Photo : Ibex73 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Palais de Chaillot
On the Chaillot hill, facing the Eiffel Tower, the Palais de Chaillot was built for the 1937 World's Fair by the architects Azéma, Carlu and Boileau, on the site of the former Trocadéro palace. Its two curved wings, decorated with sculptures and gilded inscriptions by Paul Valéry, frame a vast esplanade, the Parvis des Droits-de-l'Homme, which offers one of the most famous views of Paris.
The palace houses the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine, the Musée de l'Homme, the National Maritime Museum and the Théâtre national de Chaillot. Below, the Trocadéro gardens and their great fountains slope down towards the Seine and the Pont d'Iéna. The esplanade is freely accessible at all hours, ideal at sunrise or when the tower lights up.
