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The world’s largest museum unsurprisingly also contains one of the world’s most important collections of art and antiquities. To complete the superlatives, the building was once France’s largest royal palace.

This remarkable conversion has turned a former railway station into one of the world’s leading art galleries and is, for many, reason alone to visit Paris.

Some six million visitors a year ascend to the top of this most famous Paris landmark for the spectacular views. It was erected for the Universal Exhibition of 1889.

This great Gothic cathedral, founded on the site of a Roman temple, was completed in 1334 and is a repository of French art and history. It also represents the geographical heart of France.

The terrace in front of this monumental white-domed basilica in Montmartre affords one of the finest free views over Paris.

The great and the good of France are buried in the Panthéon, including Voltaire and Victor Hugo.

The main drag of the Latin Quarter was created in the late 1860s as part of Baron Haussmann’s city-wide makeover (see The Second Empire), and named after a chapel that once stood near its northern end. It’s now lined with a lively mix of cafés, clothes shops and cheap restaurants. Branching off to the east are rues de la Harpe and de la Huchette, which date back to medieval times. The latter is an enclave of the city’s Greek community, with many souvlaki stands and Greek restaurants. In the place St-Michel is a huge bronze fountain that depicts St Michael killing a dragon.

This famous Left Bank boulevard runs for more than 3 km (2 miles) anchored by the bridges of the Seine at either end. At its heart is the church of St-Germain-des-Prés, established in 542, although the present church dates from the 11th century. Beyond the famous cafés, Flore and Les Deux Magots (see Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots), the boulevard runs west past art galleries, bookshops and designer boutiques to the Pont de la Concorde. To the east, it cuts across the Latin Quarter through the pleasant street market in the place Maubert, to join the Pont de Sully which connects to the Ile St-Louis (see Ile de la Cité and Ile St-Louis).

These long formal gardens, stretching between the Eiffel Tower and the Ecole Militaire, were laid out in 1765–7 as a parade ground for the military school, but the “Field of Mars” was opened to the public in 1780. Three years later crowds gathered for the launch of the first hydrogen-filled balloon. On 14 July 1790, a sullen Louis XVI watched as 300,000 citizens celebrated the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event which is commemorated here annually (see Marais and the Bastille). Five world exhibitions were held here between 1867 and 1937; the 1889 event gave Paris the Eiffel Tower.

These gardens were first laid out as part of the old Tuileries Palace, adjacent to the Louvre, which was built for Catherine de Médici in 1564 but burned down in the Paris Commune of 1871. André Le Nôtre redesigned them into formal French gardens in 1664, and they were opened to the public. At the Louvre end is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, erected by Napoleon in 1808. Here is also the entrance to the underground shopping centre, the Carrousel du Louvre. Nearby, sensuous nude sculptures by Aristide Maillol (1861–1944) adorn the ornamental pools and walkways. At the far end is the hexagonal pool, the Jeu de Paume gallery and the Musée de l’Orangerie, famous for its giant canvases of Monet waterlilies.

This 25-ha (60-acre) park is a swathe of green paradise on the very urban Left Bank. The formal gardens are set around the Palais du Luxembourg, with broad terraces circling the central octagonal pool. A highlight of the garden is the beautiful Fontaine de Médicis (see Molière Fountain). Many of the garden’s statues were erected during the 19th century, among them the monument to the painter Eugène Delacroix and the statue of Ste Geneviève, patron saint of Paris. There is also a children’s playground, open-air café, a bandstand, tennis courts, a puppet theatre and even a bee-keeping school.

Designed by Charles Garnier for Napoleon III, Paris’ opulent opera house resembles a giant wedding cake. Begun in 1862, it took 13 years to complete and comprises a range of styles from Classical to Baroque, incorporating stone friezes and columns, statues, multicoloured marbles and a green, copper cupola. The ornate interior has a Grand Staircase, mosaic domed ceiling over the Grand Foyer and an auditorium with a ceiling by Marc Chagall. There’s even an underground lake beneath the building – the inspiration for Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera (see Entertainment Venues).

Today this notorious square is surrounded by a busy traffic circle, which is not the best spot for contemplating its grim history. Originally the Bastille was a fortress built by Charles V to defend the eastern edge of the city, but it soon became a jail for political prisoners. Angry citizens, rising up against the excesses of the monarchy, stormed the Bastille on 14 July 1789, setting off the French Revolution, and destroyed this hated symbol of oppression. In its place is the bronze Colonne de Juillet (July Column), 52 m (171 ft) high and crowned by the Angel of Liberty, which commemorates those who died in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. Looming behind it is the Opéra Bastille, the largest opera house in the world, which opened on the bicentennial of the Revolution in 1989.

Built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition to carry visitors over the Seine to the Grand and Petit Palais, this bridge is a superb example of the steel architecture and ornate Art Nouveau style popular at the time. Named after Alexander III of Russia, who laid the foundation stone, its decoration displays both Russian and French heraldry. The bridge creates a splendid thoroughfare from the Champs-Elysées to the Invalides.

With its majestic arches and pillars, St-Eustache is one of the most beautiful churches in Paris. Although Gothic in design, it took 105 years to build (1532–1637) and its interior decoration reflects the Renaissance style that blossomed during this time. The church was modelled on Notre-Dame, with double side aisles and a ring of side chapels. The stained-glass windows made from sketches by Philippe de Champaigne (1631) and the ornate tomb of politician Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–83) are highlights. Don’t miss the naive sculpture in Chapelle St-Joseph which recalls Les Halles’ market days.