1.
Pont des Arts
–
The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine. It links the Institut de France and the square of the Palais du Louvre. The engineers Louis-Alexandre de Cessart and Jacques Dillon initially conceived of a bridge which would resemble a suspended garden, with trees, banks of flowers, passage across the bridge at that time cost one sou. On 17 March 1975, the French Ministry of Culture listed the Pont des Arts as a historic monument. In 1976, the Inspector of Bridges and Causeways reported several deficiencies on the bridge, more specifically, he noted the damage that had been caused by two aerial bombardments sustained during World War I and World War II and the harm done from the multiple collisions caused by boats. The bridge would be closed to circulation in 1977 and, in 1979, on 27 June 1984, the newly reconstructed bridge was inaugurated by Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris. The bridge has served as a place for art exhibitions. The Pont des Arts is also frequently a spot for picnics during the summer, the Argentinian writer, Julio Cortázar, talks about this bridge in his book Rayuela. When Horacio Oliveira goes with the pythia and this tells him that the bridge for La Maga is the Ponts des Arts, in 1991, UNESCO listed the entire Parisian riverfront, from the Eiffel Tower to the end of the Ile Saint Louis, as a World Heritage Site. Therefore, the Pont des Arts is now a part of this UNESCO World Heritage Site and this gesture is said to represent a couples committed love. By 2014, concern was being expressed about the damage the weight of the locks were doing to the structure of the bridge. In May, the elected mayor, Anne Hidalgo, announced that she was tasking her First Deputy Mayor, Bruno Julliard. In June, part of the parapet on the bridge collapsed under the weight of all of the padlocks that had attached to it. The web site states, Our bridges can no longer withstand your gestures of love, set them free by declaring your love with #lovewithoutlocks. From 1 June 2015, city council workmen from Paris started to cut all the locks after years of complaints from locals. Health and Safety officials said the romantic gestures cause long term Heritage degradation, as of 2015, over a million locks were placed, weighing approximately 45 tons. Street artists like Jace, El Seed, Brusk or Pantonio have been chosen to paint the new panels that replaces the old railings with locks. By foot from Quai François Mitterrand from the bank of the Seine
Pont des Arts
–
View from right bank of the Seine river.
Pont des Arts
–
On the bridge, view on the
Institut de France
Pont des Arts
–
Lovers on the Pont des Arts
Pont des Arts
–
Love padlocks on the bridge, view on the
Louvre side
2.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
3.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris
–
In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris
Paris
–
Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris
–
The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
4.
Museum
–
Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
Museum
–
The
Louvre Museum in
Paris (
France), one of the largest and most famous museums in the world.
Museum
–
The
Uffizi Gallery, the most visited museum in
Italy and an important museum in the world. View toward the
Palazzo Vecchio, in
Florence.
Museum
–
The
Museum Island in
Berlin.
Museum
–
The
British Museum in
London.
5.
Euro
–
Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally,210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro, the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.8252 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.6038 on 18 July 2008. In July 2012, the euro fell below US$1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spains troubled banking sector, as of 26 March 2017, the euro–dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US$1.07. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, as an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all states. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, all nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 5 January 2002, the central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them, Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECBs banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs and these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The euro is divided into 100 cents, in Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a side showing the denomination or value. Due to the plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway
Euro
–
The
central bank has
its seat in
Frankfurt (Germany) and is in charge of the monetary policy of the
euro area.
Euro
–
Euro banknotes as of 2015
Euro
–
Euro coins and banknotes of various denominations.
6.
Tour de Nesle
–
The Tour de Nesle or Nesles Tower was a guard tower of the old city wall of Paris on the left bank, constructed at the beginning of the 13th century by Philip II of France and demolished in 1665. The tower was situated on the bank of the Seine facing the old castle of the Louvre on the opposite. Originally known as the Tour Hamelin this was a structure of approximately 10 metres in diameter. The height was around 25 metres, with a stair turret reaching higher still, later on, the tower was incorporated into the Hôtel de Nesle, a medieval mansion. Records show this other tower was at one time called the Tour de la Conférence, in 1308, Philip IV bought the tower from Amaury de Nesle. In 1319, Philip V donated the building to his Queen Jeanne de Bourgogne and she in her will, demolished in 1665, mansion and tower became the place of the Collège des Quatre-Nations with the Bibliothèque Mazarine. Atlas de Paris au Moyen Âge, imago Mundi - Tour de Nesle. Scandale de la Tour de Nesle
Tour de Nesle
–
A plaque on the northern wall of the
Institut de France shows the ancient location of the Tour de Nesle.
Tour de Nesle
–
The Tour de Nesle in the medieval period as imagined by
Viollet-le-Duc. The Porte de Nesle is the gate at center-right.
7.
