Pompidou is named after the 1969 French President Georges Pompidou. He launched the idea of creating a new cultural institution in Paris dedicated to modern art. This new cultural center fascinated 650 admissions on its 1971 competition. Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini submitted their architectural winning project. It was fascinating for it made practical elements such as escalators, air conditioning and water pipes to the outside of the building which resulted to a more spacious inner space for the exhibition of art works.

The construction of the glass and metal building located their neighbourhood ran into a lot of disagreement from people who disliked the idea of an ‘oil refinery’ in a historic district. But when the museum opened in December 1977, it became an instant success. Originally designed to accommodate some 5,000 visitors per day, the Centre Pompidou has been accepting over 25,000 visitors per day making it one of the most visited attractions in Paris.

The Centre Pompidou is home to one of the world’s most important museums of modern art. The Public Information Library or BPI holds a huge collection of books, magazines and a large number of new media items. The library occupies the first three floors of the building, while the museum’s permanent collection is located on the 4th and 5th floors. The first and top floors are used for large exhibitions. The museum has one of the most important collections of modern art. The 4th floor contains works from 1905 to 1965 and covers art movements such as fauvism, abstract art, surrealism and cubist art. Artists like Matisse, Kadinsky, Miró and Picasso are just some of the featured there. The 5th floor covers the period after 1965, including the pop-art movement and figurative art.

The well-known “Place Georges Pompidou” or “Place Beauborg” is located in front of the Centre Pompidou with large crowds that are energized by the presentation of mimes, street portraitists and other entertainers. Located in the right of the square of Centre Pompidou is the first modern fountain in Paris. The fountain has numerous dynamic statues which were designed by Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. This is another way of seeing some contemporary art without having to go inside the museum.

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Located on the west side of the Île de la Cité, the Conciergerie Royal palace (the Palais de la Cité) at first and later a prison, the Conciergerie played a dark role in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. The remarkable site was chosen by Phillippe le Bel (Philip the Fair) in the early 14th century so that he could build a palace that would be a sign of his wealth and stature.

In his peak of success – the Middle Ages – the palace was considered one of the finest in the world.

The palaces of Louvre and Vincennes were selected by Charles V and the Capetian Kings to be “The conciergierie” by the end of the same century. It was chosen over the Palais de la Cité and later used for the kingdom’s organizational offices. A Concierge is responsible for the maintenance of the palace. He is assigned with legal and police power in the municipality.

The palace had been converted to a prison for both common and political criminals in 1391. Wealthy prisoners were given the best space and accommodations in the former palace while irrelevant thieves were made to sleep in dark, rodent-infested rooms.

There are a few residue of the Conciergerie remains from the Middle Ages. There is the Silver Tower, which apparently the house of the royal treasury. The Caesar Tower, named after the Roman emperors and the Bonbec Tower, which housed a torture chamber.

The Conciergerie became prominent during the French Revolution which took part on 1789-1799. It was the most violent era in French history where convicts were detained at the Conciergerie before taken to the guillotine to be executed. The Revolutionary Tribunal, a court system to test opponents of the French Revolution, was also located in Conciergerie.

The Conciergerie continued to be used for what the French considered the most significant prisoners, such as Napoleon III. Though it’s difficult to tell given its aged appearance, general rebuilding and restoration took place in the mid-19th century, including the renovation of Marie Antoinette’s cell to a chapel. The building was decommissioned for official use in 1914. And later, it was opened to the public as a national historic monument. Today, it remains a popular tourist attraction though access to most of the building is severely limited.

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At the opposite end of the spiritual spectrum from decadent Versailles, Chartres cathedral represented the highest architectural and theological aspirations of the Middle Ages in France. The Chartres cathedral was much the same in medieval times as it is now, which should give you a sense of how impressive it must have been in 1260, when it was completed. Rodin described it as the French Acropolis, and once you’ve seen it you’ll be hard pressed to disagree with him.

The celebrated Choir Screen of the Chartres cathedral has 40 niches holding statues of Biblical figures. Don’t be so dazzled by all the stained glass that you overlook its intricate carvings. There are also Rose Windows that no cathedral in the world can match. It’s a 12th century glass that gave the world a new color, Chartres blue, and is absolutely exceptional. All of its windows are glorious, but the three rose windows may be the best.

The Royal Portal found in Chartres cathedral presents sculpted bodies that are elongated and garbed in long, flowing robes, but their faces are almost disturbingly lifelike. Christ is shown at the Second coming – his descent to Earth on the right, his ascent back to Heaven on the left. Both the North portal and the South Portal are carved with Biblical images. The South Portal doorway is carved with the images of saints. The martyrs are carved on the right door, confessors are on the left. Apostles get the center.

