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Discovering Paris

Thursday 3 June 2021, by Colling Wood

Paris offers its visitors thousands of different faces, depending on the corners you visit and the time of day you contemplate it. So there are just as many ways to discover and love it. With a heritage as rich as that of Paris, monuments with fascinating histories, centuries-old architectural styles and captivating testimonies of French history, the French capital will certainly never cease to surprise you.

Along with Rome, Paris is the richest European city in terms of monuments. It’s not easy to know where to start with so many things to see and discover. Kings, emperors and presidents have each left their mark on the capital. The past can be read in the architecture and on the façades of Paris, but you still need to be able to decipher their codes. Come to Paris makes your first approach to Parisian heritage easier with the little stories of Paris which will reveal the stories of certain monuments, districts or corners of the city such as the Moulin Rouge, the covered passages or the famous restaurant Le Procope.

To discover all the secrets of Paris, you must also know how to understand its river: the Seine. From the oldest bridge in Paris, the Pont Neuf, to the most prestigious bridges such as the Alexandre III bridge or the most romantic ones such as the Pont des Arts, the Seine has seen the most beautiful testimonies of the history of Paris being built above it.

In the same way that bridges are witnesses to history, places of worship are sometimes the triggers. They occupy an essential place in the Parisian heritage and you cannot cross the city without stopping in front of a few masterpieces such as the Notre-Dame cathedral, the Sacré-Coeur or the Madeleine church, key witnesses of the capital’s religious past.

Paris, a city of artists! The city is one of the most spoiled in the world in terms of the number of art collections in its many museums. From the Louvre to the Musée d’Orsay, via the Rodin Museum, discovering Paris also means pushing open the doors of its countless cultural centres and museums that trace the careers of the greatest painters, sculptors, draughtsmen and photographers who have marked the artistic history of the capital.