11. Hôtel de Ville
2009 Jean-Louis Zimmermann. Some rights reserved under the Creative Commons license.
Yet another "Hôtel" that is most certainly not a hotel in the English sense, Paris' Renaissance-style City Hall sits proudly in the center of Paris. It was built in 1873 on the vast plaza that was once called "Place de la Grève", a site notorious for gory public executions in the medieval period. Today, Hôtel de Ville hosts events throughout the year, including free exhibits and ice-skating during the winter months. It can be a glorious sight in its lit evening guise.
12. Les Invalides
This vast complex was built as a hospital and convalescent home for injured soldiers under the reign of Louis XIV. Part of les Invalides maintains this role today, but it's most famous for housing the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. The onsite Musée de l'Armée (Army Museum) boasts a vast collection of military artifacts.
13. Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation
This sober memorial pays tribute to the 200,000 people (mostly Jews) who were deported to Nazi death camps from France during WWII. Erected in 1962 on the banks of the Seine (across from Notre Dame Cathedral) and on the site of a former morgue, the Deportation Memorial was designed by architect GH Pingusson to evoke a sense of claustrophobia and despair.
One part of the memorial features an "eternal flame of hope" and an inscription reading the following: "Dedicated to the living memory of the 200,000 French deportees sleeping in the night and the fog, exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps."
14. Palais Royal
Situated between the Louvre and the Opera Garnier is a Renaissance-style palace that was once the residence of the Cardinal Richelieu. Today occupied by luxury boutiques and restaurants, as well as several government offices, the Palais Royal was for centuries the center of royal amusement: French playwright Molière occupied a theatre that once stood here with his troupe (it would later burn down-- twice!) The stately "palais" and accompanying gardens are a very pleasant place for a stroll, cafe or whirl around high-end shops.
15. St. Denis Basilica
©2006 Jim Snapper. Some rights reserved under the Creative Commons License.
Just North of Paris in a working-class suburb is one of France's oldest sites of Christian worship and its most famous abbey-- a burial place for 43 kings and 32 queens. The Saint-Denis Basilica, whose current edifice was built sometime between the 11th and 12th centuries, served as a royal burial site from as early as the 5th century. With its sculpted tombs and flamboyant gothic details, this often-overlooked gem is worth a trip outside the city limits.
