Statue of Louis XIV concealing a castle and the church of Saint-Julien, remaining prosperous until well into the 13th century. After the Hundred Years War, however, only a handful of people lived there.

The Palace of Versailles is also known as the Chateau de Versailles. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682. Versailles is popular for being where King Louis XIV built his royal palace and gardens. Many historic events took place in the Palace of Versailles, such as the signing for the treaty of peace between Germany and Allies inside the Hall of Mirrors.

The Versailles Palace is the main symbol of the Versailles City and of the French kings’ absolutist power, especially of Louis XIV. Originally, is was a hunting lodge of Louis XIII and a fairy tale park was built around it by the lovely Louise de la Valliere.

And in 1669 it was broaden by Louis XIV making it a magnificent chateau. In 1837, Louis-Philippe reformed the whole chateau to a museum of French History which may have been the starting point for mass tourism.

The style was based on French Gothic architecture. The absolute and complex designs have driven Notre Dame to be considered one of the world’s finest examples of French Gothic architecture today.

The Cathedral was also considered one of the first buildings in the world where flying buttresses were employed as structural support. According to legend, Bishop Maurice de Sully had foreseen a marvelous new Cathedral for the Parisians, and he sketched it in the dirt outside of the original church. A lot of houses have been demolished and a new road was built to transport the materials for the cathedral to be completed.

The Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral has five bells. Bourdon bell which is located in the South Tower, weighing over 13 tons, and is tolled to mark the hours of the day and  for other occasions and events. There are other four additional bells on wheels located on the North Tower. These bells are tolled for festivities and services. They were rung by electronic motors; the bells also have external hammers for tune playing from a small clavier.

The arch was designed by Jean Chalgrin, its design was originally inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, it is a neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. When Chalgrin died in 1811, the work was continued by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. Beneath the arc was the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Arc de Triomphe displays heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail. It was visited by President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy of the United States of America that was accompanied by French President Charles de Gaulle in 1961 when they visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the arch.

In 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, his wife Jacqueline Kennedy requested that an eternal flame be placed next to John F. Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Because the arch is still open until 10 – 11 PM in the evening, it is a nice location to capture the shimmering city lights. A small museum is also present inside the Arc de Triomphe where you can see lots of spectacular facts about its history as well as its construction, major historical events that have taken place.

The museum was used as a fortress that was built in the late 12th century. The building was many times extended that lead in the forming of the present Louvre Palace. The Louvre was chosen as place to display the royal collections by Louis XIV in 1672 and displayed antique sculptures.

The Louvre was used as a museum to display the nation’s masterpieces during the French Revolution through a decree of the National Assembly. The Louvre has over 380,000 pieces of art within its collection but only 35,000 on public display. Louvre Museum has a large collection of pieces from famous artists such as Rembrandt and David. Venus de Milo sculpture can also be seen on display within the museum.

Other famous artworks like the Mona Lisa is publicly displayed at the Louvre. Among the collections are French paintings from the 14th century, Oriental, Greek and Egyptian antiquities, sculptures from throughout Europe and Islamic art.

Inside the Louvre Museum

The Inverted Pyramid

Louvre Museum During the Night

OUtside Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum

Beautiful Louvre Museum

The Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum

Eiffel Tower at Night

Eiffel Tower During the Day

Eiffel Tower Before

Near the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower Construction

Fascinating Eiffel Tower at Night

Eiffel Tower with Hitler

Eiffel Tower from Below

Eiffel Tower at Night, Beautiful!

SPectacular Eiffel Tower at Night

The Eiffel Tower’s shape was designed to withstand the wind. It was determined by mathematical calculation that involves wind resistance. Since the Eiffel Tower’s construction in 1889, it is estimated that more than 200,000,000 people have visited the place including the 6,719,200 in 2006. The Eiffel Tower is estimated to be visited by six million people every year which gave the title to be the most visited paid monument in the world.

Every seven years, it is maintained with 50 to 60 tons of paint to protect it from rusting. To maintain a uniform appearance of the tower, it has three (3) separate colors of paint used; darkest on the bottom and the lightest applied at the top of the tower.

The structure was built for the Exposition Universelle – World’s Fair, also known as marking the French Revolution centennial celebration. Gustave Eiffel originally planned to build the tower in Barcelona but Barcelona refused it because it looks strange and a expensive construction that didn’t blend into the design of the city. Later on, Eiffel submitted the draft to those who are in-charge for the Universal Exhibition in Paris. Upon approval, Eifferl built the tower a year later (1889).

The tower is meant to stand for 20 years, it would have been dismantled/demolished in 1909. But as the tower proved very important in terms of communication purposes, it had been allowed to remain up to this moment.