Property laws have kept away cafés and other such banal establishments from this snobbish and gorgeous plaza, leaving it stately and refined, and the perfect home for the rich and famous. Chopin lived and died at No. 12; today's celebs camp out at the Hotel Ritz at No. 15, where Hemingway's Bar serves up some of the best martinis in Paris.

With its granite pavement and Second Empire street lamps, Jules-Hardouin Mansart's perfectly proportioned example of 17th-century urban architecture shines in all its golden-stone splendor. To maintain a uniform appearance, Mansart first built only the facades of the hôtels particuliers (mansions) and the lots behind were then sold to buyers who custom-tailored their palaces. In the square's center, a statue of Napoléon tops the massive column, which was knocked down (into a pile of manure, no less) and shattered in 1871 by painter Gustave Courbet and his band of revolutionary hooligans. The Third Republic stuck the pieces together again and sent him the bill.