Royal Society of Canada
–
The primary objective of the RSC is to promote learning and research in the arts, the humanities and the sciences. In the late 1870s, the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis of Lorne, determined that Canada required a cultural institution to promote scientific research. Since that time, succeeding Governors General have remained involved with the affairs of the Society, in 1882 the Royal Society of Canada was founded with the personal patronage of the Marquis of Lorne. A year later, in 1883, the Society was incorporated by a statute of the Parliament of Canada, like their counterparts, membership to the RSC was limited and by election. Initially, the RSC was divided into four sections, each of 20 Fellows and these sections were, Littérature française, Histoire, Archéologie, English Literature, History, Archaeology, Mathematical, Physical and Chemical Sciences, and Geological and Biological Sciences. The founding Fellows of the RSC included Sir Sandford Fleming, the originator of the system of Standard Time. The Fellows of the RSC were nominated by a directed by the Principal of McGill University, Sir John William Dawson. These two men served as the first and second Presidents of the Society, as Canadian scholarship and research increased, the RSC also grew. Within three decades the fellowship of the RSC doubled in number, after several phases of restructuring, the RSC evolved its contemporary organization. In 2010, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Lloyd Johnston, presently, the fellowship comprises four categories, Regularly Elected Fellows, Specially Elected Fellows, Foreign Fellows and Honorary Fellows. Each year, approximately 80 people are elected to the fellowship, election to fellowship in the Society is the highest accolade available to scientists, artists and scholars in Canada. Once inducted into the Society, anglophone Fellows may use the post-nominal FRSC, the RSC is composed of three bilingual Academies, including a broad range of scholarly disciplines and artistic fields. Academy I is the Academy of Arts and Humanities, Academy II is the Academy of Social Sciences. There are two divisions of Academy II, an anglophone division – Social Sciences, and a francophone division – Sciences sociales, Academy III is the Academy of Science. There are four divisions of Academy III, - Applied Sciences and Engineering, - Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, - Life Sciences. The Society is dedicated to making its members’ varied knowledge available to the public, the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the RSC was established in 2014 to represent emerging generation of intellectual leaders in Canada. It elects 80-100 members each year, who showed high level of accomplishments at early stage of their careers, at the time of election, members of the College must have received PhD or equivalent degree within past 15 years. Nomination of candidates for the College follows similar procedures as nomination for the Fellows of RSC, the RSC officially began the Institutional Member Programme in 2004
Royal Society of Canada
–
Marquis of Lorne, Governor General of Canada, 1878 to 1883
Royal Society of Canada
–
The Royal Society of Canada
8.
Royal Society
–
Founded in November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as The Royal Society. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Societys President, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the members of the society. As of 2016, there are about 1,600 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS, there are also royal fellows, honorary fellows and foreign members, the last of which are allowed to use the postnominal title ForMemRS. The Royal Society President is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who took up the post on 30 November 2015, since 1967, the society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central London which was previously used by the Embassy of Germany, London. The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at variety of locations and they were influenced by the new science, as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as The Philosophical Society of Oxford was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library, after the English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society, I will not say, that Mr Oldenburg did rather inspire the French to follow the English, or, at least, did help them, and hinder us. But tis well known who were the men that began and promoted that design. This initial royal favour has continued and, since then, every monarch has been the patron of the society, the societys early meetings included experiments performed first by Hooke and then by Denis Papin, who was appointed in 1684. These experiments varied in their area, and were both important in some cases and trivial in others. The Society returned to Gresham in 1673, there had been an attempt in 1667 to establish a permanent college for the society. Michael Hunter argues that this was influenced by Solomons House in Bacons New Atlantis and, to a lesser extent, by J. V. The first proposal was given by John Evelyn to Robert Boyle in a letter dated 3 September 1659, he suggested a scheme, with apartments for members. The societys ideas were simpler and only included residences for a handful of staff and these plans were progressing by November 1667, but never came to anything, given the lack of contributions from members and the unrealised—perhaps unrealistic—aspirations of the society. During the 18th century, the gusto that had characterised the early years of the society faded, with a number of scientific greats compared to other periods. The pointed lightning conductor had been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, during the same time period, it became customary to appoint society fellows to serve on government committees where science was concerned, something that still continues. The 18th century featured remedies to many of the early problems
Royal Society
–
The entrance to the Royal Society in Carlton House Terrace, London
Royal Society
–
The President, Council, and Fellows of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge
Royal Society
–
John Evelyn, who helped to found the Royal Society
Royal Society
–
Mace granted by Charles II
9.
Lebanese Academy of Sciences
–
The ASL was recognized by a decree of the Government of the Republic of Lebanon in August 2007. Membership in the ASL is a high honor conferred by election. According to its charter, the ASL aims to Provide independent advice and guidance to governmental and private institutions on matters of scientific research, encourage, initiate and aid research and educational programs in the sciences. Help the dissemination and promulgation of the results of scientific research, facilitate the exchange of ideas and results with similar institutions around the world. Bestow awards and honors on distinguished scientists, exhort young Lebanese men and women to consider careers in the sciences. Strengthen the links between the sciences and society by addressing the needs of the population, public health, the economy and the environment. The formation of the ASL was shepherded by the French Academy of Sciences, the first meeting of the ASLs Executive Committee was held in Beirut, Lebanon on October 29–31,2008. The ASL is broadly fashioned after the French Academy of Sciences, all ASL academicians provide their services pro bono, i. e. voluntarily and without payment, as a public service. Zbib Fuad Ziyadeh Huda Zoghbi asterisk denotes founding member Official website of the Lebanese Academy of Sciences
Lebanese Academy of Sciences
–
Académie des Sciences du Liban (ASL) (Lebanese Academy of Sciences)
10.
Tourism in Paris
–
Tourism in Paris is a major income source for Paris and the city ranks in the worlds most visited cities. In 2013, the City of Paris welcomed 15.6 million international visitors, the Paris Region received 32.3 million visitors in 2013, putting it just ahead of London as the worlds top tourist destination region, measured by hotel occupancy. In the Paris region, the largest numbers of tourists came in order from Britain. In 2012,263,212 salaried workers in the city of Paris, or 18.4 percent of the number, were engaged in tourism-related sectors, hotels, catering, transport. In 2014 visitors to Paris spent 17 billion dollars, the third highest sum globally after London, the Eiffel Tower is acknowledged as the universal symbol of Paris and France. It was originally designed by Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, in March 1885 Gustave Eiffel, known primarily as a successful iron engineer, submitted a plan for a tower to the French Ministre du Commerce et de lIndustrie. He entered a competition for students studying at the university, the winning proposal would stand as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition. Eiffels was one of over 100 submissions, eiffels proposal was finally chosen in June 1886. Even before its construction, the Towers uniqueness was noticed, the Eiffel Tower was finally inaugurated on March 31,1889. Currently about 6.9 million people visit the Eiffel tower each year, Centre Georges Pompidou was officially opened on January 31,1977 by President Valéry Giscard dEstaing. The designers of Pompidou are Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, the Centre Pompidou has had over 150 million visitors since 1977. Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil, in 1997 renovations had begun to drastically change the interior spaces of the Centre Pompidou. The renovation also developed the capacity to host the performing arts. The Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile is one of the most famous monuments in Paris and it stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It should not be confused with an arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. The Arc de Triomphe is the linchpin of the historic axis – a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, the Musée dOrsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It started to be constructed in 1897 and was designed by Gae Aulenti, Victor Laloux, the Musée dOrsay is an art museum for works from 1848 to 1914 and has an emphasis on French Impressionism artwork
Tourism in Paris
–
A
chimera of Notre-Dame
Tourism in Paris
–
The Eiffel Tower from the
Place du Trocadéro
Tourism in Paris
–
The Arc de Triomphe
Tourism in Paris
–
The Musée d'Orsay
11.
