Have you already visited the French capital?<\/p>\n
If you did, you may have visited the must-see Notre-Dame Cathedral forecourt! This historical monument is so high, so beautiful and impressive that you can\u2019t help taking a look up to the sky to admire it. Doing so, you may probably have walked, without even knowing it, on Paris\u2019 road starting point, the Kilometer zero<\/strong> (known in US as “the Zero Milestone<\/strong>“).<\/p>\n That\u2019s what it is, 200 feet away from the Cathedral. How can you discover it? This symbol of\u00a0 Paris\u2019 roads starting point (or zero point, as they call it in France) is a stone inserted in the pavement designed with a bronze wind rose where one can read \u201cPoint Zero of the French roads<\/strong>\u201d in the middle.<\/p>\n This point, as a matter of fact, is the starting point of the Parisian streets and the French roads as well. This is the point used to calculate the distance between Paris and the other French cities. Isn\u2019t that something? It actually has nothing to do with the geographical middle point of the country.<\/p>\n This is what the story of this place is about:<\/p>\n In the past, a \u201cLadder of Justice\u201d was installed at this specific location. Convicted criminals had to climb to the top, kneel and acknowledge their crimes publicly to ask for mercy.<\/p>\n On April 22nd 1769, the \u201cLadder of Justice\u201d became the zero point of the Parisian roads thanks to King Louis XV, and it was declared a milestone by decision of King Louis XVI in 1786.<\/p>\n The current bronze fixture was installed in 1924.<\/p>\n Now that you know about the Parisian\u2019s road starting point, take a good look at the floor of the forecourt of the Notre Dame de Paris\u2019 Cathedral next time you visit so you don’t miss seeing it. And if you happen to walk on it without noticing, don\u2019t worry: A legend says that if you step on this stone, you will be back in Paris another time for sure!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you already visited the French capital? If you did, you may have visited the must-see Notre-Dame Cathedral forecourt! This historical monument is so high, so beautiful and impressive that you can\u2019t help taking a look up to the sky to admire it. Doing so, you may probably have walked, without even knowing it, on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[72,83,92,114],"tags":[540,552,646],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/frenchlanguagesalon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Point_Zero.jpg?fit=688%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8kt18-yq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8498,"url":"https:\/\/frenchlanguagesalon.com\/locations-in-france\/notre-dame-de-paris-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":0},"title":"Notre-Dame de Paris","date":"April 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Notre-Dame de Paris (meaning Our Lady of Paris) is obviously a religious place located in the French Capital, but it became much more than this through time. Its construction began in 1163 and ended in 1345. Of course, it was not a single-flow design and the architecture changed a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Locations in France"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/frenchlanguagesalon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/042419-notredame.jpg?fit=1200%2C623&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2495,"url":"https:\/\/frenchlanguagesalon.com\/art\/the-alternative-paris\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":1},"title":"The Alternative Paris","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If you ask a tour of Paris with a guide, he will likely suggest to visit le Louvre, l\u2019Arc de Triomphe, la Tour Eiffel and le Jardin des plantes. This is an awesome tour but also so classic ! Paris has many other facets to show you. This article is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frenchlanguagesalon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/060618-slternativeparis.jpg?fit=1200%2C623&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2182,"url":"https:\/\/frenchlanguagesalon.com\/french-culture\/the-catacombs-of-paris\/","url_meta":{"origin":2134,"position":2},"title":"The Catacombs of Paris","date":"March 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Can you guess what is the common point between the poet Jean de la Fontaine and one of the main characters of the French Revolution, Robespierre ? Their bones lie at the same place \u2026 in the Parisian Catacombs! Can you believe it? 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