 additional palaces, Marie-Antoinette’s hamlet, large

canal, several fountains and gardens, Hall of Mirrors – renovated thanks to Rockefeller Foundation

La Défense

- Rive Droite (in the suburbs of Paris)

- Area built for the large skyscrapers that cannot be in Paris

- La Grande Arche de la Défense

La Place Vendôme

- Rive Droite

- Square that includes Ritz Hotel and many expensive designer boutiques

- Column in center dedicated to Napoléon (made from melted down cannons he seized in battle)

Le Jardin du Luxembourg

- Rive Gauche

- Large gardens with former royal Médicis palace, large basin, several statues (Italian influence)

- Today the palace houses the French Sénat