Ile de la Cité (2003) and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

The Ile de la Cité is the largest of the two Parisian islands and the heart of the ancient and contemporary city. It's there that were erected the most important buildings of Paris: Notre-Dame de Paris, the Palais de Justice with the Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie.
The island lies in the 4th arrondissement, and it is really the heart of Paris: all the distances from Paris are actually measured from Notre-Dame.

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Address: Métro 4: Cité

The Palais de Justice stands on the Ile de la Cité, where the ancient Roman city is supposed to have lied. The French kings lived in the castle until 1358, when they moved to the Louvre.
Its façade with Doric columns was built by Pierre Desmaisons and Jacques Antoine in 1786; it bears the revolutionary and, later, republican motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité ("Freedom, equality, brotherhood"). The gate in wrought iron that divides the courtyard from the street dates back to 1787. During the French revolution, the building was transformed into Palais de la Justice.
The French tricolour waves on the top of the palace, that has a beautiful dome, as you see in the photos of this tip.

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Address: Metro Line 4 : Cité
Website: http://www.pariserve.tm.fr/quartier/ileCite/palais-de-justice.htm

The Sainte-Chapelle is maybe the most beautiful church of Paris, but certainly the most original one. It consists of two level, corresponding to two different ages: the lower level is decorated with Byzantine-like mosaics, while the upper level is the apotheosis of Gothic: very high windows tending up to God and practically no walls.
The entrance fee is not cheap but if you visit the church plus the Conciergerie (the ancient prison), you get a reduction. The Sainte-Chapelle belongs to the cultural site "Banks of Seine" included in UNESCO's World Heritage list since 1991.
King Louis IX (Saint Louis) decided to have a church built in order to keep some important relics in a single place. It may have been Pierre de Montreuil who built the Sainte-Chapelle in 1242. Its figures are really impressive: it is 36 m long, 17 m wide and 42,50 m high. Its high steeple has a lead facing that weighs 230 tons. The decorations with the Virgin at the entrance date back to the 19th century.
As I have written above, the church actually consists of two chapels: the lower chapel and the upper chapel. The lower chapel was destined to the servants and was heavily restored in the 19th century: only the gravestones on the floor dating back to the 13th and 14th century, are original.
On the contrary, the upper chapel was reserved to the royal family. Every one of its window measures 15,40 x 4,25 metres. It is difficult to distinguish the original sides from the remade ones: 720 over 1134 scenes are supposed to date back to the 13th century.
The central 15th-century rose window represents the Apocalypse.

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Phone: +33 (0)1.53.73.78.50
Address: Boulevard du Palais
Directions: Sainte-Chapelle is inside the Palais de Justice on Ile de le Cité - a few minute walk from Notre Dame. Métro 4: Cité, Staint-Michel, or Châtelet. RER B: Chatelet-Les-Halles, Saint-Michel.
Website: http://www.monum.fr/m_stchapelle/pratique/index.dml?lang=en

Although both chapels that form the Sainte-Chapelle are Gothic, they look very different one from the other.
The lower chapel is built in what I may call a Gothic-Byzantine style. It will probably remind you of a Byzantine church rather than of a Roman-Catholic church, since its walls and ceiling are highly decorated with Orthodox-like colours and bas-reliefs.
However, almost nothing in this chapel is original, because of a heavy restoration in the 19th century.

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Phone: +33 (0)1.53.73.78.50
Address: Boulevard du Palais
Website: http://www.pbase.com/francist/chap&page=all

Unlike the lower chapel, the upper chapel is a perfect example of pure Gothic... well, this is not completely true, as you will be able to realize.
This church is certainly an extreme example of the Gothic mentality that wanted to open the believers' hearts to the Light of God through very high churches with wide and decorated windows. It was built in a particular way, since it has practically no walls, just tiny strips of stone to join the windows.
Still, some Byzantine elements are present here as well, for example the icons on the interior side of the portal, under the rose window.
Beside the Gothic portal there are bas-reliefs of biblical scenes, such as Noah's Flood, that you can see in one of these pictures.

