Tourism in Paris
Paris received 12.6 million visitors in 2020, measured by hotel stays, a drop of 73 percent from 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[2] The largest numbers of foreign tourists who come to the Paris region are British, American, German, Italian, Chinese, Indian and Canadian.
In March 1885, Gustave Eiffel, known primarily as a successful iron engineer, submitted a plan for a tower to the French Ministre du Commerce et de l'Industrie.
[8] Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais.
The renovations were still preserving the celebrated and original tubular design[8] The internal refurbishment was mainly done to enable the building to deal with the pressure of increasing visitor numbers.
The Musée d'Orsay is an art museum on the left bank of the Seine originally constructed as a train station in the late 1890s.
[12] Sections of the museum focus on Symbolism, Naturalism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Pont Aven School, and Art Nouveau, to name a few.
[6] A culmination of nearly ten years of government commitment and dedicated teamwork,[13] the museum presents some idea of what occurred in France between 1848 and 1914 in the fields of painting, drawing, sculpture, opera design, architecture, photography, metalwork, furniture, ceramics, and textiles.
[13] The Louvre Palace, originally built as a medieval fortress in the year 1190 by King Philippe Auguste, was transformed by successive governments.
The Musée is divided into three wings: Sully, Richelieu, and Denon, which showcase 35,000 pieces of art, much of it dating back to the Middle Ages.
[15] Some of the most renowned pieces of art in the Louvre are Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Liberty Leading the People, and the Dying Slave by Michelangelo.
[18] There have been several historical events that have taken place here, including the marriage of King Henry IV and Marguerite de Valois, in 1594 and Napoleon I coronation in 1804.
[23] The Musée du quai Branly features indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a street with cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees.
Begun some time after 1239 and consecrated on 26 April 1248,[26] the Sainte-Chapelle is considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture.
Along with the Conciergerie, the Sainte-Chapelle is one of the earliest surviving buildings of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité.
Although damaged during the French revolution, and restored in the 19th century, it retains one of the most extensive in-situ collections of 13th-century stained glass anywhere in the world.
Attractions include a planetarium, a submarine (the Argonaute (S636)), an IMAX theatre (La Géode) and special areas for children and teenagers.