Landmarks in Paris
–
This article presents the main landmarks in the City of Paris within its administrative limits divided by the 20 Arrondissements of Paris. Landmarks located in the suburbs of Paris, outside of its administrative limits, the 1st arrondissement forms much of the historic centre of Paris. The old Halles were demolished in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles, the central market of Paris, the biggest wholesale food market in the world, was transferred to Rungis, in the southern suburbs. The former Conciergerie prison held some prominent Ancien Régime members before their deaths during the French Revolution, the 2nd arrondissement of Paris lies to the north of the 1st. The Boulevard des Capucines, Boulevard Montmartre, Boulevard des Italiens, Rue de Richelieu, also of note are the Académie Julian, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Café Anglais and Galerie Vivienne. The 3rd arrondissement is located to the northeast of the 1st, Le Marais is a trendy district spanning the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. It is architecturally very well preserved, and some of the oldest houses and it is a very culturally open place, known for its Chinese, Jewish and gay communities. Several hotels are located in this district including Hôtel de Guénégaud, the 4th arrondissement is located to the east of the 1st. Place de la Bastille is a district of historical significance, for not just Paris. Bibliothèque de lArsenal, La Force Prison, Centre Georges Pompidou, roads running through the 4th arrondissement include Rue Charlemagne, Rue de Rivoli, Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, and Rue des Rosiers. It is known for its atmosphere and many bistros. The Panthéon church is where many of Frances illustrious men and women are buried, the 6th arrondissement, to the south of the centre and Seine has numerous hotels and restaurants and also educational institutions. Among the museums located in the 6th arrondissement are the Musée Bible et Terre Sainte, Musée dAnatomie Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière, Musée Dupuytren, and Musée Edouard Branly. A symbol of the Revolution are the two Statues of Liberty located on the Île aux Cygnes in the Luxembourg Garden of the 6th arrondissement and on the Seine between the 15th and 16th arrondissements. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to the United States in 1886, the Odéon-Théâtre de lEurope is located in this district, as is the Luxembourg Palace. The Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf, and Pont Saint-Michel bridges lead across the Seine to the historic centre, the 7th arrondissement lies to the southwest of the centre, across the Seine. The Eiffel Tower is the most famous landmark of the 7th arrondissement and it was a temporary construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition, but was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris, instantly recognized throughout the World. The Axe historique is a line of monuments, buildings, many hotels are located in this district including Hôtel Biron, Hôtel de Castries, Hôtel de Conti, Hôtel de Mademoiselle de Condé, Hôtel du Châtelet, and Hôtel Matignon
Landmarks in Paris
–
Panorama of the center city of Paris along the Seine river which shows some of its landmarks
Landmarks in Paris
–
Boulevard des Capucines
Landmarks in Paris
–
The Louvre
Landmarks in Paris
–
The National Archives building of the
Museum of French History,
12.
Arc de Triomphe
–
The Arc de Triomphe should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I and it set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. Inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe has an height of 50 metres, width of 45 m. The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m high and 8.44 m wide, three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane under the archs primary vault, with the event captured on newsreel. Pariss Arc de Triomphe was the tallest triumphal arch until the completion of the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City in 1938, the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982, is modelled on the Arc de Triomphe and is slightly taller at 60 m. The Arc is located on the bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes, the architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811 and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. On 15 December 1840, brought back to France from Saint Helena, prior to burial in the Panthéon, the body of Victor Hugo was displayed under the Arc during the night of 22 May 1885. The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off on the day, it is said, the relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. On 7 August 1919, Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the Arc, Jean Navarre was the pilot who was tasked to make the flight, but he died on 10 July 1919 when he crashed near Villacoublay while training for the flight. Following its construction, the Arc de Triomphe became the point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns. Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. A United States postage stamp of 1945 shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background as victorious American troops march down the Champs-Élysées, after the interment of the Unknown Soldier, however, all military parades have avoided marching through the actual arch. The route taken is up to the arch and then around its side, out of respect for the tomb, both Hitler in 1940 and de Gaulle in 1944 observed this custom. By the early 1960s, the monument had grown very blackened from coal soot and automobile exhaust, and during 1965–1966 it was cleaned through bleaching. In the prolongation of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a new arch, after the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile, the Grande Arche is the third arch built on the same perspective. In 1995, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria placed a bomb near the Arc de Triomphe which wounded 17 people as part of a campaign of bombings, the astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin, in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe, Jean-Pierre Cortot, François Rude, Antoine Étex, James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire
Arc de Triomphe
–
The Arc de Triomphe from the Champs-Élysées
Arc de Triomphe
–
A colourised aerial photograph of the southern side (published in 1921)
Arc de Triomphe
–
Free French forces on parade after the
liberation of Paris (1944)
Arc de Triomphe
–
Avenues radiate from the Arc de Triomphe in
Place Charles de Gaulle, the former Place de l'Étoile.
13.
