Montparnasse Cemetery is a remarkable final resting place in Paris, known for its peaceful atmosphere and its impressive list of notable figures buried within its grounds.
The cemetery is the burial site of several influential French writers and philosophers. Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, both important existentialist thinkers, are laid to rest here. Their lives and work left a lasting impact on literature, philosophy, and social thought in the 20th century. Other renowned writers at Montparnasse include the poets Charles Baudelaire, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Sainte-Beuve, and Marguerite Duras, each celebrated for their unique voices and contributions to French poetry and fiction.
Montparnasse also serves as the final home for creative minds from the world of art and music. The cemetery is where Man Ray, the famous artist and photographer, is buried. Visitors can also find the graves of musicians Serge Gainsbourg, Camille Saint-Saëns, and César Franck, whose melodies continue to be cherished by music lovers around the world. Sculptors like Constantin Brancusi and Ossip Zadkine, known for their innovative work, are also among those commemorated here.
The founders of the Theatre of the Absurd, Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco, have their graves in Montparnasse Cemetery as well. Their groundbreaking plays challenged traditional ideas and continue to influence modern theatre. Film and stage actors like Maria Montez and Jean Seberg are remembered for their performances and are also interred here.
The cemetery is not only a place for artists and writers. It is also the resting place for important figures from French history, such as Alfred Dreyfus, the army officer at the heart of a famous political scandal. The founder of the Larousse encyclopedia, Pierre Larousse, rests here, as does André Citroën, the visionary industrialist behind the Citroën car company. Each grave tells part of the story of modern French culture and history.
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montparnasse_Cemetery
A former fortress and royal residence at the edge of the city, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. Most of the building is open to public.
The two pavilions were built in 1784 to 1787 by the French architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, who erected many similar toll houses at the entrances to the city.
One of the largest collections outside Asia of Southeast Asian, Indian, Afghan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art.
The ancient medieval fortress and prison of the city's island, site of some remarkable medieval royal architecture and the scene of Marie Antoinette's imprisonment in the period leading to her execution in 1793; lots of revolutionary associations.
Private collection of French, Italian, Dutch masterpieces in a typical XIXth century mansion.
Contained within two historic houses (hotels), the museum explores the history of Paris through objects in over 140 separate rooms.
Enter Bastille station through any entrance or on any train and then make your way to the Bobigny/Pablo Picasso-bound platform. All that's left of the fortress whose front steps used to lead up from place de la Bastille are some foundation stones which you can see while waiting for a north bound train on this metro platform. There are maps and explanations showing where the fortress used to be relative the place and surroundings (basically the location of the old front steps are now occupied by Café des Phares).
Founded in 1671 by Louis XIV as a hospital for 6,000 wounded soldiers—this function explaining the name of the building—the golden-domed Hôtel des Invalides still functions as an infirmary and now also houses the Musée de l'Armée. The church attached, l'Eglise du Dôme, houses the tomb of Napoleon.
Tourists cross this park with the large fountain on the way to the Place du Trocadéro viewpoint to the Eiffel Tower.
The Pasteur Museum is housed in the apartment where the great scientist spent the last 7 years of his life. Hardly touched since that time, the museum is full of personal memorabilia and scientific instruments. Pasteur is buried on the grounds in a flamboyant mosaic-decorated mausoleum. The museum was closed to individual visitors for security reasons after the 13th November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.
This charming museum is owned by the French Académie des Beaux-Arts. Its main collection areas, the result of several large donations, include: First Empire art and furnishings; illuminated manuscripts; and Impressionist art, including the largest Monet collection in the world and works by Renoir, Manet, Morisot, Caillebotte and Gauguin.
CLOSED UNTIL LATE 2024 OR 2025 FOR RENOVATION WORKS. Built in 1900 for the universal exposition, the Grand Palais was an engineering feat and a milestone of design, marking the transition between historicism and modern architecture. It remain impressive today due to its unique, exquisite style and sheer volume of its main nave. The Grand Palais, managed by the state-owned institution Rnm who also manage the Musee de Luxembourg, is used both for temporary exhibitions of historic and contemporary art collections (both beaux arts and applied) and unique events, such as catwalk shows during the Paris Fashion Week, Bonhams car auctions and prestigious galas.
A must for anyone interested in the history of the American Revolution. This small cemetery includes three mass graves from the French Revolution, plus a section that includes many of France's most noble families that lost members during the French Revolution and consequently have a continuing right to be buried there. In the farthest right hand corner is the tomb of General Lafayette, the friend and fellow soldier of George Washington. Beside him is his beloved wife plus other members of her family, the de Noailles, who were almost completely wiped out during the French Revolution because of their closeness to the Court. Since 1834 the American flag has apparently flown continuously over his grave, even during the German occupation of Paris during World War II. Well worthy of a visit.
Housed in a former Beaux-Arts railway station (completed in 1900 for the Exposition Universelle, later saved from demolition and converted to its present use), the rambling, open-plan museum is home to the works of the great artists of the 19th century (1848-1914) - Impressionists, post-Impressionists, and the rest - that were formerly displayed in the l'Orangerie. This is perhaps the most spectacular collection of European impressionism in the world—breath-taking rooms full of Manet, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, and many others. Impressionist represent the biggest draw, but there is much more to explore.
The Paris Botanical Garden, founded as the royal medicinal garden in 1626 by King Louis XIII's doctor, contains over 10,000 species. The grounds also include a small zoo known as La Ménagerie, and the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, which includes the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution (where you can see thousands of naturalized animals from all over the world) and the 'Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée' (same thing, but with skeletons).