Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower, one of the most visited attractions in the world. It welcomes almost seven million visitors per year and will be 130 years old next year in March.

Since its opening more than 250 million people have visited the tower.

Completed on March 31st, 1889 by Gustave Eiffel, the tower was the world’s tallest man-made structure for 41 years. The completion of the Chrysler Building in New York in 1930 then overtook that record. Its construction took two years, two months and five days – 180 years fewer than Paris’s other great attraction, Notre Dame.

Did you know that Eiffel died while listening to Beethoven’s 5th symphony?

Disneyland

Disneyland Paris, originally Euro Disney Resort is in Marne-la-Vallée, located 32km east of the centre of Paris.

It comprises of two theme parks, many resort hotels, a shopping, dining, entertainment complex and a golf course. In addition to the park there are several additional recreational and entertainment venues.

Disneyland Park is the original theme park of the complex, opening with the resort on 12 April 1992. A second theme park, Walt Disney Studios Park, opened in 2002. Disneyland Paris celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017.

In 25 years, 320 million people visited Disneyland Paris. The resort is the second Disney park to open outside the United States following the opening of the Tokyo Disney Resort in 1983.

The Louvre

The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the world’s largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris.

You’ll find it on the right bank of the Seine in the city’s 1st district. 2017, the Louvre was the world’s most visited art museum, receiving 8.1 million visitors.

Located in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a castle in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II.

Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the urban expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function. Francis I converted it into the main residence of the French Kings.

1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation’s masterpieces.

Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles was the principal royal residence of France from 1682. Firstly, under Louis XIV until the start of the French Revolution in 1789 under Louis XVI. It is located in Yvelines, about 20 kilometres southwest of Paris

The palace is now a historic monument and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Notable for the ceremonial Hall of Mirrors, the jewel-like Royal Opera and the royal apartments.

In 2017 the Palace of Versailles received 7,700,000 visitors, making it the second-most visited monument just behind the Louvre.

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile is one of the most famous monuments in Paris.

Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces are the names of French victories and generals.

Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

Designed by Jean Chalgrin 1806, its iconographic program pits heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail. It set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre-Dame de Paris meaning “Our Lady of Paris”, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral is a medieval Catholic cathedral. Widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture 12 million people visit the cathedral yearly.

The innovative use of everything inside the building sets it apart from earlier Romanesque architecture.

Build began in 1160 and completed by 1260 and modified frequently in the following centuries.

Soon after Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831, popular interest in the building revived. A major restoration project supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc began in 1845 and continued for twenty-five years.

Beginning in 1963, the facade of the Cathedral was cleaned of centuries of grime, returning it to its original colour. Another campaign of cleaning and restoration was carried out from 1991-2000.

Champs-Élysées

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is an avenue in the 8th district of Paris. It runs between the Place de la Concorde and the Place Charles de Gaulle where the Arc de Triomphe is located.

The name is French for the Elysian Fields, the paradise for dead heroes in Greek mythology.

Throughout its history, the avenue has been the site of military parades. Most famous were the victory parades of German troops in 1871 and again in 1940 celebrating the Fall of France. Happier parades were the Allies victory in 1919 and the parades of Free French and American forces in 1944.

Moulin Rouge

The original house, which burned down in 1915, was co-founded in 1889 by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia.

Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue evolved.

Growing into a form of entertainment of its own led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today, the Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world.

The club’s decor still contains much of the romance of fin de siècle in France.

The Concierge

The Concierge is a building located on the west of the Île de la Cité meaning “Island of the City”.

Formerly a prison but now acts as the city’s law courts. It was part of the former royal palace, the Palais de la Cité, which consisted of the Concierge. The Concierge prison became the main penitentiary of a network of prisons throughout Paris and was the last place of housing for more than 2,700 people, who were summarily executed by guillotine.

Dank dungeons were a stark contrast to the beautiful architecture of the palace above. Trials and executions progressed in a rapid, unpredictable manner.

Condemned people would be walked through the Salle de la Toilette, where their personal belongings were confiscated. Once they reached the May Courtyard they were then brought to guillotines throughout Paris.

Paris Catacombs

The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuary’s which hold the remains of more than six million people.

Created as part of the effort to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries. The Catacombs of Paris became a curiosity for more privileged Parisians. From their creation, an early visitor being Charles X of France during 1787.

Public visits began after its renovation into a proper ossuary. First allowed only a few times a year with the permission of an authorised mines inspector, but later more frequently.

Catholic hierarchy closed the catacombs in 1833 as they found exhibiting human remains immoral.