Pei's Pyramid (4 photos) and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

The Louvre is the most famous of French president Mitterand's 15 billion franc program to create monuments to France's role in the arts. Chinese -born architect I.M. Pei was selected to provide a museum entrance in the three-sided western courtyard of the museum. The pyramid is 70 feet high and composed of glass panes set on visible steel struts and supports. The glass panes are tinted to match the stone of the museum itself. However, the most remarkable part of this grand entrance is the area below ground level which contains subterranean passageways to the museum wings as well as restaurants, ticket booths, and all the other support features needed for the world famous museum. These include the obligatory shopping area, parking, and a theatre. Of interest - some claim the number of glass panes is 666, the "number of the beast". There are actually supposed to be almost 700 but the claims linger on.

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Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

One of the world's great museums, the Louvre has an imposing history and architecture all its own. At the east end of the Great View, it is in a direct line with the Arc du Carrousel, the obelisk at the Place de la Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe, and the arch of Defense. Originally constructed in the late 12th Century as a fortress against invaders, it became a luxury residence in the 16th Century and later the luxurious palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV. It had grown larger with each successive monarch till eventually the Louvre and Tuilleries palaces were joined. In the 18th Century, the huge palace was used as a concert hall and many rooms were rented to artists. It was during the Revolution that the idea of using the palace as a public museum developed, with works taken from the royal family and the church. Under Napoleon, the art treasures grew with the military conquests. Although many pieces were returned with the reversal of Napoleon's fortunes, the concept of the Louvre as museum was firmly established. Renovations continue to this day.

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Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

The Nike (Winged Victory) of Samothrace is one of the Louvre's greatest treasures and is displayed at the head of the Daru Staircase in dramatic fashion. It was reconstructed at the Louvre from over 100 fragments discovered by a French ambassador Champoiseau on the island of Samothrace in 1863. The head and arms remain missing, the hand discovered later lies in an adjacent case. This epic 8 ft. statue stands atop the prow of a ship and is believed to commemorate a Rhodes naval victory in the 2nd C. BC. The statue is of semitranslucent marble and the power of the work is in the drapery clinging to the arched body of Nike, the Greek goddess of Victory.

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Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

The Venus de Milo is one of the most famous ancient Greek scuptures, of the goddess of love and beauty (Venus - Roman, Aphrodite - Greek). It is made of Parian marble (as is the Nike of Samothrace) and is believed to date from 130 BC. As in most statues of Aphrodite, the upper half of the figure is unclothed and the hip-level draperies hide the joint between the two blocks of marble used. It was discovered by a Turkish peasant in the 1820's, somehow passing through many hands to end up in Paris, one of the great classics of ancient Greece. Few antiquities have entered the mainstream of modern culture more than the Venus de Milo. A few examples from the internet - a short-lived Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, an album by Spinal Tap entitled Intravenus de Milo, a candy figurine stolen by Homer Simpson, and inclusion is songs by Miles Davis, AC/DC, Chuck Berry, Jewel, Bon Jovi, Prince, and Wierd Al Yankovic. A Budweiser beer commercial features the arms being broken off as two guys try to steal the beer bottles she is holding.

/DC,

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Directions: Métro: Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre

The George Pompidou National Center for Art and Culture is located in the Beaubourg district of Paris and frequently called by that name. It was designed by Renzo Piano (Italy) and Richard Rodgers (UK) based on a concept of bringing art and culture to "the man in the street" fostered by President Pompidou after whom it is named. Critics damned the new building as an 'oil refinery' and 'an affront' to the community. Its construction is inside out with all the support systems outside the main columns. Designed as a huge transparent box through which steel columns are visible, the external mechanical systems included elevators - red, escalators - clear plastic tunnels, and tubes for air = blue, water - green, and electricity - yellow. The upper floor contain the national art museum, with the national library on the lower floors. The top 6th floor houses a restaurant. Theatres, movie houses, and a musical research center also occupy this building. It has become a most popular destination for its art museum averaging 26000 daily visitors and over 160 million total. The fixed collection includes works by Picasso, Magritte, Chagall, Matisse and others. There are also featured guest exhibitions from all over the world. This is one museum where the cover is as interesting at the contents. In front is a plaza where the best humorists, mimes, and jugglers come from all over Europe to perform - this central plaza dates from the Middle Ages.

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Address: Place Beaubourg, 75004
Directions: Métro: Rambuteau ; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles

After ascending to the top floor it is tempting to head straight for the art museum or perhaps into the restaurant "the Georges". Take a minute and check out the views of the rooftops of Paris and the great monuments and churches beyond. On a clear day you can see forever.

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Address: Place Beaubourg, 75004
Directions: Métro: Rambuteau ; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles

After trekking through the Pompidou Center, take a break. Along one side, this water park is filled with whimsical statues (by the artists Tinguely and Saint-Phalle) spouting water and cooling the immediate surroundings, with a spray on windy days. The outer margin is a bench allowing one to join both tourists and Parisiens for a snack or just for a little R&R. A very friendly setting indeed.

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Address: Place Beaubourg, 75004
Directions: Métro: Rambuteau ; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles

The Pantheon is the French national memorial and burial place for its greatest historical figures. Commissioned by Louis XV in 1756 as a grand church as thanks for recovery from a severe illness, it was constructed by the architect Soufflot and completed in 1790. It was converted to a mausoleum in the 1790's with the windows closed over creating a dark sombre interior. The architectural style is classical in orientation with the massive entrance supported by typicial Corinthian-style columns. The building is shaped like a Greek cross. The Pantheon was the first classic monument in Paris, breaking with previous more ornate Baroque styles. In 1851, Leon Foucault constructed his famous pendulum beneath the dome and demonstrated the rotation of the earth. A replica remains today, swinging back and forth. He is not buried here, but the long list includes the architect Soufflot, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Louis Braille, Pierre and Marie Curie (the first woman, in 1995), and Alexandre Dumas(most recent - 2002). Others are represented only by urns containing a heart, while others like the French revolutionary Marat have been disinterred and removed.

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Phone: 33 1 43 54 34 51
Address: Place du Panthéon, 75005 Paris

Every summer a children's amusement park is put up along the northern margin of the Tuileries along the Rue de Rivoli and west of the Louvre. It features a famous carousel, a water slide ride, and most famously a huge ferris wheel. From the top, views of all Paris can be seen, impeded only on the north by large hotels. Refreshment stands and arcade games are set up alongside.

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Address: Place du Louvre
Directions: Metro: Tuileries,Concorde
Website: http://www.louvre.fr

The Chateau Versailles is one of the largest palaces in the world and served as the residence of the French Kings from 1682 to 1789 at the height of the French Revolution. This extravagant building with surrounding gardens in French and English styles glorified the opulent life style of the monarchs of that time, Louis XIV and XV. Research reveals - 2000 windows,700 rooms, 1250 fireplaces, 67 staircases and 1800 acres of parkland. It became home for the French nobility and the Royal Court - a centralized monarchy. Another benefit was the premier role it assumed as a model for French and European art and architecture. During and after the Revoluion, the building was stripped of many of its amenities, some by auction. Following a mid19th Century external restoration, it has largely been used for tourism and only occasionally for government functions (such as the end of WWI). In the 1960's, Pierre Verlet, a famous authority of French furniture, began to reassemble or reconstruct the furnishings of the chateau creating the palace that visitors see today. Versaillles was declared a World Heritage Site in 1979. The photos demonstrate the main courtyard, facade, and rear of the palace overlooking the gardens.

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Address: Place Beaubourg, 75004
Directions: Métro: Rambuteau ; RER: Châtelet-Les Halles