Culture

Xi'an

Xi'an stands in Shaanxi province, was the capital under thirteen dynasties by the standard Chinese count, and is one of two eastern ends of the Silk Road rather than the only one. The First Emperor's burial chamber has never been opened, under a State Council directive of 1997, and advance real-name booking is compulsory for the Terracotta Army — there is no walk-up ticket.

The Great Wall

Under construction from the 3rd century BC to the 16th century AD, the Great Wall of China stretches from east to west across one of the largest countries in the world.

Beijing

Three numbers in older accounts of Beijing are wrong in instructive ways. The Forbidden City's "9,000 rooms" is a translation error — the Chinese unit counts bays between eave columns. The Summer Palace's "290 acres" and the Temple of Heaven's "270 acres" are hectare figures with the unit swapped. And the Starbucks those accounts place inside the Forbidden City had closed two years before they were written.

Zhouzhuang

Zhouzhuang is a water town in Kunshan, Suzhou, in Jiangsu province, covering about half a square kilometre. The date of 1086 marks the conferring of its name rather than a founding, the Quanfu Temple standing there was rebuilt in 1995, and the town has fourteen stone bridges — among them the Twin Bridges, whose key-like shape from above is the origin of a non-existent "Key Bridge". It is on China's tentative list, not the World Heritage List.

Street scene in Montmartre, Paris, with artists painting on easels in an open square, colorful umbrellas, and surrounding Parisian buildings under a tree-lined setting.

Montmartre

Getting up the Butte and the honest position on accessibility, the Guimard canopy moved to Abbesses, the first reinforced-concrete church in France, the martyrium and the Jesuit vow of 1534, the vineyard whose wine cannot be bought, the Valadon studio, the Moulin Rouge sails, and why bistro is not a Russian word.

Long arched Victor Hugo corridor, in the street where the writer lived, with stone columns, red and beige tiled ceiling, and a green door, creating a sense of depth in a historic building.

Maison de Victor Hugo

Hugo at the Place des Vosges, the exile that began in 1851 rather than 1848, the Chinese room he carved himself on Guernsey, his drawings, the funeral of 1885, and the thirty-six pavilions of the square outside.

View of Sacré-Cœur Basilica at sunset, with a vintage carousel in the foreground, surrounded by autumn trees in Montmartre, Paris.

Sacré-Cœur

The national vow of 1870 and the contested siting on Montmartre, Paul Abadie and the five architects who finished the basilica, the self-whitening stone, La Savoyarde, the dome climb, and the perpetual adoration unbroken since 1885.

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, a large stone monument with detailed carvings, surrounded by cars and visitors.

Arc de Triomphe

The lift out of service and the underground way in, the corrected dimensions and the architect older accounts never name, Napoleon's canvas arch of 1810 and his funeral cortege of 1840, the flame rekindled nightly, the Christo wrapping and the 2018 damage, and why the monument can be seen from so far.

Culture