Spitfire's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Saint-Jean-de-Boiseau, France

The Grotesques of the Chapel of Bethlehem

Do these monsters look familiar? The gargoyles on this church are all from pop culture.
Paris, France

Arènes de Lutèce

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

Maison de Serge Gainsbourg

The former home of France's controversial pop maestro is almost completely covered in ever-changing tributes and graffiti.
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France

Saint-Paul de Mausole

The mental institution where Van Gogh created some of his most famous work now allows guests to walk in the artist's footsteps.
Amiens, France

Jules Verne's Tomb

Science fiction's grandfather has a fittingly marvelous tomb.
Saint-Ouen, France

Pierre Bazalgues Macabre Antique Stand

Skeletons, medical artifacts, and other obscure and precious treasures all displayed in a wooden pharmacist's cabinet.
Tonnerre, France

Fosse Dionne

This natural French spring has been turned into a magical grotto by Roman and medieval constructions.
Marseille, France

Château d'If

This historic island prison holds one of the dungeons from the Count of Monte Cristo even though it is a work of fiction.
Saint-Pierre-Colamine, France

Jonas Caves

A cave dwelling that was started by the Celts, expanded by monks, and finished by knights.
Paris, France

Napoleon's Angels

Twelve grave-faced marble angels guard the emperor's tomb at Les Invalides.
Montignac, France

Cave of Lascaux

Ancient paintings known as the "Sistine Chapel of Cave Art."
Paris, France

La Conciergerie

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

Labyrinthe des Dragons

One of the greatest maze designer’s greatest mazes.
Paris, France

Water Tank Beneath Palais Garnier

The subterranean "lake" below the Paris opera house inspired the Phantom of the Opera's lair.
Paris, France

Le Chabanais

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.
Paris, France

The Heart of Voltaire

In the best of all possible worlds, everyone will get a chance to see this statue in which Voltaire's heart is interred.
Paris, France

The Last Original Standard Metre

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

Sculptures de Décure

Exquisite wall sculptures carved in secret by an early quarryman in an obscure corner of the Paris Catacombs.
Paris, France

Lion of The Botanical Gardens

A majestic lion statue guards this Parisian botanical garden, and feeds on an unsettling item.
Oradour-sur-Glane, France

Oradour

This French ghost town from World War II has been left as a memorial to German atrocities during World War II.
Paris, France

Musée de la Vie Romantique

Down a cobblestone alleyway is a museum dedicated to Romanticism, with a secret garden.
Paris, France

Le Louxor Palais du Cinema

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

Remnants of the Paris Guillotine

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

Dans le Noir?

"In the Dark" Restaurant in Paris offers dinner in complete darkness.