Architecture sights in France
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Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris
Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris is the true heart of Paris; in fact, distances from Paris to all parts of metropolitan France are measured from place du Parvis Notre Dame, the square in front of Notre Dame. A bronze star, set in the pavement across from the main entrance, marks the exact location of point zéro des routes de France (point zero of French roads).
Notre Dame, the most visited site in Paris, with 10 million people crossing its threshold each year, is not just a masterpiece of French Gothic architecture but has also been the focus of Catholic Paris for seven centuries. Constructed on a site occupied by earlier churches – and, a millennium before that, a Gal…
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City Walls
Wrapping around the city, Avignon's ramparts were built between 1359 and 1370. They were restored during the 19th century, minus their original moats - though even in the 14th century this defence system was hardly state-of-the-art, lacking machicolations (openings in the parapets for niceties like pouring boiling oil on attackers or shooting arrows at them).Within the walls are a wealth of fine museums - the Avignon Passion booklet lists the whole gamut.
The Avignon Passion pass entitles you to 20% to 50% discounted entry on your second and subsequent visits to museums and monuments (the equivalent of student prices), as well as reduced prices on the tourist office walki…
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Arènes de Lutèce
The 2nd-century Roman amphitheatre, Lutetia Arena, once sat around 10,000 people for gladiatorial combats and other events. Found by accident in 1869 when rue Monge was under construction, it’s now used by neighbourhood youths for playing football, and by old men for boules and pétanque (a variant on the game of bowls) .
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Towers
La Rochelle's three defensive towers can be visited individually, or on a combined ticket.
To protect the harbour at night in times of war, an enormous chain was raised between the two 14th-century stone towers at the harbour entrance, giving rise to the name of Tour de la Chaîne ('chain tower'). There are some informative exhibits on the history of the local Protestant community, and superb views from the top.
Across the harbour it's also possible to climb the 36m-high, pentagonal Tour St-Nicolas.
So named because of its role as the harbour's lighthouse (lit by an enormous candle), and one of the oldest of its kind in the world, the conical 15th-century Tour de la Lante…
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Basilique Saint-Seurin
Austere and imposing, the Basilique Saint-Seurin is an architectural treasure, classed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. The basilica's style is predominantly Romanesque, but many Gothic elements pertain - the result of successive additions to the structure over the centuries. Its history goes back as far as the beginning of Christendom in the 6th century.
On the western façade of the building, superb columns form two archways allowing access to the nave, whose beautiful Romanesque capitals date from the 12th-century. The southern portal recounts the Last Judgement, while, inside the basilica, the massive pillars in the nave have a striking countenance. To the left of t…
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Grande Pyramide
The main entrance and ticket windows in the Cour Napoléon are covered by the 21m-high Grande Pyramide, a glass pyramid designed by the Chinese-born American architect IM Pei. You can avoid the queues outside the pyramid or at the Porte des Lions entrance by entering the Louvre complex via the Carrousel du Louvre entrance, at 99 rue de Rivoli, or by following the ‘Musée du Louvre’ exit from the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre metro station. Buy your tickets in advance from the ticket machines in the Carrousel du Louvre, online or by ringing 08 92 68 36 22 or 08 25 34 63 46, or from the billeteries (ticket offices) of Fnac for an extra €1.10, and walk straight in witho…
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Unité d'Habitation
Visionary architect Le Corbusier redefined urban living in 1952 with the completion of his vertical, 337-apartment ‘garden city', Unité d'Habitation , also known as Cité Radieuse (Radiant City). Along its darkened hallways, primary-coloured downlights create eerie tunnels leading to a minisupermarket, architectural bookshop and panoramic rooftop ‘desert garden'.
Even if you're not staying at the onsite Hôtel Le Corbusier, you can arrange to visit this tour de force, including its private apartments, or dine at its restaurant, with sweeping views of the Mediterranean - and of the proliferation of high-rises that Le Corbusier inspired. Catch bus 83 or 21 to the Le Cor…
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Cathédrale Saint-André
Lording it over Bordeaux is Cathédrale St-André. A Unesco World Heritage Site, the cathedral's oldest section dates from 1096; most of what you see today was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. Exceptional masonry carvings can be seen in the north portal.
Even more imposing than the cathedral itself is the 50m gargoyled, gothic belfry, Tour Pey-Berland. Erected between 1440 and 1466, its spire was added in the 19th century, and in 1863 it was topped off with the statue of Notre Dame of Aquitaine (Our Lady of Aquitaine). Scaling the tower's 232 steep, narrow steps rewards you with an unfolding panorama of the city.
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Cathédrale St-Maurice
Angers' austere, mainly 12th- to 13th-century Cathédrale St-Maurice, in the centre of the historic Quartier de la Cité, has a striking Norman porch and nave (mid-1100s); the latter's three convex vaults, forming a perfect square, are outstanding examples of mid-12th-century Angevin (Plantagenet) vaulting. The stained-glass windows date from the 12th to the 16th centuries. In the 18th century a humungous organ was erected inside the western façade, facing the very baroque high altar (1758).
Long home to the Apocalypse tapestry, the cathedral continues to exhibit religiously-themed tapestries.
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Château de Caen
Looming above the centre of the city from a domed hilltop, and surrounded by a dry moat, the Château de Caen was founded by William the Conqueror in 1060 and extended by his son Henry I. It has been used over the centuries by royals, revolutionaries, townsfolk and the military.
