Paris, France

Paris is a city of grand panoramas and quiet, uneven streets, of carefully manicured parks and tiny gardens - this combination of pomp and comfort is one of the secrets of its irresistible charm. Paris is divided in two by the River Seine, with two islands - the Island of the Old Town and the Island of Saint Louis in the middle. The Island of the Old Town, forms the city's historical starting point, where the earliest inhabitants of Paris, the Gaulish tribe of Parisi, settled around 250 BC.

1. The Conciergerie, the famous prison in Paris that brought tears to the eyes of the supporters of the old regime, where dukes and duchesses, noble ladies and gentlemen, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were imprisoned during the Great French Revolution and eventually guillotined.

2. Notre Dame Cathedral is the historical and geographical heart of Paris. The magnificent structure was begun in 1163 and not completed until 1345. It is one of the earliest Gothic cathedrals. It is worth climbing the 387 steps of the towers to see the astonishing view of the rooftops of Paris.

3. The Panthéon in Paris is a temple that originally functioned as a church (1758-1789). After the Revolution, the crypt held the remains of national heroes Voltaire, Rousseau, and Zola. It houses the working model of the giant pendulum used by Léon Foucault in 1851 to prove the rotation of the earth.

4. The Sorbonne in Paris is one of the oldest universities in Europe.

5. The 50-metre-high Arc de Triomphe in Paris was planned by Napoleon to celebrate his military successes. But when Empress Marie-Louise entered Paris in 1810, construction had barely begun. In 1836, 15 years after Napoleon's death, the arch was completed.

6. The Louvre in Paris was once a royal palace and is now one of the world's greatest museums. After a ten-year reconstruction, the Louvre has a new look, symbolized by the avant-garde glass pyramid that serves as the entrance to both the museum and the underground shopping passage, the Carrousel du Louvre.

The Louvre was conceived as a fortification, the construction of which began around 1200 and continued until the reign of Napoleon III in the 1860s. Pei's new Louvre is more compact and rationally organized. The main attraction is the portrait of Francesco da Gioconda, wife of the Florentine rich man known as the Mona Lisa, painted in 1503 by Leonardo da Vinci. Here one can see paintings by the great Italian masters - Raphael, Giotto, Titian; by the Spanish - El Greco, Murillo and Velázquez; by the northern European - Rembrandt, Rubens, Bruegel.

Here are the famous statues of Nike of Samothrace, the famous Venus de Milo and the realistic Egyptian Sitting Scribe. Of interest are the Gobelin tapestries, the crown jewels, including the 186-carat Regent diamond, the bronze statue of Charlemagne from the ninth century.

7. The Sainte-Chapelle chapel in Paris was built by Louis IX in the 1340s to house the Crown of Thorns, which he bought from Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople - of Flanders. It is one of the crowning achievements of medieval architecture with the most ancient stained glass windows in Paris. Like a huge magic lantern, the stained glass depicts over 1,000 figures from the Bible.

8. The Tuileries gardens in Paris are unusually large, arranged with trees, artificial lakes and statues.

9. The Place de la Concorde in Paris is where more than 1,000 people, including Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, were guillotined here in the 1890s. The obelisk, a gift from the viceroy of Egypt, was originally in Luxor, then erected here in 1833. The top was gilded in 1998.

10. The Church of the Magdalen in Paris was built in 1814 but was not consecrated until 1842. With its long colonnade, this church looks more like a Greek temple. Its walls are richly decorated in gold, shimmering in the darkness.

11. The Place Vendôme in Paris is a magnificent example of 17th-century urban architecture. The column in the centre of the square is made of the bronze of 1,200 melted down cannons captured by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. At its top rises the statue of Napoleon in the robes of a Roman emperor.

12. The Victory Square was built in 1685 by Jules-Hardouin Mansart to commemorate the military victories of Louis XIV. In the centre of the square stands a bronze equestrian statue of the Sun King.

13. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is the world-famous symbol of Paris. The architect, Gustave Eiffel, created his tower for the World's Fair in 1899. The view from 300 metres high will give you an idea of the layout and proportions of the city.

14. The Palais de Chaillot in Paris is an Art Deco cultural centre overlooking the Seine, amidst gardens with statues and fountains. It was built in the 1930s and houses three museums: the Maritime Museum, with a collection of nautical paraphernalia; the Anthropological Museum, with prehistoric remains; and the Museum of French Monuments.

15. The original Paris Opéra Garnier is the most imposing building of the Second Empire (1851-1870). The architect Charles Garnuier fused elements of neoclassical architecture into an exaggerated blend imbued with great sophistication. The halls are lavishly upholstered, the ceiling painted by Marc Chagall in 1964 and the foyer in front of the huge staircase could make even a count feel insignificant.

16. The Pompidou Architecture Centre in Paris was built in the mid-1970s and named after former French president Georges Pompidou (1911-1974). The center is most famous for its Museum of Modern Art, covering 20th-century art from Fauvism and Cubism to postwar abstractions and video constructions. Other notable features are the rooftop restaurant and the glass elevator that crawls like a snake up the side of the building.

17. The Picasso Museum in Paris is a large elegant house that houses little-known paintings, drawings and prints donated to the state by Picasso's heirs.

18. On the Place de la Bastille in Paris is a gilded column with the figure of Liberty at the top. It was erected in memory of the Parisians killed in the uprising of 1830. Here on the square is also the modern glazed Opera de la Bastille, inaugurated in 1989 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Revolution.

19. The Maison des Invalides in Paris was founded by Louis XIV in 1674 to shelter wounded veterans of the war. Today it houses a museum with a collection of weapons, armour and uniforms. More interesting is the Model Museum, containing a remarkable collection of models of French towns dating from the 17th century. "The Invalides is a superb baroque ensemble designed by Bruand and Hardion-Mansart. Its second church, the Eglise du Dome, possesses the most elegant dome in the city, and contains the tomb of Napoleon.

20. The Luxembourg Garden in Paris is the most famous park in Paris. And the Luxembourg Palace, built by Queen Marie de' Medici in the early 17th century, is like a replica of the Florentine Palace and houses the French Senate.

21. The Musee d'Orsay in Paris is one of Paris's top attractions, thanks to its artistically curated collections of artworks from the period 1848-1914. Among the hundreds of masterpieces are Manet's Breakfast on the Lawn, Renoir's famous depiction of the ballroom, and more.

22. The oldest church in Paris was built to house a piece of the true cross of Christ, brought from Spain in 542.

23. The cemetery of "Per-la-Chès" in Paris is a veritable necropolis with paved avenues and tombs rivaling each other in pomp and originality. Here lie the remains of Frederic Chopin, Marcel Proust, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf and Gertrude Stein.