Views from the roof of the Samaritaine
It is quite possible that this view may never again be available to the general public. The Samaritaine department store closed in 2005, and will probably be reopened as a luxury hotel. The views from the belvedere on its roof were by far the most extensive in the whole city – as central as the towers of Notre Dame, but with the advantage of having also a view of Notre Dame itself.

These photographs were taken over a long period of time – from about 1972 to 2005, and Paris is in a constant state of change.

The Samaritaine itself, with the Belle Jardinière (which closed on the 1980s) next door;
and the organ-grinder who used to play on the quayside in front.

    

 

  

 

The Square du Vert-Galant, with its statue of Henri IV, on the eastern tip of the Ile de la Cité;
and the willow tree on the island's prow

     

 

 

The Ile de la Cité, with the towers of Notre-Dame, the spire of the Sainte-Chapelle,
and the Conciergerie in the foreground

   

  

 

  

 

The Left Bank

     

Saint-Sulpice, the Panthéon

 

 

La Monnaie (the Mint) and the bridges of Paris

   

 

The Institut de France

   

 

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

    

 

Les Invalides

 

The Right Bank: Tour Saint-Jacques and the Hôtel de Ville

  

 

Beaubourg (Centre Pompidou)

   

 

Bourse du Commerce, Saint-Eustache 

 

The hill of Montmartre and the Sacré-Coeur

   

  

 

Saint-Augustin and the Opéra Garnier

 

 

Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois and the Louvre colonnade

  

 

Over the shoulder of the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe
– and. in the second, later picture, the Grande Arche de la Défense.

     

 

And, of course, the Tour Eiffel, with the twin spires of Sainte-Clotilde in front.