Away from the crowds around the Notre Dame cathedral, other parts of the Ile de la Cite are quite relaxed, and a pleasure to explore. This panorama shows some of the buildings on the Rue de Lutèce. At the far end is the Palais de Justice. To the left of this is the spire of the famous Sainte-Chapelle. At the other end of the rue is the Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu, a functioning hospital. The road is pedestrianised and just around the corner from here is a small garden and plant market.

Île de la Cité - Paris visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Île de la Cité' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Paris.

Panorama from the Rue de Lutèce on the Île de la Cité (Ile de la Cite) in Paris. This road is at the center of the very heart of Paris, for it was on this small island in the River Seine that Paris began. The island was settled around 300BC by a Celtic tribe known as the Parisii. The island made a convenient place to cross the Seine and also a good place to retreat in times of conflict. Unfortunately, this did not prove effective enough and the Perisii were overrun by Julius Caesar in 52BC. The Romans then called the town Lutecia, meaning 'mud'. The inhabitants of Lutecia repeatedly fended off invaders from this island, and Clovis, king of the Francs and defeater of the Romans, made the island his capital.

Today the Île de la Cité is best known for the sights that are found on it, most of which have become some of the major tourist attractions in Paris. These include the he Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris built in 1163, in front of which is a bronze plaque declaring this as the birth place of Paris on the Place du Parvis Notre-Dame. There is also the Louis IX's Sainte-Chapelle, built in 1245 and now within the grounds of the Palais de Justice. The Conciergerie prison, where Marie Antoinette awaited execution in 1793 is also on the the Île de la Cité. Apart from these famous sights, the the Île de la Cité also, naturally given the history, has the oldest bridge in Paris across the Seine, the Pont Neuf. The smaller sister island, Ile Saint Louis, is linked to the Île de la Cité by the very narrow Pont Saint-Louis from the corner of Square Jean XIII.

Travel and Getting There:
Metro: Cité (line 4)