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Separate pavilions in the Jardin des Plantes house exhibits on anatomy, fossils, geology, mineralogy and insects. The Grande Galerie de l’volution (see Parc de la Villette) is a magnificent collection of stuffed African mammals, a giant whale skeleton and an endangered species exhibit.

Perhaps the greatest Parisian chronicler of them all, Emile Zola (1840–1902) was born, lived and died in the city, although he spent part of his youth in Aix-en-Provence in southern France. Nana was published in 1880 and tells a shocking tale of sexual decadence, through the eyes of the central character, a dancer and prostitute.

MementoesDuring the period of renovation this temporary exhibition of items belonging to Napoleon is in one of the Dôme’s adjacent chapels.

As Paris rose from the ashes of the Revolution, a young general from Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte, saved the city from a royalist revolt, then led military victories in Italy and Egypt. He crowned himself Emperor of France in Notre-Dame in 1804 (see Napoleon).

This careful reconstruction in the Salle de la Restoration shows the room where the emperor died in 1821. Other Napoleonic items and paintings are on display. Closed for renovation until 2008.

You cannot help but be impressed as you enter the Dôme Church and stand gazing down at the massive tomb which holds the body of the diminutive emperor (see Hôtel des Invalides).

The great cathedral is never more majestic than when viewed from the Left Bank of the Seine. It rises on the eastern edge of the Ile de la Cité above the remains of the ancient tribes who first settled Paris in the 3rd century BC.

The satirical French novelist and playwright was also an outspoken journalist. Born in 1848, he died in Cheverchemont in 1917 and his body was brought to Passy for burial.