Take a walk around the ramparts and visit the 12th-century Chapelle de St-Georges and the Échiquier (Exchequer), which dates from about AD 1100 and is one of the oldest civic buildings in Normandy.
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Église Ste-Marie Majeure
The unmissable Église Ste-Marie Majeure was built by the Pisans and was completed in the 14th century. Although it has been modified on numerous occasions and has gradually lost its original style, it retains its main feature, the loggia, under the arches of which the notables of the town used to gather. Opposite it is the old cistern, in which the town formerly collected rainwater from the many aqueducts running above the streets of the vieille ville.
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rue des Écuyers
Half a block down the hill from Rue aux Juifs there's a riverside promenade and up the hill rue des Écuyers has many structures dating from around the 16th century, including a half-timbered, prow-shaped house at No 26, with its upper section supported by beams. At No 35 is the Escalier de la Reine Berthe (Queen Bertha's Staircase), a tower-like covered stairwell clinging to a half-timbered house that dates back to the early 16th century.
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Rue du Bourg and rue de la Poissonnerie
Rue du Bourg and rue de la Poissonnerie also have some old half-timbered houses; on the latter, look for the magnificent Maison du Saumon (Salmon House), also known as the Maison de la Truie qui File (House of the Spinning Sow), at No 10-12 with its carved consoles of the Angel Gabriel and Mary, Michael the Archangel slaying the dragon and, of course, the eponymous salmon. It is now a restaurant.
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Halles du Boulingrin
The vaulted Halles du Boulingrin were a symbol of Reims’ emergence from the destruction of WWI when they began service as the city’s main food market in 1929. Closed in 1988, they will again shelter food stalls – as well as art expositions (on the mezzanine) and cultural events – starting on Valentine’s Day 2012. The peculiar name is derived from the English ‘bowling green’ (as in lawn bowling).
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Chapelle Expiatoire
The austere, neoclassical Atonement Chapel, opposite 36 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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Hôtel de Ville
Place de la Loge has three fine stone structures. Sandwiched between La Loge de Mer and the Palais de la Députation, once seat of the local parliament, is the Hôtel de Ville with its typically Roussillon pebbled façade of river stones. Pass by on summer weekends and you may well see locals of all ages dancing the graceful sardane, folk dance of the Catalans.
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Église du Dôme
Église du Dôme has a sparkling golden dome (1677–1735) and is one of the finest religious edifices erected under Louis XIV. It received the remains of Napoleon in 1840. The very extravagant Tombeau de Napoléon 1er, in the centre of the church, comprises six coffins fitting into one another like a Russian matryoshka doll.
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Grand Trianon
In the middle of the park, approximately 1.5km northwest of the main building, are Versailles' two smaller palaces, each of which is surrounded by neatly tended flowerbeds. The pink-colonnaded Grand Trianon was built in 1687 for Louis XIV and his family as a place of escape from the rigid etiquette of the court. Napoleon I had it redone in the Empire style.
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Catédral Notre Dame
Amiens is deservedly famous for its magnificent Gothic cathedral, the largest in France and a Unesco World Heritage site. Begun in 1220 rather macabrely to house the head of St John the Baptist - enclosed in gold in the northern outer wall of the ambulatory - the soaring Gothic arches and immense vaulted interior are a masterpiece of religious architecture.
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La Tête Carrée de Sosno
Outside the Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, the red concrete Jardin Maréchal Juin hugs MAMAC's eastern side and, more spectacularly, frames the giant square head of La Tête Carrée de Sosno.The massive 30m-tall sculpture designed by Sacha Sosno - a 14m-square concrete head sitting on a pair of shoulders - is, in fact, a building.
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Synagogue
Avignon's neoclassical synagogue was first built in 1221. A 13th-century oven used to bake unleavened bread for Passover can still be seen, but the rest of the present round, domed neoclassical structure dates from 1846; a fire destroyed the original edifice in 1845. Visitors must be modestly dressed and men's heads must be covered, as is the custom.
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Église Notre Dame de l’Espérance
Startling both for its modern design and size (it stands 20m tall and is 11m wide), the interior of the Church of Our Lady of Hope (Bruno Legrand, 1997) is filled with interesting features, including Nicolas Alquin’s Croix d’Espérance (Cross of Hope) made from an 18th-century oak beam and three gold squares representing the Trinity.
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Immeuble des Bons Enfants
Home to the Ministère de la Culture et Communication (Ministry of Culture & Communication), this inspired structure (Francis Soler and Frédéric Druot, 2004) is actually two separate and disparate buildings ‘linked’ by a metallic web of ‘tracery’ that lets in light and allows the diversity of the existing buildings to be seen.
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Temple Protestant
The austere Temple Protestant was built in the late 17th century, though it became a Protestant church only after the Revolution. After the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572, many surviving Huguenots took refuge in La Rochelle before the city was besieged in 1627 by Louis XIII's forces under the command of Cardinal Richelieu.
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Tour du Pape Jean XXII
At the top of the old city, the Tour du Pape Jean XXII (closed to the public) is the town's tallest building at 34m high. It was originally part of a 14th-century mansion belonging to Jacques Duèse (later Pope John XXII), who constructed the Pont Valentré and founded Cahors' university.
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