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Le Havre

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Town hall square, city of Le Havre, department of Seine Maritime, France 1469895388

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Overview

A Unesco World Heritage Site since 2005 and a regular port of call for cruise ships, Le Havre is a love letter to modernism, evoking, more than any other French city, France’s postwar energy and optimism. All but obliterated in September 1944 by Allied bombing raids that killed 3000 civilians, the centre was completely rebuilt by the Belgian architect Auguste Perret – mentor to Le Corbusier – whose bright, airy modernist vision remains, miraculously, largely intact.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Museum of Modern Art Andre Malraux in Le Havre, France.

    Musée Malraux

    Le Havre

    Near the waterfront, this luminous and tranquil space houses a fabulous collection of vivid impressionist works – the finest in France outside Paris – by…

  • Le Volcan

    Le Volcan

    Le Havre

    Le Havre’s most conspicuous landmark, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1982, is also the city’s premier cultural venue. One…

  • Église St-Joseph

    Église St-Joseph

    Le Havre

    Perret’s masterful, 107m-high Église St-Joseph, visible from all over town, was built using bare concrete from 1951 to 1959. Some 13,000 panels of…

  • FRANCE - JULY 17: The hanging gardens in Le Havre, Seine Maritime, France - The greenhouses of the hanging gardens developped in ancient fort on the heights of the city. (Photo by Xavier TESTELIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

    Jardins Suspendus

    Le Havre

    The Jardins Suspendus (Hanging Gardens) is an old hilltop fortress transformed into a beautiful set of gardens, whose greenhouses and outdoor spaces…

  • Appartement Témoin

    Appartement Témoin

    Le Havre

    Furnished in impeccable early-1950s style, this lovingly furnished bourgeois apartment can be visited on a one-hour guided tour that starts at 181 rue de…

  • Hôtel de ville du Havre

    Hôtel de ville du Havre

    Le Havre

    This colossal building, built in 1958 to replace one flattened by allied bombing in 1944, was designed by architects Auguste Perret – that great…

  • Cathédrale Notre-Dame

    Cathédrale Notre-Dame

    Le Havre

    When Le Havre's concrete expanses and straight lines overpower you, stop by this lovely Baroque church, which somehow eluded the intense bombing efforts…

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