A 16th-century fountain marks the site of a lost medieval cemetery once filled with mass graves.

The tradition of open-air secondhand and antiquarian bookselling in Paris dates back to the Renaissance.

Stripes of human ashes cover a back lawn in the most sought-after burial grounds in Paris.

The video game-themed street art first popped up in the French city.

A museum dedicated to one of Paris’s most famous residents, tucked into a corner of one of the city’s most famous squares.

Natural history museum celebrating biodiversity with a parade of taxidermy animals.

The first green space constructed on an elevated viaduct.

Claude Monet was baptized in this lavishly ornate Paris church.

Peeing dogs guard the Roman hunting goddess atop a fountain at France’s Château de Fontainebleau.

With a history of slaughter, feast, and famine, remnants of the pork industry decorate this area--even its church.

The spiral staircase hidden inside this giant Parisian column was likely built for Catherine de Medici's astrologer.

This structure atop a craggy cliff in one of the most beautiful parks in Paris boasts an unbeatable view.

Remains of Roman amphitheater hidden in a sleepy quarter of Paris.

A haunting collection of the vanished and disappearing natural world.

Known as the "Dodo Manège," this carousel features a herd of animals that have disappeared—or may be gone soon.

This museum houses an imposing skeleton army comprised of creatures great and small.

This 18th-century sundial was designed to calculate the date of Easter each year.

A lone cannonball remains lodged in the walls of the Hotel de Sens as a sober reminder of a revolution.

If you look closely at the oldest bridge in Paris, you might notice hundreds of ugly faces leering from its sides.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

Queen Anne style apartment house built in 1886.

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.