There is no denying that Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. These photos of Paris from above further prove it, no doubt. The above photos of the city grid, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Champs-Élysées are as impressive as it gets.
Arguably, the world’s most recognizable tower has to be the Eiffel. Constructed in 1889, the Eiffel Tower has been the most iconic structure of Paris and France for more than a century. In the photos of Paris from above, the Eiffel is almost always the star.
The Eiffel Tower and the rising moon.
The tower is 276 meters tall and was the tallest human structure ever made for more than 40 years. A fun fact about the Eiffel is that when they first started to build it, many believed that it was absolutely impossible to build a tower that tall. The French public thought that it was a waste of time, effort, and money.
The streets and squares of Paris near the Eiffel Tower.
Another common sight in the photos of Paris from above is the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. This church is the second-most visited place in Paris after the Eiffel. It is 85 meters tall and towers over the Paris streets. The church takes inspiration from Roman and Byzantine churches and has been an official national monument since 2022.
This is the Place des Vosges or the Place Royale, which is the oldest planned square in Paris. It dates back to the early 17th century and is one of the first of its kind in Europe. The planning of the square shows how the Parisians took city planning and design quite seriously even in those times.
This photo taken from an airplane during the night shows why Paris is “the City of Lights”.
The current layout of the city grid and general planning of Paris belongs to Georges-Eugène Haussmann. In the second half of the 19th century, Hausmann began to renew the entire Paris from scratch but Napoleon III stopped him. Although Hausmann was no longer the head of the work, the officials mostly built the city according to his plans.
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the 1,9-kilometre-long avenue of Paris, known as the most beautiful avenue in the world.
At the west end of the avenue, there is the Arc de Triomphe which is one of the most important and famous monuments for the French. The Arc commemorates the ones who lost their lives in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.
The inner and outer surfaces of the monument are full of the names of generals and famous soldiers from the French army of the time. Moreover, the monument has inspired a lot of other similar structures as well. It is estimated that there are at least 15 Arc de Triomphe look-alikes in the world.
