After two consecutive years with attendance exceeding 11 million, France’s national monuments set a new all-time record in 2025, welcoming 12 million visitors for the first time in their history, according to figures from the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN).
Year 2025 was marked by several major highlights, including the reopening of the towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. Since September, visitors have once again been able to climb the cathedral’s towers, with 110,017 people discovering the newly redesigned visitor route.
Paris and iconic heritage sites across the country continued to draw large crowds. The Arc de Triomphe on the top of Paris Champs-Elysées remained the most visited monument with 1,852,271 visitors, followed by the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel with 1,627,042 visitors, and Sainte-Chapelle in Paris with 1,333,286 visitors.
Cathedral towers and bellfreys as well as treasuries proved especially popular in 2025. Visitor numbers to the towers of Amiens Cathedral surged by 95 percent, reaching 26,564 visitors. Chartres Cathedral recorded a 74 percent increase with 24,511 visitors. The towers of Reims Cathedral also saw strong growth, up 43 percent to 16,262 visitors. Meanwhile, the House of fmaed writer George Sand in Central France, welcomed 45,642 visitors, representing a 23 percent increase year over year.
Several Parisian monuments also posted significant gains. The Conciergerie – the last prison of French King Louis XVI and family, recorded a 24 percent rise in attendance with 773,303 visitors, while the Pantheon monument welcomed 1,117,705 visitors, an increase of 21 percent.
Anniversary celebrations further boosted visitor numbers. Festivities marking the 500th anniversary of the Château d’Azay-le-Rideau attracted 320,786 visitors, while the Villa Cavrois, celebrating ten years since opening to the public, received 115,435 visitors and welcomed its one-millionth visitor in May.
Buoyed by this strong performance, the CMN plans to continue renewing visitor experiences, including updated tour routes at the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis (151,457 visitors) near Paris, expanded historical re-furnishing projects such as at the Queen’s Dairy at the Château of Rambouillet (79,138 visitors), a diversified cultural program, and new visitor services, including restaurants and shops at Mont-Saint-Michel.
