The City Of Love

Paris, people call it the city of love. Its such a beautiful place. And for those of you who think it is overrated you are so wrong. What more would you want in a city? The whole city buzzes with excitement, every stroll down the street can lead you somewhere spectacular & magical. The city is pure beauty.

Paris is a place I would love to visit again & again in the future. Next time I go which will hopefully be December 2009, I'll be sure to take many more photos than I did last time. I think the first time I went I was to in awe of the place to take heaps of photos.

In the link below you will find the photos I took in Paris & a little bit of information about each place I visited.



 




The Lion Of Belfort. This is a copy of the actual statue from Belfort. This particular copy is situated at Place Denfert-Rochereau. This is also the location of the Paris Catacombs you will see a little bit of later.


The statue of King Karl the Great.
This statue is just outside of the beautiful Notre Dame de Paris.



The Notre Dame de Paris. This beautiful gothic cathedral had its construction start in 1163.

Timeline of its construction.

• 1160 Maurice de Sully (named Bishop of Paris), orders the original cathedral to be demolished.
• 1163 Cornerstone laid for Notre Dame de Paris — construction begins.
• 1182 Apse and choir completed.
• 1196 Nave completed. Bishop de Sully dies.
• 1200 Work begins on western façade.
• 1225 Western façade completed.
• 1250 Western towers and north rose window completed.
• 1250–1345 Remaining elements completed.

During the French Revolution in 1793 many of the treasures of the cathedral were destroyed.
The statues of biblical kings of Judah were beheaded. Many of the heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby and are on display at the Musée de Cluny.



The gorgeous stained glass windows of the Notre Dame de Paris.


South Rose windows.
The South Rose windows was designed by Jean de Chelles & Pierre de Montreuil.
The window reaches 12.90 metres in diameter and, if you include its bay, a total heigh of 19 metres.
It has eighty- four panes devided into four circles.






The crown of light.It was made by goldsmith Poussielgue-Rusand (1824-1889) following Viollet-le-Duc’s designs.

"Apart from the Crown of Light’s utility and its brilliance that coincides with light coming in from the Gothic windows, it expresses the mystical nature of light, giving worshipers an image of Heavenly Jerusalem and of Christ, this light shining on the world, symbolised by the orb-like circle."- notredamedepars.fr




The Louvre.
The Louvre Pyramid.The Louvre Pyramid is a large glass and metal pyramid, surrounded by three smaller ones, in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum. It was completed in 1089. The large pyramid you can see in the photo is the main entrance to the museum.









Arc de Triomphe.

The arch honours those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. There are all of the names of generals and wars fought on the top of the arch and underneath is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I.

It stands 49.5 metres in height, 45 metres wide and 22 meters deep. It is the second largest triumphal arch in existence.

Famous victory marches past the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1918, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945.




The Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel tower is named after its designer, Gustave Eiffel.
Including the 24m antenna, the tower is 325m high, which makes it the tallest building in Paris.




Catacombes de Paris.I wish I had have been able to take more pictures from these catacombs, they were so amazing.
Just walking through what seemed like endless tunnels was a great experience. I can only imagine how many more tunnels are open to the public as the bit I walked through is only a tiny tiny fraction of the underground tunnels.

It was so strange to think that every bone that made up all the walls once belonged to a father, a grandfather, a daughter, a son or cousin.

Who were these people? How did they die? I had to find out more.

Unfortunatly I had to do most of my research on the internet as there wasnt much information provided at the place.

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Due to city growth in Paris, the dead began to overwhelm the larger churche's cemeteries.
Paris's largest cemetery 'Les Unnocents' was so overcrowded with bodies its neighbours were suffering badly from disease, due to the contamination caused by open mass graves & improper burials.
Finally the decision to discreetly move the remains to a renovated section of Paris;s abandoned quarries came about.

The bones in the catacombes are remains from the cemetery of Saint Nicolas des Champs, bodies from the riots in the Place de Greve, the Hotel de Brienne & Rue Meslee, which were all put in the catacombs on August 28 & 29th, 1788.