île de la Cité
— the island the city grew out of.
Not only on a wall.
“The older of the two natural islands in the Seine at the centre of Paris, the Lutetia of the Romans and the seat of the city for two thousand years. Notre-Dame rises from the eastern half; the Sainte-Chapelle holds the western end in its blue glass. The bridges in every direction lead into the rest of the city.
île de la Cité, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Île de la Cité is the larger of the two natural islands in the Seine in central Paris, joined to both banks by nine bridges and to neighbouring Île Saint-Louis at its eastern tip. The Romans founded their city of Lutetia here in the first century BC, and Paris grew outward from this island for the following two millennia. Today it holds Notre-Dame de Paris, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie, and the Palais de Justice, with Square du Vert-Galant at the western point looking down the river toward the Louvre.
Notre-Dame's twin towers rise 69 metres above the river. Construction began under Bishop Maurice de Sully in 1163 and continued for nearly two centuries; the cathedral reopened on 7 December 2024 after the April 2019 fire that destroyed the spire and the medieval oak roof. Nearby, the Sainte-Chapelle was built in seven years under Louis IX to house the Crown of Thorns and other relics of the Passion, finished in 1248, with 15 stained-glass windows that fill the upper chapel with colour when the sun is high.
Cross from the Right Bank by the Pont au Change or from the Latin Quarter by the Petit Pont. Notre-Dame is open daily and entry to the nave is free, though timed reservations are advised since the reopening drew long queues through 2025. The Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie each charge separate admission and share a combined ticket. The flower market on Place Louis-Lépine runs Tuesday through Saturday. River boats turn around at the island's eastern tip.