Monuments: the finest sites in France
28 sites listed in this category. Triumphal arches, iconic towers and monumental statues: these monuments embody powerful symbols of French identity and history, recognisable anywhere.
Théâtre antique d'Orange
Located in Provence, the Ancient Theatre of Orange is the best-preserved Roman theatre in the West, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Statue Notre-Dame de France
A monumental statue of the Virgin and Child cast from the iron of cannons captured at Sevastopol, dominating Le Puy-en-Velay from the top of the Corneille Rock.
Chemin des Dames
This ridge road between Laon, Soissons and Reims was the scene of some of the deadliest fighting of the First World War, now marked by memorials and military cemeteries.
Pyramides - Vallée des Saints
The Valley of the Saints, an Auvergne mini-Colorado, owes its name to its great penitents (10 to 30 m high!) that emerge from the vegetation – the clash of materials and colours is striking.
Site historique de Lyon
UNESCO World Heritage since 1998, the Historic Site of Lyon is one of the largest protected urban ensembles in Europe: Renaissance Old Lyon and its traboules, the Fourvière hill and its basilica, the Presqu'île and the slopes of Croix-Rousse tell two thousand years of unbroken history since the Roman foundation of Lugdunum.
Abbaye Notre-Dame de Fontgombault
Abbaye de Noirlac
Noirlac abbey is a Cistercian abbey in the Cher, built in the second third of the twelfth century.
Abbaye notre Dame des Neiges
Alignements de Carnac
The Carnac alignments are in the commune of Carnac in the Morbihan département in Brittany.
Arc de triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe is 2.2 kilometres north-west of Place de la Concorde, at the end of the Champs-Élysées avenue.
Bordeaux, Port de la Lune
The historic centre of this port city in south-west France represents an exceptional urban and architectural ensemble, created in the Age of Enlightenment, whose values lasted until the first half of the twentieth century.
Chapelle Saint Michel
Dolmen de Bagneux
One of the largest dolmens in Europe, in the heart of a garden in Saumur.
Eglise Orthodoxe de St-Nicolas de Nice
La Basilique de Fourvière
The basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière overlooks the city of Lyon from the top of the Fourvière hill, on the site of the old Forum of Trajan.
La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur
La Tour Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower is one of the symbolic monuments of Paris. Built in puddled iron, it stands on the Champ-de-Mars and measures 324 metres (with its antenna).
La butte de Montsec
Set on an outlier hill of the Côtes de Meuse that can be seen from afar, this monument is formed of a circular colonnade at the centre of which a copper orientation table reproduces in relief the position of the villages and locates the fighting of the Saint-Mihiel Salient.
Le Pont du Gard
Notre Dame du Haut
Pont Saint Bénézet - Pont d'Avignon
Classified World Heritage by UNESCO. Built in the twelfth century, the Pont d'Avignon is the oldest structure built on the Rhône between Lyon and the sea.
Rochers Scuptés de Rothéneuf
Five kilometres from Saint-Malo, following the sea towards Cancale, the Sculpted Rocks of Rothéneuf form a strange world, peopled with characters from another time: the grimacing figures shaped by the hand of man evoke medieval gargoyles and the beings…
Sainte-Chapelle
The Sainte-Chapelle, also called Sainte-Chapelle du Palais, is a chapel built on the Île de la Cité, in Paris, at the request of Saint Louis to house the Crown of Thorns, a piece of the True Cross, and various other relics of the Passion that he had acquired from 1239.
Site archéologique de Filitosa
A prehistoric site in Corse-du-Sud famous for its sculpted statue-menhirs, amid olive trees.
Site mégalithique de Locmariaquer
A megalithic site on the Gulf of Morbihan with the Grand Menhir Brisé and the Table des Marchand.
Théâtre romain d'Autun
Built in the 3rd century, the Roman theatre of Autun could hold up to 20,000 people. With a diameter of 149 metres, it was the largest in capacity in the western part of the Roman Empire.
Tour Montparnasse
The 56th floor and the panoramic terrace of the Tour Montparnasse reveal an unusual Paris.
Tour Vauban de Camaret-sur-Mer
A bastioned Vauban tower on the edge of the Brest roadstead, inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage.