ParisSecrets

The Statue of Ste Genevieve – Patron Saint of Paris
She faces upriver, guarding the city as she has done since 451, when the prayers of Genevieve the virgin nun were credited with halting Attila the Hun's advances. In 464 as the city was under siege by the Franks, Genevieve is said to have smuggled boatloads of grain through enemy lines. 1,280 years after her death, fanatic revolutionaries burned her remains and cast the ashes into the river.

Look for her on the Pont de la Tournelle, one of Paris' newest bridges (1928), where you'll spot the 14-meter-high statue of the city's patron saint. The statue of Sainte Genevieve, by Paul Landowski (1875-1961), was completed the same year as the bridge.