April 13, 2005: Few women have 20,000 admirers visit them every day, yet “Mona Lisa” seems positively blasé about it. Ensconced behind 4-centimeter-thick glass, La Joconde, as Leonardo’s iconic painting is known in France, has a high-tech new home in the Louvre’s refurbished Salle des Etats, now renamed the Salle de la Joconde. Redone in tones of beige and lit from above, the room also houses over 50 Venetian Renaissance paintings, including “The Marriage at Cana” by Veronese.

The French take chocolate seriously, and Paris is home to several great chocolatiers. Although there are dozens to choose from, the five purveyors we list here are unusually distinguished for excellence and originality.

Pierre Hermé
In his tireless quest for the new, the pastries can sometimes flounder, but the chocolate never wavers. Assortments of dark and milk-chocolate bonbons are worth the splurge.

La Maison du Chocolat
This is the gold standard of chocolate. Robert Linx's silky ganaches are unparalleled in subtlety and flavor. The pastries -- notably the macarons -- are icing on the cake.