The New Bell Tower present in the Chartres cathedral is for those enthusiasts that are not afraid of heights  and are physically fit who are not afraid to climb to the top of the tower. From the peak, you will see the view for miles.

Those who prefer underground crypts to the dizzying heights of the tower in Chartres cathedral will find that they can only visit them as part of a guided tour. An English language one is held twice a day most of the year by lecturer Malcom Miller at noon and 2:45pm Monday through Saturday with an admission fee of 10 Euros.

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There are a lot of styles you will see in Paris architecture. However, it’s significant to point out that very few structures were built in one particular method. These enormous structures of Paris architecture may look centuries to complete, where plans were modified and a lot were changed, but these were still put into completion at present.

Romanesque architects got their encouragement based on olden Rome and focused building huge church aisle with extraordinary width. St. Germain-de-Pres is a good resemblance of few Romanesque styles that remains in Paris. The whole building was Romanesque, but as time pass by, the time builders change some plans and resulted to a early Gothic style with spiky arches.

Gothic engineering progress unconstrained church architecture from the weighty, dense wall structures of Romanesque style. This happened in the 12^th century where the dim, subdued, relatively plain Romanesque interior that forced the visions of the people straight to the altar. The new Gothic interior lured the worshippers’ stare upward to high ceilings filled with graceful light. On the other hand, the Romanesque exteriors were positioned by elegant buttresses and spires. Perhaps, the best illustration of Gothic church architecture in the world is Notre-Dame Cathedral.

In architecture, as in painting, the Renaissance came from Italy and took some time to coalesce. And, as in painting, its rules stressed proportion, order, classical inspiration, and precision, resulting in unified, balanced structures. One example is the 1544 Hotel Carnavalet, a Renaissance mansion, is the only 16^th century hotel left in Paris. It contains the Musee Carnavalet, a museum devoted to the history of Paris and the French Revolution.

From the mid 17^th century, France took the fundamental of Renaissance classicism even further, finding inspiration in the classic era. During the reign of Louis XIV, art and architecture were submissive to political ends. Buildings were grandiose and severely ordered on the Versailles model.

Paris architecture style in 19^th century was diverse, beginning in a severe classical mode and ending with something of an identity crisis. During the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, classicism was reinterpreted in an ornate, dramatic mode. Urban planning was the architectural rage, and Paris became a city of wide boulevards courtesy of Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, commissioned by Napoleon III in 1852 to redesign the city. Paris owes much of its remarkably unified look to Haussmann.

The ravages of war stalled the progress of French architecture for a number of decades, but the latter half of the 20^th century was to see some the most daring Paris architecture projects in French history and certainly some of the most controversial. It has taken decades for structure such as the Centre Pompidou or the Louvre’s glass pyramids to become accepted by most Parisians, but now they are a well-loved part of the skyline.

The face of Paris architecture is ever changing. The new era has already seen the arrival of the Musee de Qui Branly, an impressive, angular structure designed by Jean Nouvel, whose bright colors and clever use of vegetation is a flagship for 21^st century Paris architecture within the city center.

Paris architecture was one of the best artworks that is highly respected all over the world. Despite the ups and downs, it still managed to develop through time.

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Seine River, famous as romantic background photographs of Paris, is a smooth-sailing river and commercial waterway with Ile-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France. The river attracts so many tourists in Paris; there are excursion boats that offer sight-seeing tours within the city of Paris. Its whole length of boating can end in the Bay of the Seine region of the English Channel and as far as Burgundy near the Swiss Alps. A long way to go, but is negotiable by commercial riverboats because of the fact that there are just limited portions allowed for sight-seeing.

As legends foretold that when Joan of Arc was burned alive in 1431, her ashes were thrown in the Seine, historians persisted. In the death of Napoleon in 1821 and in accordance to his will, he wished to be buried on the banks of Seine but his request was not granted. The Seine flooded 20 feet above normal, and streets all over the city submerge with river flow thus sending thousands of Parisians to emergency shelter. So called the 1910 Great Flood of Paris was the worst flood ever since 1658.

On the contrary the river is a popular site for suicides and dumpsite of bodies of murder victims in the city. Sometimes, the sewage system in Paris experience sanitary sewer overflow, often during high rainfall. Under these conditions wherein they have no other ways but to discharged untreated sewage in the Seine. The resulting oxygen shortage is primary caused by allochthomous bacteria larger than one micron in dimension. These bacteria are usually three to four times bigger than that of the altochonous bacterial populace.

