(Note to viewers: This website scrolls images close up so that you can easily see the detail. If you click an image it is instantly confined to the size of your screen. Side arrows (or swiping) takes you from one image to another. Click on the "X" in the upper right corner to return to scrolling and text.)
"During the Middle Ages, Paris was the largest city in Europe, an important religious and commercial centre, and the birthplace of the Gothic style of architecture. The University of Paris on the Left Bank, organised in the mid-13th century, was one of the first in Europe. ... In the 16th century, Paris became the book-publishing capital of Europe, though it was shaken by the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants. In the 18th century, Paris was the centre of the intellectual ferment known as the Enlightenment, and the main stage of the French Revolution from 1789. In the 19th century, Napoleon embellished the city with monuments to military glory. It became the European capital of fashion and the scene of two more revolutions (in 1830 and 1848). The centre of Paris was rebuilt between 1852 and 1870 with wide new avenues, squares and new parks, and the city was expanded to its present limits in 1860. ... In the 20th century, Paris suffered bombardment in World War I and German occupation from 1940 until 1944 in World War II. Between the two wars, Paris was the capital of modern art and a magnet for intellectuals, writers and artists from around the world." --Wikipedia
Paris remains one of the most important centers for art. There are beautiful parks and sidewalk cafes are plentiful. Parisians make good use of outdoor venues to enjoy the sunshine and each other. Paris captured my heart and my imagination. I have rarely been to a place that is so full of wonder, so full of art. The people move about in a graceful flow.
Hôtel de Soubise courtyard
The River Seine "is 485 miles (780 kilometres) long and with its tributaries drains an area of about 30,400 square miles (78,700 square kilometres). It is one of Europe’s great historic rivers, and its drainage network carries most of the French inland waterway traffic. Since the early Middle Ages it has been above all the river of Paris, and the mutual interdependence of the river and the city that was established at its major crossing points has been indissolubly forged. The fertile centre of its basin in the Île-de-France was the cradle of the French monarchy and the nucleus of the expanding nation-state and is still its heartland and metropolitan region. ...
"Paris’s site at a crossroads of both water and land routes significant not only to France but also to Europe has had a continuing influence on its growth. Under Roman administration, in the 1st century bce, the original site on the Île de la Cité was designated the capital of the Parisii tribe and territory. The Frankish king Clovis I had taken Paris from the Gauls by 494 ce and later made his capital there. Under Hugh Capet (ruled 987–996) and the Capetian dynasty the preeminence of Paris was firmly established, and Paris became the political and cultural hub as modern France took shape." --Britannica
Parisians enjoy hanging out along the river.
This large building is the Conciergerie. Originally part of the royal Palaise de la Cité, it later served as a prison during the French Revolution. "During the French Revolution, 2,781 prisoners, including Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned, tried and sentenced at the Conciergerie then sent to different sites to be executed by the guillotine." --Wikipedia
The Eiffel Tower is a lattice tower on the Champ de Mars. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889.
Locally nicknamed "La dame de fer" (French for "Iron Lady") for its use of wrought iron, it was constructed as the centerpiece of the 1889 World's Fair, and to crown the centennial anniversary of the French Revolution. --Wikipedia
We found a cafe near where we were staying named La Tartine that offered some of the best coffee and the friendliest manager we encountered.
Near the river sits Notre-Dame de Paris ("Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine). It is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris.
The cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary ("Our Lady"), is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Several attributes set it apart from the earlier Romanesque style, including its pioneering use of the rib vault and flying buttress, its enormous and colourful rose windows, and the naturalism and abundance of its sculptural decoration.
The construction of the cathedral began in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely completed by 1260, though it was modified in succeeding centuries. In the 1790s, during the French Revolution, Notre-Dame suffered extensive desecration; much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. In the 19th century, the cathedral hosted the coronation of Napoleon and the funerals of many of the French Republic's presidents. A fire in April 2019 caused serious damage, closing the cathedral for extensive and costly repairs; it reopened in December 2024. --Wikipedia
We chose not to stand in line to see the interior. There were hundreds of people in front of us.
Fame (Renommée) atop a pillar on the Pont Alexandre III
Statue de Bordeaux by Louis-Denis Canlouette 1836
Lion Crushing a Serpent by Antoine-Louis Barye
Lion et disputant un sanglier (Lion and Lioness Disputing a Wild Boar) by Auguste Cain around 1882
Theseus Fighting the Centaur Bianor by Antoine-Louis Barye
Fontaine des Mets (Fountain of the Seas) by Jacques-Ignace Hittorff 1840
Luxor Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde is over 3,000 years old. It was originally located at the Luxor Temple in Egypt where there remains a somewhat matching obelisk. Gifted to France in the 1830s it is 23 meters high and covered with hieroglyphics exalting Pharaoh Ramses II.
Luxor Temple
Google Maps took us through this tunnel to get to the Louvre Museum. There were many joggers sharing the space with us. It took about twenty minutes to travel from end to end.
Not all public art is "classical."
Le Bel Costumé by Jean Dubuffet 1973
The Church of Saint-Séverin is a Catholic church in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, of Paris, on the lively tourist street Rue Saint-Séverin. It was constructed beginning in 1230, then, after a fire, rebuilt and enlarged in the 15th to 17th centuries in the Flamboyant Gothic style. It was the parish church for students at the University of Paris, and is one of the oldest churches that remains standing on the Left Bank [of the Seine River]. --Wikipedia
Great windows!
Tour Saint-Jacques is a 52 meter bell tower. It is all that remains of the former 16th century Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie which was destroyed during the French Revolution in 1797.
Hôtel de Ville is the city hall of Paris since 1357. The south wing was originally constructed by Francis I beginning in 1535 until 1551. The north wing was built by Henry IV and Louis XIII between 1605 and 1628. It was burned by the Paris Commune, along with all the city archives that it contained, during the Semaine Sanglante, the Commune's final days, in May 1871. The outside was rebuilt following the original design, but larger, between 1874 and 1882. --Wikipedia
"The Paris Commune (French: Commune de Paris) during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, it consisted of 144 delegates elected by the 60 divisions of the city. Before its formal establishment, there had been much popular discontent on the streets of Paris over who represented the true Commune, and who had the right to rule the Parisian people." --Wikipedia
Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715) was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days remains the longest of any sovereign monarch in history.
Louis XIV began his personal rule of France in 1661 after the death of his chief minister Cardinal Mazarin. A believer in the divine right of kings, Louis XIV continued Louis XIII's work of creating a centralized state governed from a capital. Louis XIV sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism persisting in parts of France by compelling many members of the nobility to reside at his lavish Palace of Versailles.
During Louis' long reign, France emerged as the leading European power and regularly made war. A conflict with Spain marked his entire childhood, while during his personal rule, Louis fought three major continental conflicts, each against powerful foreign alliances: the Franco-Dutch War, the Nine Years' War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. --Wikipedia
Despite the use of pensions and punishments, the monarchy had been unable to subdue the nobles, who had started 11 civil wars in 40 years. Louis lured them to his court, corrupted them with gambling, exhausted them with dissipation, and made their destinies dependent on their capacity to please him. Etiquette became a means of governing. From that time, the nobility ceased to be an important factor in French politics, which in some respects weakened the nation.
Louis was the son of Louis XIII and his Spanish queen, Anne of Austria. He succeeded his father on May 14, 1643. At the age of four years and eight months, he was, according to the laws of the kingdom, not only the master but the owner of the bodies and property of 19 million subjects. --Britannica
The second image of Louis XIV on horseback is located on the grounds of the Louvre.
Replica of statue of Louis XIV. Original by Lorenzo Bernini
Next up, more of Paris starting with the Louvre.