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
–
The Place du Carrousel is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a space occupied, prior to 1883, by the Tuileries Palace. Sitting directly between the museum and the Tuileries Garden, the Place du Carrousel delineates the end of the gardens just as the Place de la Concorde defines its western end. The name carrousel refers to a type of military dressage, an equine demonstration now commonly called military drill, the Place du Carrousel was named in 1662, when it was used for such a display by Louis XIV. The king and queen were installed in the Tuileries Palace under surveillance, during this time, there were many plots designed to help members of the royal family escape from France. The queen rejected several because she would not leave without the king, other opportunities to rescue the family were ultimately frittered away by the indecisive king. After many delays, the escape occurred on 21 June 1791. An hour and a later, the palace was invaded by the mob. They massacred the Swiss Guards, who fought with blind dedication and desperation, some seven hundred were killed, and their bloodied bodies decorated the yard in front of the palace, in the gardens of the palace, and along the banks of the Seine. On 13 August, the family was imprisoned in the tower of the Temple in the Le Marais district. On 21 August 1792, the guillotine was erected in the Place du Carrousel, in total, thirty-five people were guillotined there. On 2 August 1793, at the site of the guillotine. It bore an inscription, To the spirit of the late Marat,13 July, from his underground tomb, he still makes the traitors tremble. A treacherous hand thwarted the affections of the people, there was also an exhibit of the famous hip bath of Marat and his desk where some of his most impassioned polemics were drafted. These items stayed in place until 9 Thermidor Year II, during the revolution of 1848, the Tuileries Palace was looted and severely damaged by rioters. The fire lasted for hours and entirely consumed the palace. The ruins of the Tuileries stood on the site for eleven years, in 1882, the French National Assembly voted for the demolition of the ruins, and, despite much contrary sentiment, this was accomplished in 1883. The salvageable remains of the building were sold to a private entrepreneur, once the palace had been cleared away, the ground, which had been known as the Place du Carrousel since 1662, could, once again, be used as a public square. It is an arch that was commissioned in 1806 to commemorate Napoleons military victories of the previous year
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
–
Place du Carrousel from the southern wing of the
Louvre Palace. The
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is on the left
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
–
A construction in the Place du Carrousel at the time, in 1745, of the marriage of Louis,
Dauphin of France. Note the Tuileries Palace in the background.
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
–
The
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.
14.
Paris Bourse
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The Paris Bourse is the historical Paris stock exchange, known as Euronext Paris from 2000 onwards. The building, known as the Palais Brongniart, is located in the Place de la Bourse, in the II arrondissement, historically, stock trading took place at several spots in Paris, including rue Quincampoix, rue Vivienne, and the back of the Opéra Garnier. Brogniart had spontaneously submitted his project, which was a rectangular neoclassical Roman temple with a giant Corinthian colonnade enclosing a vaulted and arcaded central chamber and his designs were greatly admired by Napoleon and won Brogniart a major public commission at the end of his career. Initially praised, the building was attacked for academic dullness. The authorities had required Brogniart to modify his designs, and after Brogniarts death in 1813, Labarre altered them even further, from 1901 to 1905 Jean-Baptiste-Frederic Cavel designed the addition of two lateral wings, resulting in a cruciform plan with innumerable columns. According to the architectural historian Andrew Ayers, these alterations did nothing to improve the reputation of this uninspiring monument. From the second half of the 19th century, official stock markets in Paris were operated by the Compagnie des agents de change, the number of dealers in each of the different trading areas of the Bourse was limited. There were around 60 agents de change, in Paris, only agents de change could receive a commission, at a rate fixed by law, for acting as an intermediary. However, parallel arrangements were usual in order to some clients quote. The Commodities Exchange was housed in the building until 1889. Moreover, until about the middle of the 20th century, a market known as La Coulisse was in operation. Until the late 1980s, the market operated as an open outcry exchange, in 1986, the Paris Bourse started to implement an electronic trading system. This was known generically as CATS, but the Paris version was called CAC, by 1989, quotations were fully automated. The Palais Brongniart hosted the French financial derivatives exchanges MATIF and MONEP, in the late 1990s, the Paris Bourse launched the Euronext initiative, an alliance of several European stock exchanges. List of works by James Pradier External sculpture Lehmann, P. -J,1991 La Bourse de Paris, Paris, Dunod. 1997 Histoire de la Bourse de Paris, Paris, PUF, muniesa, F.2005 Contenir le marché, la transition de la criée à la cotation électronique à la Bourse de Paris, Sociologie du Travail 47, 485-501. Walker, D. A.2001 A factual account of the functioning of the nineteenth-century Paris Bourse, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 8, 186-207. Foucault, T. and Hillion, P.1997 Microstructure des marchés financiers, institutions, modèles et tests empiriques, Paris, hamon, J.1995 Marché dactions, architecture et microstructure, Paris, Economica
Paris Bourse
–
Palais Brongniart: exterior
Paris Bourse
–
Palais Brongniart: interior
15.
Catacombs of Paris
–
The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of the ancient Mines of Paris tunnel network. Nightly processions of bones from 1786 to 1788 transferred remains from cemeteries to the reinforced tunnels, the Catacombs are among the 14 City of Paris Museums managed by Paris Musées since January 1,2013. The catacombs are known formally as lOssuaire Municipal or Catacombes officiels and have been called The Worlds Largest Grave due to the number of remains buried. Although the ossuary comprises only a section of the underground carrières de Paris. Paris earliest burial grounds were to the outskirts of the Roman-era Left Bank city. Thus, instead of burying its dead away from inhabited areas as usual, by the end of the same century Saints Innocents was neighbour to the principal Parisan marketplace Les Halles, and already filled to overflowing. To make room for more burials, the long-dead were exhumed and their bones packed into the roofs, much of the Left Bank area rests upon rich Lutetian limestone deposits. This stone built much of the city, but it was extracted in suburban locations away from any habitation, Paris had annexed its suburbs many times over the centuries, and by the 18th century many of its arrondissements were or included previously mined territories. This resulted in the creation of the inspection Générale des Carrières service, the need to eliminate Les Innocents gained urgency from May 30,1780, when a basement wall in a property adjoining the cemetery collapsed under the weight of the mass grave behind it. The cemetery was closed to the public and all intra muros burials were forbidden after 1780, the problem of what to do with the remains crowding intra muros cemeteries was still unresolved. Lenoir endorsed the idea of moving Parisian dead to the subterranean passageways that were renovated during 1782, after deciding to further renovate the Tombe-Issoire passageways for their future role as an underground sepulchre, the idea became law during late 1785. It would take two years to empty the majority of Paris cemeteries, cemeteries whose remains were moved to the Catacombs include Saints-Innocents, Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Madeleine Cemetery, Errancis Cemetery, and Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux. In addition to directing the stacking of skulls and femurs into the patterns seen in the catacombs today, also created was a room dedicated to the display of the various minerals found under Paris, and another showing various skeletal deformities found during the catacombs creation and renovation. Later they opened for daily visits. After an incident of vandalism, the Catacombs were closed to the public during September 2009, the entry to the catacombs is in the western pavilion of the former Barrière dEnfer city gate. Soon after, they find themselves before a stone portal, the ossuary entry, CEST İCİ LEMPİRE DE LA MORT. Beyond begin the halls and caverns of walls of carefully arranged bones, along the way there are other monuments created in the years before catacomb renovations, such as a source-gathering fountain baptised La Samaritaine because of later-added engravings. There are also rusty gates blocking passages leading to other parts of the catacombs – many of these are either un-renovated or were too un-navigable for regular tours
Catacombs of Paris
–
Entrance to the Catacombs
Catacombs of Paris
–
Crypt of the Sepulchral Lamp in the Catacombs of Paris
Catacombs of Paris
–
Les Innocents cemetery in 1550.
