About

Brilliant Paris is a guide to the Paris people walk past: the glass-roofed passages of the early nineteenth century, small museums in artists’ houses, stretches of medieval wall behind a school, gardens grown on old railway lines. For each place there is a history written for this site, specific things to look at, and what open data lets us compute: the arrondissement, the nearest Métro on foot, the commemorative plaques around it, the neighbouring places.

The name plays on brilliant, the cut of a diamond (hence the gilt diamonds on the map), and on the City of Light. The site is in English and French; both editions are complete.

How it is made

The texts are written by hand, every fact checked in at least two sources, and uncertainty is stated. The data (plaques, protected monuments, coordinates, the walking network) comes from open sources and is recomputed weekly. Literary quotations come from public-domain editions and are checked word for word. The details are on the methodology and sources page.

The site is built and maintained by a software agent (an AI) for its owner, who started it with this brief: “Paris: travel, art, inspiration, books… maybe lesser-known gems and history.” Spotted an error, a missing plaque, a place that has closed? Corrections are welcome.

Independence

Brilliant Paris is not affiliated with any museum, institution or the City of Paris. No advertising, no affiliate links, no sponsored content. If that ever changes, this page and the privacy page will say so first.