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Arc de triomphe et la tombe du Soldat inconnu
At the tip of the Champs-Élysées, directly in line with the Arc du Carrousel and the Arche de la Défense, is Napoléon’s triumphant antique arch. Commissioned in 1806 to celebrate the victories of the Great Army, it was completed in 1836. Its huge proportions – 50 metres high and 45 wide – are decorated with fine sculpture by Cortot and Étex, along with Rude’s famous Marseillaise. Described by Victor Hugo as “a heap of glory”, the arch became a national symbol and the centre of any parade. A flame is rekindled each evening at 6.30pm and the inscription “Here lies a French soldier, who died for his country” is written on the tomb of an unknown soldier laid to rest here in 1921.
Place du Général-de-Gaulle (8th). M° Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile. Tel. : 01 55 37 73 77. Daily from 1 Apr to 30 Sept: 10am-11pm. From 1 Oct-31 Mar: 10am-10.30pm. Open after the parades on 8 May, 14 Jul and 11 Nov. 1 Jan, 1 May and 25 Dec: closed. €9 – RR: €5.50. Under 18s: free. Nov to end Mar, 1st Sun of the month: free.
www.monuments-nationaux.fr



Avenue des Champs-Elysées
Between Concorde and Étoile, is the emblematic section of a perspective that extends from the Louvre Pyramid to La Défense. The first steps of this “glorious way”, an obligatory passage for patriotic parades, were however modest. Lined with undergrowth, the avenue reached the current site of place de l’Étoile in 1724. A fashionable place to walk, the gardens were devastated at the fall of the Empire. They regained their splendour around 1840: candelabras, fountains, creamy pavilions, landscaping with flowers and copses date from this period of balls and theatres. It was one hundred years later that rapid development occurred when affluence spread to the west of the capital. The avenue was then adorned with prestigious palaces, cafés and restaurant terraces and cinemas – joined today by ready-to-wear fashion stores and high-tech showrooms. Everything can be found on the “Champs”: films, dresses, lunch, cotton and compresses, racing cars, yoghurts and fresh vegetables, books, CDs, perfume… from morning to midnight, sometimes 24 hours a day, often 7 days a week.



Musée du Louvre
The biggest museum in Paris, and home of the Mona Lisa, The Raft of the Medusa, and Venus de Milo was, first and foremost, the jewel in the crown of the kings, emperors and republics of France. From the sombre late-12thcentury fortress to Peï’s glass pyramid, inaugurated in 1989, many have reigned here and practically everyone has left their mark – Renaissance, Classic, First and Second Empire, contemporary… The Louvre, a museum since 1793, houses collections of Western art from the Middle Ages to 1848, and collections of ancient oriental, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman civilisations which preceded and influenced them, as well as graphic arts and Islamic arts.
Entrée principale par la pyramide (1st).M° Palais-Royal – Musée-du-Louvre. Tel. : 01 40 20 50 50. Daily: 9am-6pm, except Tue and some public hols. Wed and Fri: late opening until 10pm. €9 – RR: €6 after 6pm. Under 18s, under 26s (Fri late opening) and 1st Sun of the month: free. Exhibitions Hall Napoléon: €11. Combined ticket: €14 – RR: €12. Multimedia guide (commentary of works according to profile of visitor): €2/€4/€6.
www.louvre.fr


Place de la Concorde
Work began on place Louis XV in 1755. It broke with the tradition of enclosed royal squares, to open up the perspective to the Tuileries gardens. The fine mansion houses – the Hôtel de la Marine and the Hôtel Crillon underlined the axis of the statue of the monarch – were demolished after thirty years. Place de la Revolution is where Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre were guillotined. However, place de la Concorde spells reconciliation. Louis- Philippe sought a monument that would cool revolutionary and royalist passions, which he found in the 3,300-year-old Obelisk, a gift from the pasha of Egypt. Erected in 1836, its 23 metres and 230 tons of pink granite took four years to travel from Luxor! Two fountains, embellished with golden mermaids and fish, enliven the grey, green and golden decor of the square.



Jardin des Tuileries
A wealth of works populate the terraces, the lawns and flowerbeds laid out in the French style, the copses and the areas around the ornamental ponds: an academic Spartacus on a marble pedestal and the contemporary Welcoming Hands, by Louise Bourgeois, plus classical allegories and Tinguely’s tricolor. The green Maillol bronzes emerge from the labyrinth of hedges that connect the Tuileries to the Louvre. At the other end, in a direct line with the great axis, the garden opens out spectacularly onto Concorde. Lush greenery, games, refreshment chalets, and farniente lie between the two.
1st. M° Concorde