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The imposing Louvre Museum, dedicated to art prior to the Impressionist period, opened its doors for the first time in 1793. The richness of its collections and the influence it has had on other artistic institutions has made it the most important museum in the world. Here, the famous crystal pyramid, the most outstanding piece of the ambitious modernization effort the Louvre underwent in the 1980s, which was designed by Architect Ieoh Ming Pei and inaugurated in 1989.
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The best polo players and the mythical Eiffel tower, a magnificent work of engineering, a few hours before offering a polo exhibition.
The dazzling and charming Paris sprawls, majestic, on both sides of the River Seine. Any reason is good enough to pay it a visit, with its myriad monuments and works of art. Paris has always been a centre of attraction, from the time of the Parisii –an ethnic tribe which inhabited what today is France, Belgium and parts of Switzerland, Holland and Germany, two hundred years before Christ, and which gave the city its name– to the French Revolution at the end of the 18th Century, the rise to power of Emperor Napoleon and the German invasion during World War II, in 1940. Paris is, indeed, well worth a mass... Especially when, in addition, there’s a 100-goal polo exhibition, some five minutes from the elegant Champs Elysees. A unique event which moved and excited Parisians as few others. ﱲ
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The Notre-Dame Cathedral, surrounded by the Seine, is one of the oldest gothic-style French cathedrals. It’s dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, and was built between 1163 and 1245.
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Erected between 1896 and 1900 to celebrate the RussoFrench Alliance, the Alexander III Bridge joins the Esplanade des Invalides with the elegant Champs Elysees. It’s named after Tzar Alexander, whose son, Nicholas II, inaugurated it.
The Petit Palais is the name by which the Musée des Beaux-Arts is more commonly known. It was built by architect Charles Girault to coincide with the opening of the Universal Exhibition of 1900.
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The Church of Saint Eustache, one of the most surprising of the French capital. Its construction began in 1532 and ended in 1637. The building is characterized by the mixture of styles. The Plaza Vend么me, a typical example of classic French urban architecture, with the Vend么me column in the centre. Important buildings such as the famous Hotel Ritz and the house where the celebrated musician Frederic Chopin died in 1849 surround it.
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The symbol of Paris. A tower measuring 300 metres in height and, prolonged by its antenna, reaching up to 325 metres. It was built in two years and two months and presented at the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in 1889. At first, the monument -named after its designer, French engineer Gustave Eiffel- generated controversy because most Parisian citizens did not like it.
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The Arc de Triomphe, built by Napoleon Bonaparte after his victory in the battle of Austerlitz (1805), is where the 10-goal polo players posed the night before the game. The winners of the match, stars of a triumphant exhibition.
One of the entrances to the Louvre and the classic profile of the Paris Opera house, two symbols of the City of Light.
The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was also built by Napoleon Bonaparte in commemoration of his military victories of the years between 1806 and 1808. The four bronze horses on top of the arc were part of the war bounty that Napoleon took with him upon abolishing the Republic of Venice in 1797.
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The Opera house, inaugurated on January 5th, 1875, also known as the “Palais Garnier” or “Opera Garnier”, in honour of the architect who designed it, Charles Garnier. This is one of the buildings which houses the Paris Opera, a legendary musical institution and a successor of the one founded in Paris by Louis XIV in 1669, called the Académie Royale de Musique. ﱲ