sammiesickel's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Lyon, France

Astronomical Clock of Lyon

For hundreds of years, automatons moving to metallic music have been marking the passage of time.
Nice, France

La Tete Carrée Library

This massive blockhead sculpture hides an entire library.
Carcassonne, France

La Cité Médiévale de Carcassonne

Historic medieval fortified city in southwest France.
Amiens, France

Jules Verne's Tomb

Science fiction's grandfather has a fittingly marvelous tomb.
Paris, France

Le Passe-Muraille

This surreal statue brings a famous French novel about a supernatural cad to arresting life.
Paris, France

Lion of The Botanical Gardens

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

Musée Carnavalet

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.
Hauterives, France

Le Palais Idéal

This whimsical castle of grottoes was the labor of love of a French postman, and one of the greatest achievements of outsider architecture.
Paris, France

Le Défenseur du Temps (The Defender of Time)

A mechanized clock where a man fights off a dragon, crab, and rooster.
Chartres, France

Chartres Cathedral Crypt

The largest crypt ever constructed in France was built in the 11th century on an ancient Druid sacred site.
Menton, France

Fête du Citron

Every year, the town of Menton, France, turns lemons and oranges into giant sculptures depicting windmills, dragons, and more.
Paris, France

Passy Cemetery

A short distance from the Eiffel Tower is the final resting place of several of the city’s more well-known and interesting characters.
Lovagny, France

Gorges du Fier

A suspended footbridge allows for traversing this gorge carved through the French Alps.
Puteaux, France

'Le Pouce,' The Giant Thumb Sculpture

César Baldaccini's iconic sculpture of a 40-foot thumb stands tall in La Défense.
Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze, France

Carbonniere Tower

This historic stone gate tower is now just a lonely relic in the middle of a swamp.
Thann, France

L'œil de la Sorcière (The Witch’s Eye)

The remains of this castle, known as the Witch’s Eye, watch over the Thur Valley.
Paris, France

Gnomon of Saint-Sulpice

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

Marie-Jeanne Valet vs. the Beast of Gevaudan

Memorializing the bravery of one young woman facing the monster of her age.
Le Château-d'Olonne, France

Le Puits d'Enfer (The Well of Hell)

This crack in France's seaside cliffs once hid a sinister secret.
Provins, France

Le Roy Lire

An atmospheric, medieval-themed book store hides in a 13th-century underground space.
Mialet, France

100,000 Soldiers of Trabuc Caves

This army of concretions is an unexplained geological phenomenon unlike anything else in the world.
Metz, France

Jean Cocteau's Stained Glass Windows

A neighborhood church's unusual abstract stained glass was the final project of avant-garde artist Jean Cocteau.
Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois, France

Ruins of Abbey of Saint-Evroul

This 1,400-year-old abbey was once a powerhouse for music and intellectualism known across Normandy.
Lille, France

Porte de Paris

This triumphal arch celebrating the Sun King's conquest of Lille is a masterpiece of military architecture.