View of Paris

Built for the 1889 Universal Exhibition, the tower is world famous, yet with more than 8,500 tons of steel, the Grand Palais actually contains more metal than the Eiffel Tower.

© Coll. Grand Palais, photo Vincent Péghaire

Dominating the Trocadero, the Palais de Chaillot was built for the 1937 Universal Exhibition, replacing the Palais de Trocadéro that had occupied the site since the Universal Exhibition of 1878.

© Capa/Nicolas Borel, 2007. Avec l’aimable autorisation de la Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine

Built on the hilltop at Montmartre, famous for its painters, the Sacré-Coeur basilica is one of the most visited monuments in Paris.

© Cosimo Mirco Magliocca

At the top of the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe was built in 1806 on the orders of Napoleon I to honour the French Army. A symbol of the history of France, it houses the flame of the unknown soldier, whose body was laid to rest there in 1921.

The most famous avenue in the world! The Champs-Elysées starts at the place de la Concorde and slopes gently for just over a mile up to the place Charles-de-Gaulle (formerly place de l’Etoile) with its Arc de Triomphe. It is frequented by 10 million visitors every year.

© Coll. Grand Palais, photo Vincent Péghaire

Located on 55 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, in the 8th arrondissement, this is where the French President has his office and it has been his official residence since the creation of Second Republic in 1848.

Service Photographique de la Présidence de la République Française

A masterpiece of Gothic Art, Notre Dame is one of Paris’s most celebrated monuments. Located at the tip of the Ile de la Cité. It was restored at the end of the 19th century by the architect Viollet-le-Duc. Its two rose windows at each end of the transept are among Europe’s biggest.

Louis XIV ordered the construction of the Invalides as a hospice for invalids from his armies. The monument has since been famous for housing the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Located between the right bank of the Seine and the rue de Rivoli, in the centre of Paris, the Louvre was once a royal palace. Celebrated for its extensive collections and modern entrance in the form of a pyramid, the Louvre is the world’s most visited museum (8.5 million visitors each year).

Musée du Louvre, cour Napoléon. Pyramide, architecte I.M. Pei © Christian Moutarde

The river, 482 miles in length, flows through Paris, splitting the capital in two. The Left Bank has always been associated with students and artists who lived in and frequented the Latin Quarter, Saint-Germain des Prés and Montparnasse. The development of the Right Bank was more recent: firstly limited to the area close to the Seine with the Louvre and the Marais district, town planning pushed north, notably with the construction of the Champs-Elysées.

© Cosimo Mirco Magliocca