PARIS (AFP).- The sun sets on another day in Paris as the French tricolour flutters from the Elysee Palace and the iconic Eiffel Tower stabs the skyline in the distance.

The lights are on in the office of the French president, a post currently held by Emmanuel Macron, where a grand chandelier can be seen shimmering through the windows.

Rising up, a high aerial view shows the Elysee Palace nestled in its busy neighbourhood on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in central Paris but enjoying the space of its famous front courtyard and acres of back gardens.

Other great Parisian landmarks can also be seen, such as the Grand Palais exhibition, the Invalides memorial where Napoleon and other French luminaries are buried or the modern Montparnasse Tower.

The new views of the Elysee Palace have been revealed by images taken by a drone sent into the skies of Paris by AFP.

Also shown is the 1,000 square metre main reception room, known as the Salle des Fetes or Hall of Festivities, which have recently been renovated and hosts some 160 events a year including state dinners that bring together thousands of people.

The necessary permission to fly the drone was granted by the French authorities after the idea was originally floated in November and the drone finally went up in the last days of winter for several days from March 11 to 13.

"Despite capricious meterological conditions, with sun and rain and wind with gusts of up to 70 km/h we managed to finish the filming in three days," said AFP photographer Eric Feferberg.

Macron was on a trip abroad at the time of the filming.

The building -- originally known as the Hotel d'Evreux -- was constructed in the 1720s for a French aristocrat and only became the office of the French president from the mid-nineteenth century.


© Agence France-Presse