Catacombs of Paris
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Map of former underground mine exploitations in Paris (1908).
16.
Conciergerie
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The Conciergerie is a building in Paris, France, located on the west of the Île de la Cité, formerly a prison but presently used mostly for law courts. It was part of the royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which consisted of the Conciergerie, Palais de Justice. Hundreds of prisoners during the French Revolution were taken from the Conciergerie to be executed by guillotine at a number of locations around Paris, the west part of the island was originally the site of a Merovingian palace, and was known initially as the Palais de la Cité. From the 10th to the 14th centuries it was the palace of the medieval Kings of France. During the reigns of Louis IX and Philippe IV the Merovingian palace was extended and fortified more extensively, Louis IX added the Sainte-Chapelle and associated galleries, while Philippe IV created the towered facade on the Seine river side and a large hall. Both are excellent examples of French religious and secular architecture of the period, the Sainte-Chapelle was built in the French royal style to house the crown of thorns that was brought back from the Crusades and to serve as a royal chapel. The Grande Salle was one of the largest in Europe, and its lower story and it was used as a dining room for the 2,000 staff members who worked in the palace. It was heated with four fireplaces and lit by many windows. It was also used for banquets and judicial proceedings. The neighboring Salle des Gardes was used as an antechamber to the Great Hall immediately above, the early Valois kings continued to modify the palace during the 14th century, but Charles V abandoned the palace during 1358, relocating across the river to the Louvre Palace. The palace continued to serve a function and still included the chancellery. In the kings absence, he appointed a concierge to command of the palace, during 1391, part of the building was converted for use as a prison and took its name from the ruling office. Its prisoners were a mixture of common criminals and political prisoners, in common with other prisons of the time, the treatment of prisoners was dependent on their wealth, status and associates. Wealthy or influential prisoners usually got their own cells with a bed, desk, less-well-off prisoners could afford to pay for simply furnished cells known as pistoles, which would be equipped with a rough bed and perhaps a table. The poorest, known as the pailleux from the paille that they slept on, would be confined to dark, damp, vermin-infested cells known as oubliettes. In keeping with the name, they were left to live or die in conditions that were ideal for the plague and other infectious diseases, the building was extended during the reigns of later kings with Frances first public clocks being installed about 1370. The current clock dates from 1535, despite lasting only ten months, the Reign of Terror had a profound effect on France. More than 40,000 people died from execution and imprisonment, the National Convention enacted the Law of Suspects on September 17,1793
Conciergerie
–
Conciergerie
Conciergerie
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The Hall of the Guards, one of the largest surviving medieval parts of the Conciergerie
Conciergerie
–
The Palais de Justice, the Conciergerie and the Tour de l'Horloge, by
Adrien Dauzats, after 1858
Conciergerie
–
The Conciergerie closeup.
17.
Eiffel Tower
–
The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed, the Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world,6.91 million people ascended it in 2015. The tower is 324 metres tall, about the height as an 81-storey building. Its base is square, measuring 125 metres on each side, due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 metres. Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second-tallest structure in France after the Millau Viaduct, the tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top levels upper platform is 276 m above the ground – the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union, tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps, although there is a staircase to the top level, it is usually only accessible by lift. Eiffel openly acknowledged that inspiration for a tower came from the Latting Observatory built in New York City in 1853, sauvestre added decorative arches to the base of the tower, a glass pavilion to the first level, and other embellishments. Little progress was made until 1886, when Jules Grévy was re-elected as president of France and Édouard Lockroy was appointed as minister for trade. On 12 May, a commission was set up to examine Eiffels scheme and its rivals, which, after some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. Eiffel was to all income from the commercial exploitation of the tower during the exhibition. He later established a company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and these objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the column of bolted sheet metal. Gustave Eiffel responded to criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian pyramids. Will it not also be grandiose in its way, and why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris. Indeed, Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built, others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible
Eiffel Tower
–
The Eiffel Tower as seen from the
Champ de Mars
Eiffel Tower
–
First drawing of the Eiffel Tower by Maurice Koechlin including size comparison with other Parisian landmarks such as
Notre Dame de Paris, the
Statue of Liberty and the
Vendôme Column
Eiffel Tower
–
A
calligram by
Guillaume Apollinaire
18.
