Landmark · Paris

Place Vendome: Where Luxury Was Born

Place Vendôme—where absolute power meets absolute wealth. Louis XIV's 1699 octagonal masterpiece birthed French luxury itself: Van Cleef, Chaumet, Boucheron, Dior, Chanel, BVLGARI line the hôtels particuliers around Napoleon's column at dusk, the Ritz glowing gold.

Places to see and wineries nearby

Landmark Place Vendome: Napoleon's Column at Dusk Napoleon's 44m column (1810), forged from seized cannons, spirals 425 bronze plates atop Place Vendôme—Louis XIV's octagonal 1699 triumph designed by Hardouin-Mansart, now ringed with Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Ritz Paris, the Ritz, Ministry of Justice.
Museum · Sevres Sevres: Marie Antoinette's Breast Bowls Marie Antoinette's famous bol-sein porcelain service at the Sèvres museum—the "breast bowls" she commissioned for her ceremonial dairy at Rambouillet in 1784.
Winery Les Caves Augé: Paris's Oldest Wine Shop Established in 1850 on Boulevard Haussmann, this legendary Parisian wine shop stocked 4,000 bottles and counted Marcel Proust among its devoted customers.