Webcams Overview by earthTV Europe – France – Paris

Paris: the Eiffel Tower and the city beyond

The Eiffel Tower gives Paris an unmistakable point of reference, but the city’s character also emerges through the relationships between its landmarks and neighbourhoods. earthTV’s perspectives on Paris connect that familiar silhouette with an interest in the wider city, from the architecture around the Seine to the hill of Montmartre.

Finding different scales of Paris

The Eiffel Tower’s open metal structure gives it a character quite different from the dense streets and substantial stone buildings associated with central Paris. Its form can be appreciated as an architectural idea in its own right: a framework whose outline remains recognisable from many directions.

Montmartre introduces a different relationship between a landmark and its setting. The white domes of Sacré-Cœur stand on the hill, giving the basilica a strong connection with the shape of the neighbourhood. Montmartre’s association with artists adds another reason to explore the streets around that prominent summit.

Paris becomes more interesting when these well-known names acquire geographical context. A tower in the city’s lower landscape and a basilica on a hill organise space in different ways. Architecture, topography and neighbourhood history can each provide a thread for discovery. A familiar image of Paris is often the beginning of a more personal interest in its streets, buildings and places to pause.