Flame of Liberty
–
The monument, which measures approximately 3.5 metres in height, is a sculpture of a flame, executed in gilded copper, supported by a pedestal of gray-and-black marble. It is located near the end of the Pont de lAlma, on the Place de lAlma. It was offered to the city of Paris in 1989 by the International Herald Tribune on behalf of donors who had contributed approximately $400,000 for its fabrication and it represented the culmination of that newspapers 1987 celebration of its hundredth anniversary of publishing an English-language daily newspaper in Paris. This project was overseen by the director of the French craft unions at that time, Jacques Graindorge. He foresaw an installation of the Flame of Liberty in a square called Place des États-Unis in the 16th arrondissement. After a protracted period of negotiations, it was decided that the Flame would be placed in an area near the intersection of lAvenue de New-York. The monument was dedicated on May 10,1989 by Chirac, on the base of the monument, a commemorative plaque recounts the following story, The Flame of Liberty. An exact replica of the Statue of Libertys flame offered to the people of France by donors throughout the world as a symbol of the Franco-American friendship, on the occasion of the centennial of the International Herald Tribune. Anthropologist Guy Lesoeurs said, Most people who come here think this was built for her, a new Flame of Liberty, a sculpture by Jean Cardot, was unveiled on June 14,2008. It symbolizes the warm and respectful relations between the French and the Americans
Flame of Liberty
–
The Flame of Liberty, which was offered to the people of France by donors throughout the world as a symbol of the
Franco-American friendship.
19.
Grand Palais
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The structure was built in the style of Beaux-Arts architecture as taught by the École des Beaux-Arts of Paris. One of its pediments calls it a “monument dedicated by the Republic to the glory of French art”, reflecting its original purpose, a monumental bronze quadriga by Georges Récipon tops each wing of the main façade. The one on the Champs-Élysées side depicts Immortality prevailing over Time, the grand inauguration took place 1 May 1900, and from the very beginning the palace was the site of different kinds of shows in addition to the intended art exhibitions. These included a competition that took place annually from 1901 to 1957, but were mainly dedicated to innovation and modernity, the automobile, aviation, household appliances. The golden age of the art exhibitions as such lasted for thirty years. The builders attempted to compensate for this subsidence, and for a tendency of the ground to shift, by sinking supporting posts down to firmer soil and these measures were only partially successful. Further damage occurred once the building was in use, additional problems due to the construction of the building itself revealed themselves over the course of time. Differential rates of expansion and contraction between cast iron and steel members, for example, allowed for water to enter, leading to corrosion and further weakening. When finally one of the ceiling panels fell in 1993, the main space had to be closed for restoration work. The Palais served as a hospital during World War I. The Nazis put the Palais to use during the Occupation of France in World War II, first used as a truck depot, the Palais then housed two Nazi propaganda exhibitions. The Parisian resistance used the Grand Palais as a headquarters during the Liberation of Paris, on 23 August 1944 an advancing German column was fired upon from a window on the Avenue de Sèlves, and the Germans responded with a tank attack upon the Palais. The attack ignited hay that was set up for a circus show, by 26 August, American jeeps were parked in the nave, followed by tanks from the French 2nd Armored Division, completing the liberation of the building. The buildings west wing contains a science museum, the Palais de la Découverte. The couture fashion house Chanel annually hosts many of its fashion shows here, setting up elaborate and expensive surroundings for its models and it was the host venue of the 2010 World Fencing Championships. This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish Wikipedia, official Grand Palais website The Grand Palais, current photographs, and photographs from the 1900s. New recent pictures and great information on the Grand Palais Paris Félix Charpentier, photos from the rooftops of the Grand Palais
Grand Palais
–
The Grand Palais (center) and the
Petit Palais (right) as seen from the
Eiffel Tower
Grand Palais
–
Salon de la locomotion aérienne, 1909, Grand Palais,
Paris.
Grand Palais
–
Grand Palais during World War I, 1916
Grand Palais
–
The Grand Palais seen from
Pont Alexandre III
20.
Petit Palais
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The Petit Palais is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, the Petit Palais is located across from the Grand Palais on Avenue Nicolas II, today Avenue Winston-Churchill. The other façades of the face the Seine and Avenue des Champs-Elysees. The Petit Palais is one of 14 museums of the City of Paris that have incorporated since January 1,2013. In 1894 a competition was held for the 1900 Exhibition area, the Palais de lIndustrie from the 1855 World’s Fair was considered unfitting and was to be replaced by something new for the 1900 Exhibition. Architects had the option to do what they pleased with the Palais de l’Industrie, in the end, Charles Girault won the competition and built the Petit Palais as one of the buildings that replaced the Palais de l’Industrie. The construction of the Petit Palais began on October 10,1897 and was completed in April 1900, the total cost of the Petit Palais at the time of the construction was 400,000 pounds. Charles Girault largely draws on the seventeenth and early eighteenth century French style for the Petit Palais. Additionally his work, such as the central porch and the triple arcade, has many references to the stables at Chantilly. Girault’s plan for the Petit Palais had minimal alterations from the design to the execution, the plan was original and fit perfectly in its given location. The Petit Palais is a shape with its larger side as the main façade facing the Grand Palais. The building’s shape makes a semi-circular courtyard at the center, the Beaux-Arts style Petit Palais was designed by Charles Girault, and is around an octi-circular courtyard and garden, similar to the Grand Palais. Its ionic columns, grand porch, and dome echo those of the Invalides across the river, the tympanum depicting the city of Paris surrounded by muses is the work of sculptor Jean Antoine Injalbert. The Petit Palais was built to be a building that would become a permanent fine arts museum after the exhibition. The materials of the building—stone, steel, and concrete as well as the decoration were to demonstrate that the Petit Palais was built to be enduring, the main façade of the building faces the Grand Palais. The focal point of the façade is the entrance, “a central archway set in an archivolt topped by a dome. Two wings flank the main entrance and these wings, continuing to the end pavilions, are embellished with free-standing columns that frame the tall windows. The exterior of the pavilions are embellished with arched windows from the side around to the rear façades and these grand windows provide side lighting for the outer three galleries of the interior museum
Petit Palais
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Petit Palais façade
Petit Palais
–
The Petit Palais in 1900.
Petit Palais
–
View from the Eiffel Tower
Petit Palais
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Entrance
21.
Les Invalides
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Louis XIV initiated the project by an order dated 24 November 1670, as a home and hospital for aged and unwell soldiers, the name is a shortened form of hôpital des invalides. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant, the selected site was in the then suburban plain of Grenelle. By the time the project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 196 metres and the complex had fifteen courtyards. It was then felt that the veterans required a chapel, Jules Hardouin-Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel was finished in 1679 to Bruants designs after the elder architects death. This chapel was known as Église Saint-Louis des Invalides, and daily attendance of the veterans in the services was required. Shortly after the chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme from its most striking feature. The domed chapel was finished in 1708, because of its location and significance, the Invalides served as the scene for several key events in French history. On 14 July 1789 it was stormed by Parisian rioters who seized the cannons, Napoleon was entombed under the dome of the Invalides with great ceremony in 1840. In December 1894 the degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus was held before the main building, the building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans until the early twentieth century. In 1872 the musée dartillerie was located within the building to be joined by the musée historique des armées in 1896, the two institutions were merged to form the present musée de larmée in 1905. At the same time the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centres outside Paris, the building accordingly became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex does however include the facilities detailed below for about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers. On the north front of Les Invalides Hardouin-Mansarts chapel dome is large enough to dominate the long façade, at its far end, the Pont Alexandre III links this grand urbanistic axis with the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais. The Pont des Invalides is next, downstream the Seine river, the Hôpital des Invalides spurred William III of England to emulation, in the military Greenwich Hospital of 1694. The buildings still comprise the Institution Nationale des Invalides, an institution for disabled war veterans. The institution comprises, a retirement home a medical and surgical centre a centre for medical consultations. In 1676 Jules Hardouin-Mansart was commissioned with the construction of a place of worship on the site and he designed a building which combined a royal chapel with a veterans chapel. In this way, the King and his soldiers could attend mass simultaneously, while entering the place of worship though different entrances, when the Army Museum at Les Invalides was founded in 1905, the veterans chapel was placed under its administrative control
Les Invalides
–
Hôtel des Invalides
Les Invalides
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Louis XIV ordering the construction of Les Invalides
Les Invalides
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Napoleon I visiting the infirmary of Les Invalides.
Les Invalides
–
The north front of the Invalides: Mansart's dome above Bruant's pedimented central block
22.
Luxor Obelisk
–
The Luxor Obelisk is a 23 metres high Egyptian obelisk standing at the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. It was originally located at the entrance to Luxor Temple, in Egypt, the Luxor Obelisk was classified as a historical monument in 1936. This site was the location of the station, Concorde. The Luxor Obelisk is over 3,000 years old and was situated outside of Luxor Temple. It was gifted to France by Muhammad Ali, Ruler of Egypt, in August 1832, the French paddle ship Sphinx sailed to Alexandria to rendezvous there with the barge Louqsor, which was to load the Luxor Obelisk and bring it to Paris. Sphinx then towed Louqsor back to France, the ships departed on 1 April 1833 and reached Toulon on 10 May. The ships arrived at Cherbourg on 12 August 1833, the obelisk, a yellow granite column, rises 23 metres high, including the base, and weighs over 250 metric tons. It is decorated with hieroglyphs exalting the reign of the king Ramses II, the team of French seamen carefully lowered the obelisk with a complicated array of blocks and tackles, yardarms and capstans. The re-erection of the obelisk on the Place de la Concorde during a ceremony planned by king Louis Philippe was no mean engineering feat either. The present day pedestal was intended for an equestrian statue of king Louis XVI by Cortot. On the pedestal are diagrams explaining the complex machinery that was used for the transportation. Missing its original pyramidion, the government of France added a gold-leafed pyramid cap to the top of the obelisk in 1998, on the morning of December 1,1993, the anti-AIDS Charity Act Up Paris covered the obelisk with a giant pink condom to mark World AIDS Day. In 1998 and 2000 Alain Spiderman Robert, the French urban climber, enjoyment Petrification, The Luxor obelisk in a melancholic century. Cultural Commentary, Le Vin in Paris, available at, Place de la Concorde, Obélisque de Luxor
Luxor Obelisk
–
The Obelisk of Luxor at the center of the Place de la Concorde.
Luxor Obelisk
–
Detail of the pedestal.
Luxor Obelisk
–
The remaining obelisk at Luxor Temple
Pylon.
Luxor Obelisk
–
Sphinx towing the barge Louqsor ferrying the Louqsor Obelisk to France
23.
Palais Garnier
–
The Palais Garnier is a 1, 979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. The Paris Opera now mainly uses the Palais Garnier for ballet, the Palais Garnier has been called probably the most famous opera house in the world, a symbol of Paris like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré Coeur Basilica. This opinion is far from unanimous however, the 20th-century French architect Le Corbusier once described it as a lying art, the Palais Garnier is a building of exceptional opulence. The style is monumental and considered Second-Empire Beaux-Arts style with axial symmetry in plan and these include very elaborate multicolored marble friezes, columns, and lavish statuary, many of which portray deities of Greek mythology. The principal facade is on the side of the building, overlooking the Place de lOpéra. Fourteen painters, mosaicists and seventy-three sculptors participated in the creation of its ornamentation, the two gilded figural groups, Charles Gumerys LHarmonie and La Poésie, crown the apexes of the principal facades left and right avant-corps. They are both made of gilt copper electrotype, the facade also incorporates other work by Gumery, Alexandre Falguière, and others. On the left and right lateral returns of the front facade are busts of the librettists Eugène Scribe and Philippe Quinault, when the Empire fell, work stopped, leaving unfinished dressed stonework. It is covered by a 13.5 metre diameter dome, two pairs of obelisks marking the entrances of the Rotunda to the north and the south. The interior consists of interweaving corridors, stairwells, alcoves and landings allowing the movement of large numbers of people, rich with velvet, gold leaf, and cherubim and nymphs, the interior is characteristic of Baroque sumptuousness. The building features a ceremonial staircase of white marble with a balustrade of red and green marble. Its design was inspired by Victor Louiss grand staircase for the Théâtre de Bordeaux, the pedestals of the staircase are decorated with female torchères, created by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. When they were first fixed in two months before the opening of the building it was obvious to Garnier that they were too dark for the space. With the help of two of his students, Pils had to rework the canvases while they were in place overhead on the ceiling and, at the age of 61, he fell ill. His students had to finish the work, which was completed the day before the opening and this hall 18 meters high,154 meters long and 13 meters wide was designed to act as a drawing room for Paris society. Its ceiling was painted by Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry and represents various moments in the history of music, the foyer opens into an outside loggia at each end of which are the Salon de la Lune and Salon du Soleil. The auditorium has a traditional Italian horseshoe shape and can seat 1,979, the stage is the largest in Europe and can accommodate as many as 450 artists. The canvas house curtain was painted to represent a draped curtain, complete with tassels, the ceiling area, which surrounds the chandelier, was originally painted by Jules Eugène Lenepveu
Palais Garnier
–
The façade of the Palais Garnier opera house
Palais Garnier
–
Plan of the Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
–
Gumery 's L'Harmonie (1869), atop the left
avant-corps of the façade, is 7.5 metres (25 ft) of gilt copper electrotype
Palais Garnier
–
Facade of the Palais Garnier with labels indicating the locations of various sculptures
24.
