Paris City Guide: Île de la Cité 🇫🇷 France Best Place - Travel & Discover

Paris is a river town, divided into two banks by the Seine River. Of the islands in the Seine, two are natural and one is man-made. The city as we see it today developed along the banks of the river, whose relationship with the city has never ceased to evolve. The banks of the Seine are studded with a succession of magnificent urban monuments. The Palais de Justice and the magnificent medieval church of Sainte-Chapelle stand on one of Paris' two natural islands, the Ile de la Cité. The Tour de l'Horloge, or Clock Tower, dates from 1334, with reliefs from the late 16th century. In the center of the palace's façade, a high right iron gate from the late 18th century leads into the May Courtyard, the work of architects Antoine and Desmaison. The Palais de Justice, where the justice of state has been dispensed since medieval times, is built on the site of the former royal palace of Saint-Louis. From the 16th century to the French Revolution, it was the seat of Paris' parliament. The Ile Saint-Louis was mapped and built from end to end during the 17th century reigns of Henri IV and Louis XIII. Once used for grazing cattle and stocking wood, its charming streets are now lined with homes and a few small eateries. To stroll along the left bank close to Notre-Dame Cathedral is also to promenade through one of the most beautiful of all cityscapes and the biggest open-air bookshop in the world. 235 little book stalls, called bouquinistes, line both sides of the river, just as they have for centuries. Constructed on a site on the Ile de la Cité that has been considered sacred since the Roman era, Notre-Dame Cathedral, with its amazing display of intricate details, is considered a masterpiece of French Gothic architecture. To appreciate the features of Notre-Dame Cathedral, approach it from the park behind the cathedral for an impressive view of the structure and a look at the magnificent flying buttresses that makes the immense roof possible. The façade of the cathedral is an imposing, simple and harmonious mass whose strength and sober grandeur is based on the interplay between vertical and horizontal lines. Powerful buttresses that spring up to the top of the towers, lifting them heavenwards and symbolically relating that this cathedral church was built for God. Two wide horizontal strips seem to pull the building back down to earth. The timeless simplicity and harmony of the façade have continued to fascinate art historians and architects throughout the centuries. Notre-Dame is the most popular monument in Paris and indeed in all of France with 13 million visitors each year, beating even the Eiffel Tower. But the famous cathedral is also an active Catholic church, a place of pilgrimage, the focal point for French Catholicism and the site of the country's most important religious events.