Trocadéro, Palais de Chaillot, Paris

Its name comes from a 19th-century Spanish town captured by the French, but visitors will likely know it for its most famous feature: the Palais de Chaillot.

Chaillot is of great interest architecturally. Split into two wings connected by an esplanade, the perfect place for a view of the Eiffel Tower, it currently includes  the Musée de la Marine, the Musée de l'Homme, the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, and the Théâtre National de Chaillot. The walls are decorated with quotations by the poet Válery, and the gardens contain the largest fountain in Paris. Historically, it is also important: in 1948, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed on the Chaillot esplanade.

The Palais de Chaillot was not the first building on the site. For the 1867 Exposition Universelle, a different structure, named the Palais du Trocadéro, was constructed to house visiting organisations. However, the building’s heavy curves and two jutting towers, Byzantine and Moorish inspired, proved unpopular, and in 1937 it was demolished to make room for Chaillot.