The European Quarter and the Orangerie

European Court of Human Rights

The riverside home of the European Court of Human Rights, opened in 1995 to a design by Richard Rogers.

You are on the riverbank beside the European Court of Human Rights, a building that opened in 1995 to a design by Richard Rogers, the British architect who also co-created the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Look at how it curls along the Ill like a long glass and stone ship instead of rising in a straight block. The two cylindrical towers that frame the entrance suggest the two pans of a set of scales, the balance of justice, and the great glass hall behind them says a court should stay open to everyone. This court watches over the European Convention on Human Rights, signed by 46 countries. It is a working court, not a walk-in attraction, so on this walk you see it from outside. When you are ready, turn and face the tall glass tower across the water.

European Parliament

The glass and sandstone seat of the European Parliament, free to enter with a valid ID.

You are outside the Louise Weiss building, the seat of the European Parliament. The tower mixes glass and sandstone, and the chamber below it, the hemicycle, is where the Parliament's members sit during plenary sessions. You can go inside, and it is free. The Parliament is open Monday to Saturday and closed Sunday.

On weekdays the doors open at 9 and close at 6 in the evening; on Saturday it opens at 9:30, closes from noon to 1, then reopens until 6, with the last entry at 5. Bring a valid physical ID, a passport or a national identity card, because photocopies and phone photos of documents are not accepted. No booking is needed if you come on your own. Inside you can see the hemicycle, the Parlamentarium Simone Veil and the exhibitions, with a multimedia guide in all 24 official languages of the Union.

The Parliament only moved here in 1999; before that it sat in the Palais de l'Europe, your next stop.

Palace of Europe

The Council of Europe's 1977 headquarters, a pink concrete fortress by Henry Bernard.

This is the Palais de l'Europe, home of the Council of Europe since it opened on 28 January 1977. The French architect Henry Bernard shaped it, from the outside, as a fortress of glass, aluminium and pink concrete, meant to suggest the solidity of the member countries working together, with a gentler, more curved interior. The chamber at its centre is where the Parliamentary Assembly meets, and for years this same hemicycle was borrowed by the European Parliament until it moved into its own building in 1999. You can go inside here too, but not by just walking up.

Visits are free and must be booked ahead. Groups start at 15 people, and a lone visitor can join an already registered group if there is room, by phoning the visitors' service. The building is open Monday to Friday and closed on weekends and French public holidays.