Attractions

Situated in the heart of Warsaw, the Palace of Culture and Science is a remarkable skyscraper worth noting. Standing at 237 meters tall, it ranks as the second tallest structure in both Warsaw and Poland, behind only Varso. The Palace is the sixth-tallest building in the European Union (including spire), making it one of the highest on the continent. This iconic building, completed in 1955, houses a range of cultural and public institutions such as sports clubs, libraries, theatres, university faculties, cinemas, and authorities of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2007, the Palace was added to the Registry of Objects of Cultural Heritage.

The Old Town Market Place in Warsaw, which is also known as "Rynek Starego Miasta" in Polish, is the oldest and central area of the city's Old Town, located in the capital of Poland. Unfortunately, it was deliberately destroyed by the German Army soon after the Warsaw Uprising. However, in the aftermath of World War II, efforts were made to rebuild the Old Town Market Place to its original prewar state. The careful restoration of the old town set a remarkable standard for transforming heavily damaged entities back to their original state. This commendable act of safeguarding historical integrity secured its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The biggest park in Warsaw, Poland, which covers 76 hectares of the city center, is known as Łazienki Park or Royal Baths Park. Its Polish name is Park Łazienkowski or Łazienki Królewskie. This park-and-palace complex is situated in the central district of Warsaw (Śródmieście) on Ujazdów Avenue, which forms part of the Royal Route connecting the Royal Castle to Wilanów Palace in the south. Across Agrykola Street to the north of Łazienki Park is Ujazdów Castle.
Initially created as a park for baths for nobleman Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski in the 17th century, the park was transformed in the 18th century by Poland's last monarch, Stanislaus II Augustus, into a setting for palaces, villas, classicist follies, and monuments. The park was officially designated a public park in 1918.
Łazienki Park attracts tourists from Poland and all over the world and serves as a venue for music, the arts, and culture. The park is also home to a vast number of squirrels and peacocks.

The Royal Castle in Warsaw is a significant museum and historical monument, serving as the former residence for Polish monarchs and the location of their personal and administrative offices from the 16th century until the final partition of Poland in 1795.

Notre-Dame de Paris is a prominent medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in Paris. Celebrated for its French Gothic architecture, it boasts features like colorful rose windows, rib vaults, and flying buttresses. Construction began in 1163 and finished by 1260, though modifications continued for centuries. Damaged during the French Revolution, it saw events like Napoleon's coronation. Victor Hugo's “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” renewed interest, leading to major restorations in the 19th century. It attracted 12 million visitors annually until a devastating fire in 2019 damaged its roof and spire. Restoration began in 2021, aiming to conclude by the 2024 Paris Olympics. The cathedral holds significant relics, including the Crown of Thorns and parts of the true cross, and is home to the cathedra of Archbishop Laurent Ulrich.

The Arc de Triomphe is a famous monument in Paris, located at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It's in a place called Place Charles de Gaulle, which is in three different areas of the city. The monument is there to remember the people who died in the French wars. It's really big, 50 meters tall, 45 meters wide, and 22 meters deep.
It was built by Jean Chalgrin in 1806 and is part of a grand road and monument sequence in Paris. The monument shows pictures of young French people winning over German warriors, and it's a symbol of France. Before, it was the tallest arch like this in the world, but now there are taller ones in Mexico City and Pyongyang. There's also a big arch in La Défense, near Paris, which is even taller.

The Louvre in Paris is the world's most-visited museum. Covering 72,735 square meters, it displayed 38,000 objects in 2022 and welcomed 7.8 million visitors. Founded in the former Louvre Palace, originally a 12th-century fortress turned royal residence, it became a museum during the French Revolution, opening in 1793 with 537 paintings. Its collection expanded under Napoleon and subsequent donations, now boasting over 380,000 items in eight departments, such as Egyptian Antiquities and Paintings.

The Grand Palais, also known as the Great Palace of the Elysian Fields, is situated in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. This distinguished location houses a historical site, an exhibition hall, and a museum complex on the Champs-Élysées. Its construction began in 1897, after the demolition of the Palais de l'Industrie, to make way for the Universal Exposition of 1900. The Petit Palais and Pont Alexandre III were also constructed during this exposition.
The Grand Palais was designed as a grand venue for official artistic events, and a pediment on the building commemorates this purpose with an inscription that states, "a monument dedicated by the Republic to the glory of French art." The architecture reflects Beaux-Arts style, featuring intricate stone facades, glass vaults, and innovative materials like iron, light steel framing, and reinforced concrete.
As a historic monument, the Grand Palais is recognized by the Ministry of Culture.

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées stretches across the 8th arrondissement of Paris, spanning 1.9 kilometers in length and 70 meters in width. Its course begins at the Concorde Square in the east and ends at the Charles de Gaulle Square in the west, where the iconic Arc de Triomphe monument stands. Renowned for its theaters, cafes, and high-end stores, it serves as the final destination for the Tour de France cycling race and hosts the annual Bastille Day military parade. Often considered the most magnificent avenue globally, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a symbol of Parisian grandeur.
The street is traditionally divided into two halves. The first is a concentration of parks measuring 700 meters in length and 300 meters in width. The second half is exclusively commercial. It should be noted that beyond the Circular Square, the Champs-Élysées are completely devoid of park areas: now it's a continuous car track with sidewalks and a large number of stores from the world's most famous brands.

The Sagrada Família is an unfinished church in Barcelona, Spain, located in the Eixample district. It was designed by architect Antoni Gaudí and is considered part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church is also the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. In 1882, construction of the Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, but after he resigned in 1883, Gaudí took over as the chief architect, infusing his own unique style that combines Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the rest of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church's crypt.
The construction of the Sagrada Família has been slow and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, during which anarchists from the FAI partially destroyed Gaudí's original plans. The site management was taken over in 1939, and construction resumed in the 1950s, progressing intermittently. Technological advancements have enabled faster progress, but the construction of ten spires, each symbolizing a significant Biblical figure, remains a significant challenge. The building was expected to be completed by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death, but the COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays.
Despite being unfinished, the Sagrada Família is a remarkable example of Gothic architecture and is considered a unique and extraordinary interpretation of the style. It has been described as impossible to find a church building like it in the entire history of art by art critic Rainer Zerbst, while Paul Goldberger considers it to be the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages. However, it is important to note that the Sagrada Família is not the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Barcelona, as that title belongs to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia.