Paris - Les Invalides and the Tour Eiffel Travel Guides | Paris | Sub Regions | Paris - Les Invalides and the Tour Eiffel

The 7th arrondissement exudes extravagance from every pore. Expect 19th-century elegance and grandeur rather than the quaint, narrow backstreets and hidden curiosities for which the Left Bank quartiers further east are known. There is an overwhelming sense of scale that lends the area an atmosphere of imposing luxury. The avenues, espalanades, monuments, mansions and vistas loudly proclaim their importance. The Eiffel Tower looms west of Les Invalides, amidst broad avenues with sophisticated shops, art nouveau follies and opulent café-bars. East of Les Invalides are the delightful Musée Rodin and a number of extravagant mansions formerly belonging to the French aristocracy. They have long since been converted to serve officialdom in its various forms including, most interestingly, the lower house of the French Parliament. On the Seine there is also the Musée d’Orsay, train station turned magnificent art gallery. To uncover evidence of real life amidst all this hyperbole, wander the streets east of the Champ-de- Mars: rue de Grenelle, rue St Dominique and rue Cler. This is where high society Parisians shop and dine even if they can’t afford to live here.

Sights

Champ de Mars, 75007, T 01 44 11 23 11, http://www.tour-eiffel.fr Sep-Jun 0930-2300, Jul-Aug 0900-2400. Lift to Level 1 €3.70, Level 2 €6.90, Level 3 €9.90; stairs to Levels 1 and 2 €3. M Bir Hakeim.

The Eiffel Tower was built after Gustav Eiffel won a competition to design a 300-m tower for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. At the time it was the tallest building in the world. The elegant iron latticework construction was completed in under two years, within budget and without any fatal work accidents, no doubt in part because labourers were fleeced of their alcohol as they arrived at the site. Ironically, nearly 400 people have since jumped to their deaths from the tower.

The Eiffel Tower is such a symbol of Paris that it’s hard to imagine the city without it, or to believe that originally it was intended to stand for just 20 years. Apart from the Exhibition judges, Parisians reviled the tower as ugly and pointless. Those living under its shadow were particularly vitriolic, fearing that it would collapse and crush them in their beds. In the end, the tower was spared demolition as it proved to be an excellent antenna, and during the Second World War it was put to patriotic use decoding German radio codes. There is now an aerial on the top, making the total height 321 m. The third and highest viewing platform is at 274 m, and on a clear day you can see for more than 65 km. If that sounds too stomach churning, stop at the first level, where there’s a bistro, a small museum and a post office, or at the second level, for souvenir shops and the gourmet Jules Verne restaurant. To avoid long queues (at least an hour), visit early in the morning or late at night, when the tower is lit up like a giant Christmas tree. Queues for the stairs tend to be shorter than those for the lift.

75007. M École Militaire.

The pleasingly symmetrical gardens that extend from in front of the Eiffel Tower to the École Militaire have in their time been used for many purposes. Originally they served as a military parade ground for the cadets of the military academy, but they have also been the departure point for hot air balloons and a course for horse races. Napoleon chose to celebrate his military victories here with large-scale parades, and used the space in front of the Hôtel des Invalides to display the captured spoils of war.

1 place Joffre, 75007. Apply in writing for permission to visit. M École Militaire.

Founded in 1751, Louis XV’s royal military academy was intended to provide training to those whose wallets were small but whose potential was great. Napoleon is the school’s most famous graduate. The classical design of the building itself was the work of architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel.

Entrance at the Pont d’Alma, opposite 93 Quai d’Orsay, 75007, T 01 53 68 27 81. Sat-Wed 1100-1700 (1100-1600 in winter). €3.80, concessions/children €3.05. M Alma-Marceau.

A visit to the sewers is a chance to see Paris at its dankest and smelliest. The lighting is gloomily minimal, the air is stale and stuffy, and dripping water collects in pools on the floor. The dreariness is alleviated by the occasional (unrealistic) waxwork sewage worker or sewer rat. Although all this might not sound incredibly enticing, the narrower parts of the circuit can get surprisingly clogged up at weekends, with visitors eager to unveil the mysteries of the city’s waterworks. The tour enables visitors to get to grips with how the sewage system works – note, for instance the ‘flushing boat’, a heavy-duty metal raft that cleans the main sewers – and how the filtering and recycling of fresh water is conducted. The history of Paris sewage is charted in fascinating detail, from even before construction began in 1825, through Haussmann’s input from 1853, to today’s 2,000-km network of tunnels and underground waterways. In his masterpiece, Les Misérables, Victor Hugo had Jean Valjean carry the man his daughter loved to safety through the labyrinth of the sewers.

Hôtel des Invalides

129 rue de Grenelle, 75007, T 01 44 42 38 77, http://www.invalides.org Mon-Sun 1000-1745 (until 1645 in winter). Closed first Mon of month. Combined ticket with Musée de l’Armée and Musée des Plans-Reliefs, €6, concessions €5.50. M La Tour-Maubourg, Varenne, St Francois- Xavier.

