Monuments

The Eiffel Tower

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DESIGNING AND BUILDING THE EIFFEL TOWER

In 1889, Paris hosted an Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) to mark the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution. More than 100 artists submitted competing plans for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars, located in central Paris, and serve as the exposition’s entrance. The commission was granted to Eiffel et Compagnie, a consulting and construction firm owned by the acclaimed bridge builder, architect and metals expert Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. While Eiffel himself often receives full credit for the monument that bears his name, it was one of his employees—a structural engineer named Maurice Koechlin—who came up with and fine-tuned the concept. Several years earlier, the pair had collaborated on the Statue of Liberty’s metal armature.

Le Sacre Coeur 

Prehistory

Montmartre, the hill on which the basilica stands, has been a sacred site since pagan times. Druids are thought to have worshipped there, and the ancient Romans built temples to Mars and Mercury.

Names

Montmartre was originally named "Mons Martis," meaning "Mount of Mars." This was later Christianized to "Montmartre," or "Mount of the Martyr." "Sacré-Coeur" is a reference to the sacred heart of Jesus.

Le Louvre

The Louvre or the Louvre Museum (French: Musée du Louvre,pronounced: [myze dy luvʁ]) (French   (help·info)) is one of the world's largestmuseums and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement(ward). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). The Louvre is the world's most visited museum, receiving more than 9.26 million visitors in 2014.^[1]It is also one of the largest.

                                                                        Le Saint-Chapelle

The Sainte-Chapelle (French pronunciation: ​[sɛ̃t ʃapɛl], Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Paris, France.

Begun some time after 1238 and consecrated on 26 April 1248,^[2] the Sainte-Chapelle is considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion relics, including Christ's Crown of Thorns—one of the most important relics in medieval Christendom.

 
                                                                       Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (French pronunciation: [aʁk də tʁijɔ̃f də letwal] ( listen), Triumphal Arch of the Star) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle(originally named Place de l'Étoile), at the western end of the Champs-Élysées.^[3]It should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre. The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and theNapoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.





                                                                             Notre Dame

Notre-Dame de Paris (IPA: [nɔtʁə dam də paʁi](French   (help·info)) ; French for "Our Lady of Paris"), also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France.^[3] The cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, and it is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. The naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture.