Tour Montparnasse
Built in 1973, Tour Montparnasse (the Montparnasse Tower) is the second highest point
in Paris, after the Eiffel Tower. It is built on top of the Montparnasse -
Bienvenüe Paris Métro station, and its 59 floors are occupied mainly by offices.
The
Tower is 210 metres (about 685 feet) high and, although it's ugly to look at, it gives you fabulous 360 degree
panoramic views of Paris and the surrounding area.
In the photo, you
can see the Eiffel Tower from the top of Tour Montparnasse, and behind that, in the distance, are the buildings at
La Défense.
You reach the top (56th floor) by means of high speed elevators. You can spot many of
the major landmarks of Paris with ease, and it really enables you to piece the
geography of the City together in a way that you can't anywhere else.
To the West are the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides, the Trocadero and La Défense, to the East are the Luxembourg
Gardens and the Panthéon, and to the North are the Louvre, the Tuileries, Notre Dame and Sacré Coeur. You also get
a clear idea of the Musée d'Orsay's origins as a railway station.
In addition to all that (make sure you take your camera), there is a permanent exhibition about Paris, a café and
bar, and a souvenir shop. The facilities include binoculars, photo galleries, quizzes, interactive facilities,
film, viewpoint tables, and more.
Immediately below the Tower is the Montparnasse Cemetery, where you can see the graves of, amongst others,
Camille Saint-Saëns, composer, Simone de Beauvoir, feminist philosopher & author, Jean-Paul Sartre, French
philosopher & novelist, and Samuel Beckett, Irish author, playwright & poet.
Visiting Address:
33 Avenue de Maine
75015 Paris
Entrance Rue d'Arrivee
Nearest Metro:
4 lines arrive at the Montparnasse-Bienvenüe station. The closest is the Edgar Quinet station.
Opening Hours:
Open every day of the year.
From 1st April to 30th September, 9.30am to 11.30pm (last lift at 11 pm)
From 1st October to 31st March, Sunday to Thursday 9.30am to 10.30pm; Friday, Saturday and the day before a
bank holiday from 9.30am to 11
pm (last lift ½ hour before closing)
Construction Date:
1969 - 1972
Architect:
Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan and Louis Hoym de Marien
Website address
http://www.tourmontparnasse56.com/
|