In 1861 the remains of Emperor Napoleon I were committed to a grand tomb by Visconti in the Dome church, which is also the final resting place of a number of other military heroes. Louis XIV’s commitment to war extended to his soldiers, prompting him to build a home large enough to house all the injured and old war veterans, hence its name, Hotel for the Disabled. It took architect Libéral Bruand three years to complete the main buildings and courtyards, and the first soldiers were admitted in 1674. By the end of the 17th century the Invalides had around 4,000 occupants, organized under officers into companies and workshops. In the nave of the soldiers’ church are flags taken from the enemy during battles in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the late 20th century the Invalides was opened to the public, and in recent years an extensive programme of renovation has begun. Re-roofing and regilding the dome (using 12 kg of gold) have already been completed. As well as continuing to house disabled war veterans, the Invalides also contains the Musée de l’Armée and the Musée des Plans-Reliefs. The vast Army Museum charts French military history from prehistoric times to the present. The Museum of Plans has illuminated glass cases containing models of French and foreign fortified towns and their surrounding countryside.

Hôtel Biron, 77 rue de Varenne, 75007, T 01 44 18 61 10, http://www.musee-rodin.fr Summer Tue-Sun 0930-1745, winter Tue-Sun 0930-1645. €5, concessions €3, under 18s free. Sun €3 for all. Free first Sun of month. Gardens only €1. M Varenne.

The light and airy 18th-century Hôtel Biron was sculptor Auguste Rodin’s last home and studio. He was granted the right to live and work here by the State, in exchange for promising to bequeath his works to the nation. After his death in 1917 the Biron mansion was converted into the Musée Rodin. The mansion itself is lovely, not least for its large windows with their rolling views over the well- maintained gardens. Together the house and grounds serve as a suitably delightful backdrop to over 500 of Rodin’s sculptures. One of the rooms inside the mansion displays works by Camille Claudel (model and lover to Rodin), and visitors can also admire Rodin’s own collection of paintings, including works by Van Gogh. Rodin’s most famous works, The Burghers of Calais, Gates of Hell and The Thinker, are arresting adornments to the pretty greenery of the garden, while The Kiss is sheltered from the elements in the house. The Musée Rodin has a lovely shady garden café.

33 quai d’Orsay, 75007, T 01 40 63 60 00. Open for tours only. Sat 1000, 1400 and 1500 (except when parliament is in session, call to check, T 01 40 63 70 70). Arrive 15 mins early and bring ID. Free. M Assemblée Nationale.

Work on the Palais Bourbon – built for the Duchesse de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV – began in 1722. The palace was confiscated during the Revolution, and later, in 1806, the classical facade overlooking the Seine was added on Napoleon’s orders. It was designed to mirror the columns of the Madeleine church, visible beyond the place de la Concorde on the other side of the river. In 1827 the building became the lower house of the French Parliament, or Assemblée Nationale. It has continued in this role ever since, except for a brief stint as the German headquarters during the occupation in the Second World War.

Quai Anatole-France, 75007, T 01 40 49 48 48, http://www.musee-orsay.fr Tue-Wed, Fri-Sat 1000-1800, Sun 0900-1800. Thu 1000-2145 (last ticket sales 45 mins before closing). €7, concessions €5, under 18s free. Sun €5 for all. Extra for temporary exhibitions. M Solferino.

This railway station turned art gallery is worth visiting almost asmuch for the building as for the Impressonist treasures it holds. It opened as the Gare d’Orléans in 1900, but was rendered redundant by the advent of electric trains. The building was finally converted into a museum in 1987 to house a predominantly 19th-century collection of paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. The enormous dimensions give a welcome sense of space and light, wonderfully enhanced by the vaulted iron-and-glass roof. At the eastern end of the ground floor is the Opéra Room, where visitors can look through a glass floor onto a model of a section of the Opéra quartier as it was in 1914. The rest of the museum interior is accessed via a confusion of stairs, escalators and walkways. The middle level holds the majority of decorative arts and a terrace of Rodin sculptures. The upper level – architecturally the least impressive but art-wise the most popular – is filled with Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist paintings, including those of Monet, Cézanne, Degas and Signac.

If possible, visit the Musée d’Orsay during the week. At weekends, especially on Sundays, there are queues for everything, from entrance tickets and toilets, to the cloakroom and cafés. The grand restaurant on the middle level – complete with painted ceiling, chandeliers, gilded mirrors, statues, enormous flower arrangements and fantastic Seine views – is the original restaurant of the hotel that was once in the Gare d’Orléans. Passerelle Solférino is a wood and steel footbridge over the Seine which opened in 1999, connecting the quai d'Orsay with the Jardin des Tuileries. Designed by Marc Mimram, at its northern side an innovative two-level vaulted feature joins it to an underpass which leads directly into the gardens.

59-61 rue de Grenelle, 75007, T 01 42 22 59 58. Wed-Mon 1100-1715. €7, concessions €5.50, under 16s free. M Rue du Bac.

This large and beautifully constructed museum extends over four floors and 27 rooms of an impressive 18th-century building. The existence of the museum is the achievement of a long-term goal by Dina Vierny, who was determined to bring Maillol’s work to a larger public. Between the ages of 15 and 25, she was Aristide Maillol’s principal model and creative muse. On the ground floor are Maillol’s large sculptures of Dina. On the first floor a series of oak-panelled rooms are devoted to Maillol’s drawings and paintings. Of the works on this floor by artist friends of Maillol, the most interesting are the drawings in Chinese ink by Henri Matisse. There are several of Dina – whom Maillol lent to Matisse to cheer him up when he was recovering from a serious illness – as well as three self-portraits. The second floor contains more of Maillol’s sculptures and paintings, as well as works by Wassily Kandinsky, Jean Pougny and Serge Poliakoff.

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