Louvre - One of the largest and most visited museums in the world, and possibly the most famous of them all. It displays about 35,000 works of art, among them some world-famous like the Mona Lisa from Leonardo da Vinci, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory
This is one of the three wings of the Louvre building. The building of The Louvre that exists today was originally started in 1546 for use as a royal palace for King Francis I and has been used as a public museum since 1793.
This is the Sully wing of the Louvre. As you can see there is a small glass pyramid which was designed by the American architect I.M. Pei
This is the Richelieu wing of the Louvre. As you get to see how big the Louvre is.
This is the glass pyramid which is the entrance to the museum. The glass pyramid was designed by the renowned American architect I.M. Pei.
Night view of the glass pyramid which is the entrance to the museum. The glass pyramid was designed by the renowned American architect I.M. Pei.
The glass pyramid which was designed by the renowned American architect I.M. Pei
This was taken inside the Louvre museum. The museum is always pack with visitors. There are arts galleries on both side of the walls
This is one of my favorite painting, where Emperor Napoleon I crowning Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, 1806-07 by Jacques-Louis David, French painter. He was a supporter of the French Revolution and one of the leading figures of Neoclassicism.
The Luxembourg Palace lies in beautiful surroundings in the northern part of the Luxembourg Garden. The palace which was originally built for King Louis XIII's mother, is now the seat of the French senate.
The Luxembourg gardens are a beautiful 25 hectares green oasis on Paris fashionable left bank. The Luxembourg gardens was built in the 17th century by Marie de Medicis, a French Queen, on the model of Palazzo Pitti in her native Florence.
The Orsay museum, a must for art lovers, is known worldwide for its fabulous impressionist paintings. The "Impressionism" was a French painting school in the second half of the 19th century.
This woman was feeding seeds to the birds at Palais Royal Garden. I took a photo of her as you can see and I got shout by her in french which I couldn't understand. What I know was, she wasn't that friendly to human but to the birds.
The Moulin Rouge Paris, the famous cabaret, was built as a windmill in 1885, and converted to a dance hall in the 1900s. Immortalized by Toulouse-Lautrec posters, and more recently made famous in the aptly titled film, Moulin Rouge, by Baz Luhrmann. This particular street is Paris nightlife entertaiment.
The arch was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to commemorate his victories, but he was ousted before the arch was completed. In fact, it wasn't completed until 1836 during the reign of Louis-Philippe. The Arc de Triomphe is engraved with names of generals who commanded French troops during Napoleon's regime. The design of the arch by Jean Chalgrin is based on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The Arc de Triomphe is much higher, but it has exactly the same proportions. Detail of the Marseillaise Relief with many reliefs, most of them commemorating the emperor's battles. Among them are the battle of Aboukir, Napoleons victory over the Turkish and the Battle of Austerliz, where Napoleon defeated the Austrians. The best known relief is the Departure of the Volunteers in 1792, also known as the Marseillaise. At the top of the arch are 30 shields, each of them bears the name of one of Napoleon's successful battles. Arc de Triomphe also includes the Grave of the Unknown Soldiers from the first World War.
The Arc de Triomphe is located at the end of the Champs-Elysées, in the middle of the Place Charles de Gaulle, a large circular square from which no less than 12 streets emanate. The streets are named after French military leaders.
The Pont Alexandre III is Paris's most elegant bridge, ornamented with fine sculpture work, adding its own charm to an already beautiful site. It also owes its fame to the technical prowess that went into its construction. It is made of a single leaf arch that spans the Seine in a great curve, although it is lowered so as not to obstruct the view of the Champs Elysées or les Invalides. Built in only two years by the engineers Résal and Alby, the first stone was placed by Tsar Nicholas II, although the structure was opened at the 1900 Universal Exhibition. Critics of the time explained the heterogeneous character of the "Exhibition Bridge" by the fact that there were as many artists as there were ornaments. Amongst the decoration are four 17 metre high corner pillars, bearing the four gilded bronze equestrian groups which represent Pegasus held by Fame.
Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture. Façade, showing the Portal of the Virgin, Portal of the Last Judgment and Portal of St-Anne
Side view of Notre Dame de Paris. The Gothic cathedral was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress. They are used to transmit the horizontal thrust of a vaulted ceiling through the walls and across an intervening space to a counterweight outside the building.
The southern rose window of Notre Dame
Par_Ho Notre Dame Roses
The Hôtel de Ville, Paris's city hall, is the center of political. The building houses the offices of the Mayor and city council of Paris. The building is decorated with 108 statues, representing famous Parisians. 30 Other statues represent French cities. The clock at the central tower is adorned with several feminine sculptures representing the Seine River, the city of Paris, 'Work' and 'Education'.
Outside Saint-Sulpice, the 1844 fountain by Visconti displays the sculpted likenesses of four bishops of the Louis XIV era. Saint-Sulpice plays an important role in the popular novel The Da Vinci Code. In chapters 19 and 22 of the book, an albino monk-assassin named Silas pays a visit to Saint-Sulpice, based on instructions Saunière revealed to Silas at gunpoint in the Louvre. The monk searches for a keystone believed to unlock the secret of the Holy Grail.
Louis the 14th, the king who built the Palace of Versailles, staged many wars in Europe. In 1670, he decided to build Les Invalides, a Paris military hospital, to take care of wounded soldiers. With their large church topped by a golden dome and 13 hectares building, Les Invalides are a masterpiece of French classical architecture. The ashes of the greatest French military genius, Napoleon, rest under the dome of Les Invalides.
The Grand Palais is one of Paris’ most recognizable landmarks thanks to its magnificent glass-domed roof. It was the work of three different architects but the project was overseen by famed French architect Charles Girault, who was then given carte blanche to design the Petit Palais. The building is a beautiful combination of a classicist stone facade, art-nouveau ironwork and glass. The Grand Palais is currently the largest existing ironwork and glass structure in the world, a title once held by London’s Crystal Palace, which was lost in a fire. This palace with the Belle Epoque-style pinnacle boasts 9,400 tons of steel framework, 15,000 sq. meter (162,000 sq ft) of glass, and about 5,000 square meter (5,400 sq ft) of galvanized iron/zinc roofing. The exterior is made of stone and features beautiful colored mosaics and intricately sculpted friezes.
Eiffel Tower
L'Académie français, Paris, France
I took this photo in a park but couldn't recall which as there are numberous of parks in Paris. I was relaxing and trying to figure out where I was at that time.
A nocturnal view of the Champs-Elysees. There are twelve avenues connected to this round-point and it is hard to get a nice shot from here.