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Phone: +33 (0)1.53.73.78.50
Address: Boulevard du Palais
Website: http://www.pbase.com/francist/chap&page=all

Despite being a bare and cold place, the Conciergerie is one of the most interesting attraction I've visited in Paris. The entry fee is quite expensive, but you can buy an inclusive ticket for the Sainte-Chapelle, too.
Originally, under Charles V, it was the seat of the Parliament and of the chancery. The concierge, its responsible, was very powerful.
The Conciergerie was the first prison of Paris. After 1789, the French revolutionary tribunal imprisoned there eminent people (including Queen Marie-Antoinette) before sending them to the gallows.
The room you see in these pictures is the salle des Gens d'Armes, built in 1301-15, a good example of civil architecture of the Middle Ages. It was inundated on 28th January 1910, as you can learn from the inscription on a column that you see in one of these pictures.
Let's continue to the most interesting part, the cells of the famous people.

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Address: 1, quai de l'Horloge
Directions: Métro 4: Cité; RER B: Saint Michel-Notre Dame, Châtelet-Les Halles

As I have already said, after the French revolution many famous people were imprisoned in the Conciergerie before being guillotined. A room shows their busts. Among the most eminent prisoners there were the Queen and the revolutionary politician Maximilien Robespierre. Here you can also see a plaque with his last words: Je vous laisse ma mémoire. Elle vous sera chère et vous la défendrez ("I'm leaving you my memory. It will be dear to you and you will defend it").
Before reaching the cell of the Queen, you will see the reproduction of other rooms of the prison.

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Address: 1, quai de l'Horloge , 75001
Directions: Métro: Cité ; RER: Saint Michel-Notre Dame, Châtelet-Les Halles

Here is the exact reproduction of the cell where Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI, spent her last days of life.
When she was a queen, she was very powerful and snobbed the poor people. A famous anecdote tells that one day the Third State (everybody except the nobilty and the clergy) was protesting against her, because she used to waste a lot of money while many people were dying of hunger and hadn't even got any bread to eat. The king asked her if he should give some bread to the people. Then she answered: "Don't they have any bread? Let them eat brioches!"
However, after being imprisoned, she became very religious and spent most of the time praying and writing her memoirs. Anyway, this conversion didn't prevent her from being guillotined.
I don't know if the last picture represents her taking Holy Communion before dying or someone else.

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Address: 1, quai de l'Horloge
Directions: Métro 4: Cité; RER B: Saint Michel-Notre Dame, Châtelet-Les Halles

Notre-Dame de Paris is the most famous church of Paris and one of the most known in the world. If you have read my previous tips about the Sainte-Chapelle, you will have certainly guessed from the pictures that also Notre-Dame is a Gothic church. Better said, it is the typical Gothic church of Northern France, with the two bell-towers, 69 metres high, and the spire, that was built in durmast, is 90 metres high and has a 750 kilogramme lead covering.
Notre-Dame was founded by Bishop Maurice de Sully and its construction started in 1163 to end up only in 1330, after many transformations. Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil added the chapels, the transept and the rose windows in the 13th century. Viollet-le-Duc restored the spire, put new statues on the three portals to replace the ones that were destroyed during the French revolution because they were supposed to portray the Kings of France (instead they portrayed the kings of Judah and Israel) and restored the apse, as well.
The outside of Notre-Dame was being restored in 2003. The tree in the main photo of this tip is there to hide the plankings. I don't know if works have been finished yet.
The second picture show a statue of Charlemagne standing just outside the cathedral.

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Address: Place du Parvis-Notre-Dame
Directions: Métro 4: Cité; RER B: Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint Michel-Notre Dame

The façade of Notre-Dame can be divided into two parts:
1) the two bell-towers: they were built in the 13th century and are 69 metres high. It is possible to go to the top of a tower (from 9.30 to 18; until 18.30 from April to the first fortnight of September) and to enjoy a beautiful panorama from there, but my parents and I didn't go because it is quite expensive;
2) the portals: as most Gothic churches, Notre-Dame has got three of them. The portail de Sainte-Anne, on the right, is typical of the 12th century. It bears the Virgin on the throne and scenes of Mary's and Saint Anna's life. The portail de la Vierge, on the left, and the portail du Jugement Universel, in the middle, date back to the 13th century.

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Address: Place du Parvis de Notre Dame, 75004
Directions: Métro 4: Cité; RER B: Châtelet-Les Halles, Saint Michel-Notre Dame