Paris Landmarks

The most famous of the Paris landmarks is without a doubt the Eiffel Tower. The tower has become so synonymous with Paris that it has been destroyed in several major motion pictures, including Independence Day, to signify the destruction of Paris and France as a whole.

The tower was constructed between 1887 and 1889 to be the world’s tallest building. It no longer holds that title, but is the most recognizable landmark in France, possibly in all of Europe. The Paris landmark houses a small historical exhibit, detailing the construction and maintenance of the structure, and an ice-skating rink among other things. Visitors can take stairs to a second floor observation post, but to go any higher must take the elevators.

For more than a century, the Eiffel Tower has been repainted every 7 years in a process that takes more than a year to complete and uses a graduated “Eiffel brown” with the lightest brown at the top of the structure and a darker brown at the bottom. In recent year, the committee that oversees the Paris landmark has decided to paint the lower levels of the Tower more often and paint the top of the Eiffel Tower every ten years.

The Arc de Triomphe, constructed under the rule of Napoleon I, is another don’t miss Paris Landmark. The imperial archway was Napoleon I’s attempt to make Paris as grand as ancient Rome and is among the city’s oldest and most well known landmarks.

Also popular among Paris landmarks is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where Victor Hugo set his famous novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. The Cathedral is renowned for its historical role in France and for its bell towers, home to the fictional Quasimodo.

No visit to Paris would be complete without a visit to the Louvre, the most famous art museum in the world and home to great works of art including the Mona Lisa. And, Americans visiting Paris may want to visit the smaller sister of their own Statue of Liberty, a replica of which stands along the Seine River in Paris. The replica is one of two smaller statues the French made while constructing the American Statue of Liberty as a gift to the United States for its centennial in 1876.

Other attractions in the Paris area include the former home of kings, the Palace at Versailles and the Bastille, the infamous prison where French citizens were involuntarily kept during the French Revolution.