Building sights in France
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A
Grande Arche de la Défense
La Défense’s draw card is the Grande Arche (Great Arch) – a remarkable, cube-like structure, 110m square, of white Carrara marble, grey granite and glass. It’s constructed out of 3600 prefabricated cases, each 2.8m square and 800g in weight, and the entire construction rests on a dozen 30m-tall underground pillars. Scale the cigarette-butt-littered steps to the foot of this incredible arch free of charge and ponder its meaning as ‘a window to the world, a symbol of hope for the future; that all men can meet freely’. Or pay to travel 1.6m per second to the ‘roof’ on the 35th floor, where temporary art exhibitions hang out alongside scaled models of the arch, a video sho…
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Gare Montparnasse
Brittany and places en route from Paris (eg Chartres, Angers, Nantes); TGV Atlantique Ouest and TGV Atlantique Sud-Ouest trains to Tours, Nantes, Bordeaux and other destinations in southwestern France.
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C
Oratoire de la Confrérie St-Antoine
Wander over to the place d'Armes and take a little street to the left to come to the Oratoire de la Confrérie St-Antoine , a charitable institution that has been active in Corsica since the 14th century. Behind the façade, which features a primitive slate lintel depicting the abbot St Antoine, are walls painted with 15th- and 16th-century frescoes (some, alas, severely timeworn).
On the north wall, an ivory Christ attributed to the Florentine sculptor Jacopo d'Antonio Tati, known as Le Sansevino.
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D
Hôtel de Ville
Next to Église Ste-Marie is the building that now houses the Hôtel de Ville , but which, in the 16th century, was the palace of the Genoese lieutenants. If you go through the gateway below this former palace, you will come out on the narrow streets of the Santa Anna district, which is the real jewel of the old town. Try to find the delightful impasse Carababa.
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E
Église Ste-Marie
The bell tower of Église Ste-Marie rises above place Porta, which is still sometimes called place de la Libération. It boasts a superb altarpiece of polychrome marble (formerly in the Couvent St-François) and canvasses of the Stations of the Cross dating from 1843. The chains and cross used during the Catenacciu procession are also on display.
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Palais des Festivals et des Congrès
The first Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built in 1949 to host the Cannes Film Festival. As the festival grew, more space was needed, so the current Palais was constructed on the site of the municipal casino and opened in 1982. Today, the space (25,000 sq km/9650 sq mi) is used for exhibitions, screenings, shows, receptions and conferences.
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G
Hôtel de Ville
The Hôtel de Ville, fronting the place des Terreaux was built in 1655 but given its present ornate façade in 1702; get a bird's-eye view of its lovely interior courtyard from Les Muses.
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H
Chapelle de la Miséricorde
Jutting above the rooflines of Vieux Nice are the spires of some historic churches, including the exuberantly mid-18th-century Chapelle de la Miséricorde.
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I
Grande Mosquée de Lyon
The Grande Mosquée de Lyon, 5km east of Presqu'île, fuses traditional North African architecture and calligraphy with contemporary Western styles.
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Opera House
Lyon's neoclassical opera house was built in 1832 and topped with its striking glass-domed roof by French architect Jean Nouvel in 1993.
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K
Basilique St-Nazaire
Highlights are the graceful Gothic transept arms with a pair of superb 13th- and 14th-century rose windows at each end.
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