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Welcome to the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Built by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World's Fair, I became the ultimate symbol of Paris. My 18,000 puddled iron parts are held together by 2.5 million rivets. Initially scorned by Parisian artists, I was saved by radio: my 312-metre height made me a perfect antenna. Today I rise to 330 metres. Every hour after dark I sparkle for five minutes — a show imagined in 1985 by Pierre Bideau.
The Louvre began as a medieval fortress built by Philip Augustus at the end of the 12th century to defend Paris. Francis I turned it into a Renaissance palace. Under Louis XIV, the court left for Versailles, and the Louvre became a place of art. The Revolution made it a public museum in 1793. Today its 35,000 works span 9,000 years of human history. I.M. Pei's glass pyramid, opened in 1989, is now a symbol in its own right.
Notre-Dame Cathedral was begun in 1163 under Bishop Maurice de Sully. Construction took nearly two centuries. A Gothic jewel, it hosted Napoleon's coronation in 1804 and inspired Victor Hugo. On April 15, 2019, a fire destroyed its roof and spire. After a five-year restoration, Notre-Dame reopened on December 7, 2024.
Montmartre takes its name from the "Mount of Martyrs," honoring Saint Denis, beheaded here in the 3rd century. Annexed to Paris in 1860, the village kept its lanes, windmills and bohemian feel. In the early 20th century, the Bateau-Lavoir housed Picasso, Modigliani and Apollinaire. The Sacré-Cœur Basilica, completed in 1914, crowns the hill.