Winged Victory of Samothrace
A headless, armless goddess who still looks caught mid-landing in a gale.
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A 2.75m Nike from c. 200-190 BC, alighting on a warship's prow, her drapery pressed wet against the body and streaming behind. No head or arms needed to feel the wind.
What to look for
- Two marbles: her body in white Parian marble, the ship's prow beneath her feet in grey Lartos marble from Rhodes.
- Her real right hand, found on site in July 1950 and now displayed beside the statue.
- The single flared 'alula' feather restored to the left wing, at the angle a bird's holds when landing.
She has stood atop the Louvre's Daru staircase since 1884.
Winged Victory of Samothrace is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Paris, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Paris pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Paris
- Eiffel TowerThe 300-metre iron tower Parisian artists petitioned against before it was even finished.
- Louvre MuseumThe world's most-visited museum lives inside a 12th-century fortress that became a royal palace.
- Notre-Dame de ParisThe spire fell on live TV in April 2019; since December 2024 you can walk back inside.
- Musée d'OrsayVan Gogh and Monet hung inside a Beaux-Arts station built for the Paris–Orléans railway.
- Champs-ÉlyséesA single 1.9-km straight line runs from the Concorde obelisk to the Arc de Triomphe — Paris's ceremonial spine on the Axe historique.
- Place de la BastilleThe prison that lit a revolution is gone — and the mob that stormed it on 14 July 1789 came for gunpowder, not the seven forgotten men inside.