Centre Georges Pompidou

Paris houses several museums dedicated to Asian art. The Musée Guimet holds one of the most significant collections outside Asia, featuring works from India, China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. The collection includes Buddhist sculptures from Afghanistan, Chinese bronzes, Japanese woodblock prints, and Cambodian stone reliefs. The Musée Cernuschi focuses on Chinese art from antiquity to the early 20th century. The Louvre displays Asian artworks in its Islamic Art department and the Pavillon des Sessions. Additional collections can be found at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. These institutions regularly organize temporary exhibitions on specific themes such as calligraphy, ceramics, or textiles from various Asian regions.

Paris rewards visitors who venture beyond the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame. The Musée d'Orsay houses one of the world's finest Impressionist collections, while the Centre Pompidou showcases contemporary art in its distinctive inside-out building. Below ground, the Catacombs wind through tunnels lined with the remains of six million Parisians. Sainte-Chapelle preserves 15 towering windows of 13th-century stained glass that fill the Gothic chapel with colored light. Markets like Marché d'Aligre bring together fresh produce, vintage furniture, and antiques under one roof. The city's neighborhoods and waterways offer equally rewarding discoveries. Le Marais combines medieval architecture with boutiques, galleries, and restaurants in its narrow streets. The Coulée Verte René-Dumont transforms an abandoned railway viaduct into an elevated garden path. Along the Canal Saint-Martin, tree-lined banks invite afternoon walks and waterside gatherings. Père Lachaise Cemetery serves as both a park and the burial ground for writers, artists, and musicians. The Musée Rodin displays sculptures in an 18th-century mansion surrounded by gardens, while the Musée Jacquemart-André presents European masterworks in an elegant private residence. Rue Crémieux's pastel-painted facades create one of the city's most photographed corners.

This collection presents significant architectural works from different periods and continents. From medieval cathedrals to contemporary skyscrapers, the selection documents the technical and aesthetic development of building design. The listed buildings were created by influential architects and have shaped the evolution of modern architecture. The list includes religious structures such as Gothic churches and monasteries, public facilities like museums and concert halls, and residential buildings that established new construction standards. Each building demonstrates particular structural solutions or stylistic features that contribute to understanding architectural history. The selection offers insights into various building styles, materials and construction methods.

This collection gathers examples of architectural rehabilitation where former industrial sites have been transformed into new spaces for living, culture, and gatherings. These projects illustrate how contemporary architecture can give a second life to structures that marked European and North American industrial history, while maintaining their original identity. Included are the Oberhausen Gasometer, a 117-meter gas holder converted into exhibition space, the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam, an old coffee and tobacco factory turned cultural venue, and the High Line in New York, a 1930s elevated railway converted into a 2.3-kilometer urban park. The Zeche Zollverein complex in Essen showcases Bauhaus-style industrial architecture from the 1930s, while Strijp-S in Eindhoven, a former Philips production site, now hosts creative and technological studios. These sites demonstrate the possibilities offered by repurposing industrial heritage into accessible public spaces.

Renzo Piano, born in Genoa in 1937, has developed an architectural language over five decades that combines technical precision with human scale. His buildings are characterized by transparent facades, visible structural elements, and the integration of natural light. The Centre Pompidou in Paris, completed in 1977 with Richard Rogers, displays building services on the exterior. The Whitney Museum in New York uses industrial materials within a residential neighborhood. The Shard in London reaches 309 meters with a glass facade that reflects daylight. His cultural buildings connect function with urban context. The Fondation Beyeler in Riehen near Basel sits within a park with glass walls between interior and exterior spaces. The Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome comprises three concert halls with different acoustics. Kansai Airport in Osaka stands on an artificial island with a 1.7-kilometer terminal. Piano received the Pritzker Prize in 1998 for his work.

This route covers two millennia of Parisian construction history, showing the architectural layers of the city. It includes Roman remains such as the first-century Lutetia arenas, medieval structures, classical palaces, and modern constructions from the 19th and 20th centuries. Each location documents specific building phases and technical developments in the French capital. The selection ranges from well-known landmarks to less visited historical sites. The 1889 Eiffel Tower stands alongside Roman thermal bath fragments and medieval churches. This collection allows visitors to trace urban development from the ancient settlement of Lutetia to the modern metropolis and compare different architectural styles.

Paris offers many options for families with children, from large amusement parks to interactive museums. Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée features two themed parks focused on Disney characters, while Parc Astérix in Plailly offers roller coasters and shows inspired by Gaulish culture. In the city, the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie allows children to explore technology and science practically, with its planetarium and experimental zones. Families can also visit the Paris Zoological Park, which displays 180 species in habitats recreating different ecosystems, or explore the National Museum of Natural History with its fossil and mineral collections. For aquatic activities, Aquaboulevard has slides and wave pools under a roof. The Grevin Museum exhibits over 200 wax statues of famous personalities, while the Museum of Illusions engages viewers with interactive visual installations. La Villette Park combines green spaces, playgrounds, and cultural venues across 55 hectares.