An overlooked marble is the only surviving in-place 18th century example of the measurement that changed how we define distance.

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

How did a French journalist’s grave become the sexiest statue in the cemetery?

The ruins of a Duke's bucolic dream, where camels once roamed alongside "Dutch" windmills and faux-Italian vineyards.

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

An "inside out" building in the historical center of Paris, featuring Europe’s largest modern art museum.

Where the high court feasted, frolicked, and high courtesans put their royal lovers' diamonds to the test.

Dedicated to the art of hunting, with juxtapositions of contemporary art.

Hidden away in a modern library are the remains of one of the 18th century's most celebrated wunderkammers.

A Belle Epoque bordello turned into a themed love hotel.

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

The largest medical and anatomical collection in France lies hidden from the public.

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

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.

The curious underground history of keeping Paris clean.

Dolls of all shapes and sizes display the eras of femininity in this spooky and beautiful collection.

The history of radiation is on safe display at the foot of a radiation science laboratory.

A unrivaled and rather horrifying collection of wax dermatological models.

A grotto-like lodge decorated with gilded mosaics, rocks and a noisy waterfall was the setting for the most sumptuous pleasure house of 1900s Europe.

Egyptian Revival movie palace abandoned for decades and restored in 2013.

Indents in the pavement are all that remain from a grisly death machine in Paris.

A Parisian cemetery where the elite and artistic are interred beneath an eccentric collection of tombs.

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

Inside a former cabaret, seven floors of erotic art.