Approximately, 35 bridges are established over the Seine River within the city, two of which are the Pont Loius-Philippe and Pont Neuf. Several other bridges are located outside the city proper like the Pont de Normandie which links Le Havre to Honfleur.Seine (came from the Latin word Sequana, which means “sacred river”). After Normandy, the Seine is the second longest river in France. Seine River has been a big contribution to the city’s income.

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The Paris Catacombs is one of the famous burial places in Paris, France. Although widely known as the catacombs its official name is “les Carrieres de Paris” translated as quarries of Paris. It is an arrangement of cavernous tunnels and rooms located in what were Roman-era limestone quarries. It was in the late 18^th century, the quarries were converted into a mass tomb.

Remains of the dead from the riots which took place in the places of Greve, Rue Meslee and the Hotel de Brienne were relocated in catacombs on August of 1788. Victor Hugo practiced his expertise for the tunnel structure in Les Miserables which was later used by some Parisian members of the French Resistance during World War II. An underground bunker was also established in the catacombs below Lycee Montaigne by the German soldiers. Though, the underground tunnels and chambers were long keep safe during the construction of Paris, quarries do sprout which results in a hole in the ground causing damage to buildings.

After incidents like this, for means of prevention the Inspection Generale des Carrieres was established to supervise the quarries and forbids digging of new ones.  On the other hand the IGC dig some parts and thus make them legal for the purpose of observation and preservation of the catacombs and quarries of Paris. Until this day on the IGC, continues to monitor the quarries of Paris.

The entrances to the catacombs are classified. Although there are portions of the catacombs for public viewing but nothing more fulfilling than to see the catacombs at its best. The tunnel system of the catacomb is yet multifaceted. The tunnel for public viewing is at least 300km path. Although in some tunnels there are plaques indicating the name of the street above, still you will be need a guide to manoeuvre in the tunnel.

Paris Catacombs has a lot to discover. If you plan to explore it, you should also have a expert guide with you.

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One of the largest museums in the world today is the Louvre. It was once a palace but now celebrated as a must-visit museum for the well-known works of art such as Mona Lisa and the Venus of Milo.

It was in the late 18^th century where Louvre Museum was opened for public viewing, Situated in the 1^st arrondisement in the heart of Paris. More likely there are 35,000 objects on display all over the palace of Louvre. The museum has a huge collected works of art aging up to the mid 19^th century. Mostly are from European painters and sculptors. There are rooms for relics containing Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Oriental Art as well.

Who can forget the painting of Mona Lisa by the famous Leonardo da Vinci? The Venus of Milo, the Nike of Samothrake and the Dying Slave by Michelangelo, these are just some arts located in the museum. The Louvre Museum was originally built as a 12^th century fortress. In 14^th century, it was converted as a royal palace.

The current appearance of the museum is inspired by 15^th century architecture, when the original castle was demolished and a wing along the Seine River was constructed. The palace was expanded with two courtyards during the 16^th century by Architect Lescot. After a decade Cathalina de Medici build the Tuileries palace in the west of the Louvre. The structuring of the Louvre stop in progress some time when king Louis XIV decided to transfer to the Versailles Palace.

In the 19^th century Second Empire, the Louvre was reconstructed and now has four wings attaching a large courtyard. In 16th century, the collection for the Louvre, including the famous Mona Lisa was initiated by King Francis I. It turned out to be one of the climaxes of the museum. The collection grew increasingly because of the great efforts and purchases displayed by the kings. The private royal collection was finally opened to the public during the French Revolution.

The latest attraction to the Louvre was the construction of the Glass Pyramid, which serves as the museums main entrance. American architect I.M Pei built it in 1989. There were criticisms when the Glass Pyramid was built. Some say the modern addition contrasts with the classical design of the Louvre, but today it is now recognize as a good act which has given the museum a spacious entrance.

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The Carnavalet Musee is built in remembrance to the history of the city of Paris. The space occupies two adjoining mansions Hotel Carnavalet and the former Hotel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. President of the Parliament in the year 1548, Jacques des Ligneris, ordered the  construction of the mansion tht is known today as Hotel Carnavalet and was completed after  twelve years. The widow of Francois de Kernevenoy, bought the building and was later named  Carnavalet. In 1654, Claude Boisleve purchased the mansion. He commissioned a well-known  architect, Francois Mansart to make general renovations.
Late 20^th century, the museum was raging at the seams. Annexed to the Carnavalet Musee, the Hotel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau was opened in 1989. It was originally known as the Hotel d’Orgeval. It was purchased by Michel-Etienne Peletier and was passed to its heir Michel-Etinne, a representative of the nobility in the estates General.

There are numerous tourist attractions in the museum such as the elongated thin canoes made from a solo tree trunk, a well-preserved figurine of the head of Virgin Mary, the painting of the famous men and women of the Henry IV’s time. Approximately, there are 2,600 paintings, 150,000 photos, 300,000 carvings, 800 pieces of equipment 2,000 contemporary sculptures, thousands of porcelains, models and reliefs and many other decorations and souvenirs from renowned characters in Paris.

The Carnavalet Musee is situated in the Marais district.  It has easy access via Paris Metro system via the Saint Paul or Chemin Vert Stations. The museum is open from Tuesdays through Sundays but closed on Mondays and holidays. The guests entrance is at 23, rue de Sevigne. There is a separate entrance for handicapped as well.

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Early 19^th century the Gare de Lyon and the Gare d’Orsay, two of the largest railway in Paris was built. Along the Seine opposite the Louvre is the Gare d’Orsay. It was planned to bring electrified trains right to the city of Paris by the Compagnie d’Orleans.

The first designer of the Orsay Museum was Eugene Henard. He planned to use industrialized materials facing the Louvre. But he then receives mixed reviews from preservationists and decided to seek advice into a competition from a parliamentary commission.  Victor Laloux, the winner of that contest had also planned the railway station in Tours, France.

His design was commended for the assimilation of the metal vault in the stone exterior. It measures 140 meter long, 32 meter high and 40 meter wide. As a whole it has 175 x 75 meter in measurement. About 12,000 tons of metal was utilized for the construction of the Gare d’Orsay, more than that of metals used in Eiffel Tower.

It was then a railway stationGare d’Orsay was considered a work of art of industrial architecture and was inaugurated in the 14^th of July 1900 during the World Paris Exposition. But when trains arise for modernization, the Gare d’Orsay was set aside as a train station. As time passes it has been used as a parking lot, as a theatre location and even as an area for the prisoners of war.

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The Holy Chapel, famously known as the Sainte Chapelle, is located within the Palais de Justice complex on the Ile de la Cité in the heart of Paris. It is a perfect representation of a Rayonnant Style of Gothic architecture. It was established by Louis IX of France to dwell the Crown of Thorns and a piece of the True Cross, valuable remains of the Passion. King Louis IX purchased the Sainte Chapelle in 1239 from the Byzantine emperor Baldwin II, for a very expensive price of 135,000 livres. The original cost of building the chapel is only 40,000 livres. Two years later, more remains were brought from Byzantium.

Louis set found a more appropriate space and commissioned the Sainte Chapelle to serve as a reliquary casket, although expanded to an architectural scale. The idea was to raise the Kingdom of France to be the leader of Western Christianity.

Sainte Chapelle is 36m long, 17m wide and 42.5m high with a two-story porch fronting its design. It has the proportions of a Gothic architecture which had been perfected during the 12th century. There are seven panels concluding this architectural model. The outside design focuses on its essentials, with abstemious base and heavy buttresses contrasting with the ascending lightness of the upper parts. A spire made of cedar roof is 33 meters high and considered as a masterpiece of finesses in 19th century.

The upper part of the Sainte Chapelle is dazzling in terms of its Gothic design. The ambience it provides makes an inspiration of harmony between art and religious faith. Artists took a great responsibility in taking good care of the interior of the chapel since it was part of the building reserved for the king and his family. The holy relics purchased by Saint Louis were kept and displayed in a large reliquary placed at the peak of the open tribune at the back of the apse. They were displayed to the people each year on Good Friday.

The lower part of the Sainte Chapelle is in commemoration to the Virgin Mary, whose monuments stands next to the portal. The walls are embellished with trefoil arcades and twelve medallions representing the twelve apostles. There are low vaulted ceiling that is painted to represent heaven with abundant stars. The floor holds tombstones covering the vault of treasurer of the Sainte Chapelle. The lower part of the chapel was reserved for palace staff during the period of monarchy.

The Sainte Chapelle was deemed as a Historic National Monument in 1862 and is renowned for its luxuriously shaded Stained-glass windows which made up the 600 meters of its area. But sad to say, the effects of air pollution have posed extraordinary challenges to conservationist. Nowadays, operations to restore and protection for the windows have been started with support from the Ministry of Culture and the Gaz de France Foundation.

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