La ville de Paris

Plus de monuments…

le Palais de Chaillot

• Located across from Tour Eiffel on right bank

• Built in 1937 for Paris exhibition

• Museum of mankind, Maritime museum, Cinema museum and Museum of French Monuments

• On a small hill, offers great view of T.E.

Le Jardin et palais du Luxembourg

• 60 acre park on Left bank near Sorbonne• Place for picnics, chess, strolls etc.• Students hang out here• Contains beautiful Medici fountain• Statues of famous people• Central pond with toy boats, tennis courts,

marionette theater• Cared for by more than 100 gardners• Palace built by Maria de Medici who did not want

to live in the Louvre after the death of her husband Henry IV

Versailles

• Castle built by Louis XIV just outside Paris

• Most lavish castle and gardens in the world

• Impetus for French Revolution

• Home to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette before they were guillotined

Sainte Chapelle

• Beautiful, small church on Ile de la Cité• Famous for magnificent stained glass• Largest stained glass windows in the world• Windows older than Notre Dame’s• Built by Louis IX in the 1200s• Two levels, with stained glass on upper

level• Stained glass tells stories from the Bible

Place de la Concorde

• Next to Jardin des Tuileries• Where the guillotine once stood• Has obelisk (column) which is more than

3000 years old• Obelisk is a gift from Egyptian government• Monument recalls events of the Revolution• Obelisk lines up perfectly with Arc de

Triomphe as you look up the Champs-Elysées

L’Opéra Garnier

• Located on Rue de la Paix

• Built by famous architect Garnier

• Home of French ballets and other theater productions

• Seats more than 2000 spectators

• Famous grand staircase in front

• Ceilings painted by Chagall

La Conciergerie

• Former prison on Ile de la Cité• Marie Antoinette spent her final days in this prison• Famous Revolutionaries Robespierre and Danton held

there• Name came from “Compte des Cierges” or Count of the

candles• Concierge was prison warden who lit the candles and

tortured prisoners• Includes Tour de Bonbec- where prisoners were tortured• Also includes Horloge Tower, where first public clock

existed• Visible from Seine

http://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/paris01/conciergerie/gravures/conma2.htm

Père-Lachaise

• Largest cemetery in Paris

• Contains graves of many famous people

• Includes graves of Balzac, Toulouse-Lautrec, Piaf, Proust, Bizet, Chopin and others

Place Vendôme

• Large square with column created by Napoleon

• Column was made from the melted cannons of the enemy

• Consists of spiral graphics that depict his victories

• Statue of the general at the top

• Expensive, fashionable part of Rive Droite

La Madeleine

• Big white church on Rive Droite• More than 50 huge columns• Looks like a Greek temple• Built in the late 1700s under Louis XV• Famous for huge musical organ played during

monthly concerts• No windows• Bronze sculpture of Ten Commandments on the

front door

La Défense

• Area famous for modern and unusual office buildings

• In northwest corner of city beyond Arc de Triomphe

• Contains the Grande Arche, building the shape of a hollow cube

La Panthéon

• Planned and begun by Louis XV in 1700s, finished in mid 1800s

• Canned a necropolis or mausoleum

• Contains no windows

• Famous French are buried in cripts

• Graves of Hugo, Rousseau, Voltaire, Zola, and Louis Braille

• Rive Gauche

Place de la Bastille

• Location of infamous prison in pre-Revolutionary days

• Prison was stormed on July 14, 1789 starting French Rev.

• Today new opera is located there• In center of Square is July Column with figure of

Liberty on top• July Column honors Parisians who died during

the minor revolutions of 1830 and 1848

la Villette

• Called City of Science and Industry• Locaned near Périphique in far northeast

corner of Paris• Huge museum of Science and technology• Round, glittering géode for films• Has a mediathèque, or library of

videodiscs and books• Four permanent exhibitions are on the

universe, man, matter, and communication

La Sorbonne

• Famous university dating back to 1200s

• Latin once spoken there in Middle Ages

• Students from all over the world study here

• Many students reside at Cité Universitaire in South of City

• Located in le Quartier Latin

Le Quartier Latin

• Area around Boulevard Saint Michel near Sorbonne on Left Bank

• Home to many students

• Cheaper restaurants located there

• Latin spoken there in Middle Ages

Le Palais Bourbon

• Located on Left Bank just across from Place de la Concorde

• Home of National Assembly• Represents French Lower House of

Parliament• Nearly 500 deputies meet here• French president is not allowed in building,

symbolically representing separation of powers

Le Palais Royal

• Originally the private residence of Cardinal Richelieu

• Today the seat of the Council of State

• Contains courtyard and beautiful gardens, shops

• Meeting place for patriots during Revolution