Notre Dame with 13.6 mn visitors tops Eiffel Tower

Tourists who flocked to the 'most romantic city' made the cathedral their top choice among spots to visit

Agence France-Presse

Published 5:35 AM, July 04, 2012

Updated 11:00 AM, July 24, 2012

THE NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL, also known as Notre Dame de Paris (French for 'Our Lady of Paris'). Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

PARIS, France - Thirteen Paris landmarks attracted more than one million visitors last year but the Notre Dame Cathedral was top choice and far ahead of the emblematic Eiffel Tower, the city's tourism office said on Monday.

Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

The Gothic cathedral on a little islet on the River Seine drew 13.6 million tourists, followed by Sacre Coeur — a basilica perched on a hill in Montmartre overlooking the city — which attracted 10.5 million.

Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

Nearly 9 million went to the Louvre and the numbers at one of the world's largest museums increased 5.6 percent year-on-year, while the Eiffel Tower got 7.1 million visitors, also a 5.6 percent increase.

Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

The Pompidou Centre, a museum designed in the style of high-tech architecture by famed Italian architect Renzo Piano, was visited by 3.6 million people.

Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

The Musee d'Orsay, housing an impressive collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings in a converted railway station, attracted 3.1 million.

Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

"Visiting museums and monuments constitutes the main motivation for visiting Paris (65 percent)," said the office in a statement.

Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

"With 72.6 million visitors, the numbers going to the 64 Parisian cultural sites surveyed increased by more than 2.5 percent" year-on-year, it said.

Screen grab from YouTube (pleasetakemeto.com)

"Americans and Britons comprised the largest number of visitors" to museums, it said, stressing that the numbers of Brazilians, Russians and Chinese had risen substantially. - Agence France-Presse

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