Porte Saint-Denis
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The Porte Saint-Denis is a Parisian monument located in the 10th arrondissement, at the site of one of the gates of the Wall of Charles V, one of Paris former city walls. It is located at the crossing of the Rue Saint-Denis continued by the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, with the Boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle, the Porte Saint-Denis was originally a gateway through the Wall of Charles V that was built between 1356 and 1383 to protect the Right Bank of Paris. The medieval fortification had two gates and was surmounted with four towers, additional portcullises defended the outer gate along with a drawbridge and rock-cut ditch. In the 1670s, the walls of Charles V were entirely demolished when Paris spread beyond the confines of its medieval boundaries. Work began in 1672 and was paid for by the city of Paris, a monument defining the official art of its epoque, the Porte Saint-Denis provided the subject of the engraved frontispiece to Blondels influential Cours darchitecture,1698. The Porte Saint-Denis was the first of four arches to be built in Paris. The three others are the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Porte Saint-Martin, and Arc de Triomphe, the Porte Saint-Denis is a triumphal arch inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome. The monument is 24.65 m high,25 m wide, the arch itself is 15.35 m high in the center and 8 m across. The main arch is flanked by obelisks applied to the face bearing sculptural groups of trophies of arms. The entablature bears the gilded bronze inscription LUDOVICO MAGNO, To Louis the Great, two smaller pedestrian walkways were built through the obelisk pedestals but they have now been closed. The arch is decorated with a variety of sculptures and friezes Porte Saint-Martin Insecula - Porte Saint-Denis
Porte Saint-Denis
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Porte Saint-Denis (1908).
Porte Saint-Denis
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Porte Saint-Denis (2011).
Porte Saint-Denis
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Intrados.
Porte Saint-Denis
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South face:
passage of the Rhine.
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Porte Saint-Martin
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The Porte Saint-Martin is a Parisian monument located at the site of one of the gates of the now-destroyed fortifications of Paris. It is located at the crossing of Rue Saint-Martin, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, the Porte Saint-Martin was designed by architect Pierre Bullet at the order of Louis XIV in honor of his victories on the Rhine and in Franche-Comté. Built in 1674, it replaced a medieval gate in the city built by Charles V. The Porte Saint-Martin is a rusticated triumphal arch,18 meters high, built in limestone
Porte Saint-Martin
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Porte Saint-Martin (2014).
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Sorbonne
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The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which was the historical house of the former University of Paris. The name is derived from the Collège de Sorbonne, initiated during 1257 by the eponymous Robert de Sorbon as one of the first significant colleges of the medieval University of Paris. The university predates the college by about a century, and minor colleges had been founded already during the late 12th century, during the 16th century, the Sorbonne became involved with the intellectual struggle between Catholics and Protestants. The Collège de Sorbonne was suppressed during the French Revolution, reopened by Napoleon during 1808 and this was only one of the many colleges of the University of Paris that existed until the French revolution. After months of conflicts between students and authorities at the University of Paris at Nanterre, the administration closed that university on May 2,1968. Students at the Sorbonne campus in Paris met on May 3 to protest against the closure and the threatened expulsion of several students at Nanterre. More than 20,000 students, teachers and other endorsers marched towards the Sorbonne, still sealed off by the police, who charged, wielding their batons, as soon as the marchers approached. While the crowd dispersed, some began to make out of whatever was at hand, while others threw paving stones. The police then responded with tear gas and charged the crowd again, may 10 marked the Night of Barricades, where students used cars, wood, and cobblestones to barricade the streets of the Latin Quarter. Brutal street fighting ensued between students and riot police, most notably on Rue Gay-Lussac, early the next morning, as the fighting disbanded, Daniel Cohn-Bendit sent out a radio broadcast calling for a general strike. On Monday,13 May, more than one million workers went on strike, negotiations ended, and students returned to their campuses after a false report that the government had agreed to reopen them, only to discover police still occupying the schools. When the Sorbonne reopened, students occupied it and declared it an autonomous Peoples University, during 1970, the University of Paris was divided into thirteen universities, managed by a common rectorate, the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris, with offices in the Sorbonne. The building also houses the École Nationale des Chartes, the École pratique des hautes études, the Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne, nowadays, the use of the name refers more often to Panthéon-Sorbonne University for French public especially students in France. But, all Parisian universities like to refer as their ancestor, some alliances of universities use that name, like Sorbonne University. Listing of the works of Alexandre Falguière List of works by Henri Chapu La Sorbonne
Sorbonne
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This article is about the university building in Paris, France. For the university with the same metonym, see
University of Paris.
Sorbonne
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Inscription over an entrance to the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
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The front of the Sorbonne Building
Sorbonne
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Sorbonne Square (Place de la Sorbonne)
Media related to Institut de France at Wikimedia Commons
