The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris , commonly known as Our Lady , is one of the most emblematic monuments of Paris and France . It is located on the Ile de la Cité and is a place of Catholic worship , seat of the Archdiocese of Paris , dedicated to the Virgin Mary .
Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is a church in Paris, France, on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the 5th arrondissement, near the Panthéon. It contains the shrine of St. Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris. The church also contains the tombs of Blaise Pascal and Jean Racine. Jean-Paul Marat is buried in the church's cemetery.
The Grand Mosque of Paris (French: Grande Mosquée de Paris), also known as the Great Mosque of Paris or simply the Paris Mosque, is located in the 5th arrondissement and is one of the largest mosques in France.
The building was constructed from 1981 to 1987 and has floor space of 181,850 square feet (16,894 m2). The Architecture-Studio together with Jean Nouvel, won the 1981 design competition.[3] This project is a result of funds from both the League of Arab States and the French government, with the cost of the building totaling around €230,000,000.[4] The building acts as a buffer zone between the Jussieu Campus of Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI), built in large rationalist urban blocks, and the Seine. The river façade follows the curve of the waterway, reducing the hardness of a rectangular grid and offering an inviting view from the Sully Bridge. At the same time the building appears to fold itself back in the direction of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district.
In contrast to the curved surface on the river side, the southwest façade is an uncompromisingly rectangular glass-clad curtain wall. It faces a large square public space that opens in the direction of the Île de la Cité and Notre Dame. Visible behind the glass wall, a metallic screen unfolds with moving geometric motifs. The motifs are actually 240 photo-sensitive motor-controlled apertures, or shutters, which act as a sophisticated brise soleil that automatically opens and closes to control the amount of light and heat entering the building from the sun. The mechanism creates interior spaces with filtered light — an effect often used in Islamic architecture with its climate-oriented strategies. The innovative use of technology and success of the building's design catapulted Nouvel to fame and is one of the cultural reference points of Paris.
The Louvre (English: /ˈluːv(rə)/ LOOV(-rə)[4]), or the Louvre Museum (French: Musée du Louvre [myze dy luvʁ] (
listen)), is the world's largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France, and is best known for being the home of the Mona Lisa. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement (district or ward). Approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square meters (782,910 square feet).
The Palais Garnier (French: [palɛ ɡaʁnje] (listen), Garnier Palace) or Opéra Garnier (French: [ɔpeʁa ɡaʁnje] (listen), Garnier Opera), is a 1,979-seat[3] opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III.[4] Initially referred to as le nouvel Opéra de Paris (the new Paris Opera), it soon became known as the Palais Garnier,[5] "in acknowledgment of its extraordinary opulence"[6] and the architect Charles Garnier's plans and designs, which are representative of the Napoleon III style. It was the primary theatre of the Paris Opera and its associated Paris Opera Ballet until 1989, when a new opera house, the Opéra Bastille, opened at the Place de la Bastille.[7] The company now uses the Palais Garnier mainly for ballet. The theatre has been a monument historique of France since 1923.
