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Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe is the world's largest traffic roundabout and the meeting point of 12 avenues. Commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon to commemorate his imperial victories, it was not completed until 1836. From the viewing platform at the top (284 steps up), you can see the avenues - many named after illustrious generals - radiating toward every part of Paris.
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Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
Although smaller than Paris' most famous arc de triomphe , this 1805-erected triumphal arch, located in the Jardin du Carrousel at the eastern end of the Tuileries, is a more ornate affair. It's adorned with eight pink marble pillars, each topped with a statue of a soldier in Napoleon's army.
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Arènes De Lutèce
The Roman amphitheatre called Lutetia Arena, dating from the 2nd century, could once seat around 10,000 people for gladiatorial combats and other events. Discovered in 1869 by accident while Rue Monge was under construction and heavily rebuilt in 1917, it is now used by neighbourhood youths playing boules and football.
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Assemblée Nationale
The National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, meets in the 18th-century Palais Bourbon fronting the Seine. Tours are now available only through local deputies, thus only citizens or residents are eligible.
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Basilique de St-Denis
St-Denis Basilica was the burial place for all but a handful of France's kings and queens from Dagobert I (ruled 629-39) to Louis XVIII (ruled 1814-24), constituting one of Europe's most important collections of funerary sculpture. The single-towered basilica, begun around 1136, was the first major structure to be built in the Gothic style, serving as a model for other 12th-century French cathedrals including the one at Chartres.
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Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris
If Paris has a heart, then this is it. Notre Dame de Paris is not only a masterpiece of French Gothic architecture, but has also been Catholic Paris' ceremonial focus for seven centuries. The cathedral's immense interior, a marvel of medieval engineering, holds over 6000 people and has spectacular rose windows.
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Champs-Élysées
Av des Champs-Élysées, whose name refers to the 'Elysian Fields' where happy souls dwelt after death according to Greek mythology, links Place de la Concorde with the Arc de Triomphe. The avenue has symbolised the style and joie de vivre of Paris since the mid-19th century and remains a popular tourist destination.
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Chapelle Expiatoire
The austere, neoclassical Atonement Chapel, opposite 29 rue Pasquier, sits atop the section of a cemetery where Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and many other victims of the Reign of Terror were buried after their executions in 1793. It was erected by Louis' brother, the restored Bourbon king Louis XVIII, in 1815. Two years later the royal bones were removed to the Basilique de St-Denis.
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Église Notre Dame de L'espérance
If you're in the area (or feeling a bit guilty about that late night) head for the wonderful Church of Our Lady of Hope designed by Bruno Legrand in 1997. Startling both for its modern design and size (it stands 20m tall and is 11m wide), the interior is filled with all sorts of interesting elements and features.
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Église Notre Dame de la Pentecôte
If the hub and the bub and the crowds of 'suits' get you down, head for the futuristic Our Lady of the Pentecost Catholic Church next to the CNIT building that opened in 2001. The interior is sublime; check out the flame-shaped pulpit, the image of the Virgin Mary that looks uncannily like the Buddha and the individual chairs that unfold to create benches.
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Église St-Eustache
This majestic church, one of the most beautiful in Paris, is just north of the gardens next to the Forum des Halles. Constructed between 1532 and 1640, St-Eustache is primarily Gothic, though a neoclassical façade was added on the western side in the mid-18th century. Inside, there are some exceptional Flamboyant Gothic arches holding up the ceiling of the chancel, though most of the ornamentation is Renaissance and classical.
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Eiffel Tower
Built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World Fair), held to commemorate the centennial of the Revolution, the Tour Eiffel was the world's tallest structure at 320m (1050ft) until Manhattan's Chrysler Building was completed. Initially opposed by the city's artistic and literary elite the tower was almost torn down in 1909.
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Flame of Liberty Memorial
In August 1997 in the underpass parallel to the Seine, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car accident, with her partner Dodi Fayed, and their chauffeur. The bronze Flame of Liberty became something of a memorial to Diana and was decorated with flowers, photographs, graffiti and personal notes for almost five years.
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Grande Arche de la Défense
La Défense's biggest draw card is the remarkable, cubelike Grande Arche (Great Arch). Designed by Danish architect Johan-Otto von Sprekelsen and housing government and business offices, it is made of white Carrara marble, grey granite and glass, and measures 110m exactly along each side.
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Hôtel de Ville
Paris' beautiful neo-Renaissance town hall, completed in 1882, is adorned with 108 statues of illustrious Parisians. Regular temporary exhibitions are held here, usually revolving around a Paris-based theme, such as the photography of Robert Doisneau (who snapped his world-famous black-and-white Kiss at the Hôtel de Ville here in 1950). In winter, an ice-skating rink sets up outside.
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Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation
The Memorial to the Victims of the Deportation, erected in 1962 on the southeastern tip of the Île de la Cité, is a haunting monument to the 160,000 residents of France - including 76,000 Jews - who were killed in Nazi concentration camps during WWII. A single barred 'window' separates the bleak, rough concrete courtyard from the waters of the Seine.
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Panthéon
The Panthéon is a superb example of 18th-century neoclassicism but its ornate marble interior is gloomy in the extreme. The 80-odd permanent residents of the crypt include Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis Braille, Victor Hugo, and Émile Zola. Personages removed for reburial elsewhere after a re-evaluation of their greatness include Mirabeau and Marat.
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Place de la Bastille
Nothing remains of the former prison that was mobbed on 14 July 1789, igniting the French Revolution, but you can't miss the 52m green-bronze column topped by a gilded, winged Liberty. Revolutionaries from the uprising of 1830 are buried beneath. Now a skirmishly busy roundabout, the place is still Paris' most symbolic destination for traffic-stopping political protest marches.
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Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde was laid out between 1755 and 1775. The 3300-year-old pink granite obelisk with the gilded top in the square's centre was given to France in 1831 by Muhammad Ali, viceroy and pasha of Egypt. Weighing 230 tonnes and towering 23m over the cobblestones, it once stood in the Temple of Ramses at Thebes (modern-day Luxor).
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Place du Tertre
Half a block west of Église St-Pierre de Montmartre, is place du Tertre, once the main square of the village of Montmartre. These days it's filled with cafes, restaurants, portrait artists and tourists and is always animated. Look for the Moulin de la Galette and Moulin Radet, two old-style windmills to the west on rue Lepic.
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Place Igor Stravinsky
The Place Igor Stravinsky is perhaps Paris' most vibrant open space. Dominated by the vivid inside-out architecture of the Centre Georges Pompidou, it is filled with modern sculpture and street performers. The fanciful mechanical fountains of skeletons, dragons and a big pair of ruby-red lips, created by Jean Tinguely and Niki de St-Phalle, are delightful.
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Place Vendôme
This octagonal place , and the arcaded and colonnaded buildings around it, were built between 1687 and 1721. In 1796, Napoleon married Josephine in the building at No 3. Today, the buildings around the square house the posh Hôtel Ritz Paris and some of the city's most fashionable boutiques. The Ministry of Justice has been at Nos 11 to 13 since 1815.
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Pont Neuf
The white stone spans of Paris' oldest bridge, ironically called 'New Bridge', have linked the Île de la Cité with both banks of the Seine since 1607 when Henri IV inaugurated it by riding across on a white stallion. Its seven arches, graced by humorous, grotesque figures of dentists, pickpockets, loiterers and the like, are best viewed from the river.
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Porte St-Denis & Porte St-Martin
St Denis Gate, a 24m-high triumphal arch, was built in 1673 to commemorate Louis XIV's campaign along the Rhine. On the northern side, carvings represent the fall of Maastricht in the same year.
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Tour Jean Sans Peur
The Gothic, 29m-high Tower of John the Fearless was built by the duke of Bourgogne as part of a splendid mansion in the early 15th century so he could hide at the very top, safe from his enemies. It is one of the very few examples of feudal military architecture extant in Paris. Visitors can ascend the 140 steps of the spiral staircase to the turret on top.
