- Municipal museums have an asterisk in front of their name
- The light grey letters in the alphabet indicate that there is no museum under that letter
L'Adresse/Musée de la Poste
34 boulevard de Vaugirard
15th arrondissement
metro Montparnasse-Bienvenuë or Pasteur
bus 28, 48, 88, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96
Monday-Saturday 10-18 www.ladressemuseedelaposte.com
History of mail and postage stamps in France. In 11 rooms you will find anything on mail, postage, postmen, letter boxes, mail coaches, telegraph and other means of communication. There are also designs by famous artists for stamps. You start your visit on the 5th floor and descent to the ground floor.
Maison de l'Air
27 rue Piat
20th arrondissement
metro Pyrénées or Couronne
Tuesday-Friday 13.30-17
Permanent exhibition at the Parc de Belville on the quality of air in Paris in seven themes, such as history of the atmosphere, pollution and the weather in Europe.
A weather station provides direct information on the pollution at that time.
Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace
Aéroport de Paris-Le Bourget
Autoroute A1, exit 5 - Le Bourget
metro RER B3 from Gare du Nord to Le Bourget
bus 350
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 (April-September), 10-17 (October- March)
restaurant l'Hélice, cafetaria
www.mae.org
This museum is about French aviation history. There are 150 military and civilian aircraft on display in hangars. There are two Concordes, the 001 and the Sierra Delta, and you can see a Boeing 747 from the inside. A new building (2007) is exclusively equipped with helicopters and an exhibition on ‘vertical flying’, from Leonardo da Vinci’s helicopter to the latest equipment. There is also a section dedicated to space and a planetarium. Charles Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget after his first trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.
Musée des années 30
28 avenue André Morizet, Boulogne-Billancourt
metro Marcel Sembat or Boulogne-Jean-Jaurès
Tuesday - Sunday 11-17.45 www.annees30.com
Art collection of artists from the thirties. Everything on painting, sculpture, film and industry.
Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine 1 place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre
16th arrondissement
metro Trocadéro or Iéna
bus 22, 30, 32, 63
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and weekends 11-19, Thursday until 21 www.citechaillot.fr
Largest architecture museum in the world, opened in 2007. It is located in a wing of the Palais de Chaillot, an art-deco complex in which also the CinéAqua and the Théâtre National de Chaillot are housed. The ground floor contains casts of French medieval and Renaissance buildings and scale models of monuments. Moreover, you will find models and plans of existing buildings.
The new museum is an amalgamation of three existing organizations. The Musée des Monuments Français was set up in the 19th century by architect Viollet-le-Duc for a collection of plaster casts of mostly medieval architecture. The Institut Français de l'Architecture (IFA) was active in the renewal of French architecture from 1850. The Ecole de Chaillot is a training institute for architectural heritage.
Musée de l'Armée
129 rue de Grenelle
7th arrondissement
metro Latour-Maubourg or Invalides
bus 28, 63, 69, 80, 82, 83, 87, 92, 93
daily except the first Monday of the month, 10–18 (April-September), 10-17 (October-March), Tuesday until 21
café
www.invalides.org
Museum on war in art and history from the stone age. There are more than 50,000 documents to view: weapons and armor, banners, artillery, toy soldiers. In addition, information on the military life of Napoleon and documents from the First and Second World War. Objects, films, photographs and texts explain the historical events.
The Modern Department (Louis XIV till Napoleon III), is closed for renovation until the end of 2009.
Pavillon de l'Arsenal
21 boulevard Morland
4th arrondissement
metro Sully-Morland or Bastille
bus 67, 86, 87
Tuesday-Saturday 10.30-18.30, Sunday 11-19
café de l'Arsenal
www.pavillon-arsenal.com
Museum of architecture in Paris dedicated to the modern and historical history of the city. Explanation of ideas and plans on urban development and external developments that have made Paris what it is. Innovative architecture, new techniques, historical and current documents, models and film give a picture of the evolution of the architecture of the city.
On the top floor you can check video resources and a documentation center.
Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
71 rue du Temple
3rd arrondissement
metro Hôtel de Ville or Rambuteau
bus 29, 38, 47, 75
Monday-Friday 11-18, Sunday 10-18
café www.mahj.org
Museum on the development of the Jewish community in Europe, located in the 17th century Hôtel de Saint-Aignan. The collection includes ancient and contemporary pieces of Jewish culture, arranged by religion (Torah, festivals, synagogue), Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews, diaspora (Middle Ages, Renaissance, 18th century) and contemporary Judaism (Anti-Semitism, Zionism, deportation).
* Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
11 avenue du Président Wilson
16th arrondissement
metro Alma-Marceau or Iéna bus 32, 42, 63, 72, 80, 92
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18, Thursday (during exhibitions only) until 22
café www.mam.paris.fr
Municipal collection of French modern art of the 20th century in one of the wings of the Palais de Tokyo. The collection is shown chronologically: from fauvists through cubists to contemporary French modern art movements. Famous works include Danse de Paris by Matisse and La Fée Electricité by Raoul Dufy, one of the biggest paintings in the world, on a canvas of 600 m2.
Musée des Arts Décoratifs
107 rue de Rivoli
1st arrondissement
metro Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre, Tuileries or Pyramides
bus 21, 27, 39, 48, 68, 72, 81, 95
Tuesday-Sunday 11-18, weekends from 10, Thursday until 21
restaurant Le Saut du Loup
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr
Museum collection of furniture, textiles, wallpaper, china, toys and jewelry from the Middle Ages to the present day. The collection consists of 150,000 items, of which nearly 6000 are displayed. The museum is located in the northwest wing of the Louvre in 2006 and was reopened after an extensive renovation that lasted 10 years.
On the ground floor and 1st floor you will find toys and jewelry. On the remaining floors the objects are exhibited chronologically from the Middle Ages on the 2nd floor to objects from the nineteen-forties on the 8th floor.
There are 10 rooms of different style periods whose content comes from various private and public buildings throughout France. For example, the Cabinet doré d'Avignon from the Hôtel de Rochegude in Provence, a Louis XVI room from the Hôtel de Serres on the place Vendôme, the art-nouveau pavilion of the World Exhibition in 1900 and the Art Deco bedroom with bathroom of couturier Jeanne Lanvin in 1920.
You can visit the museum in a virtual tour.
Musée des Arts forains
53 avenue des Terroirs de France
12th arrondissement
metro Cour Saint-Emilion
bus 24, 62
groups only, advance reservation required Musée des Arts forains
Private collection of fairground attractions that Jean-Paul Favand collected over thirty years. There are roundabouts, carved carousel horses, hundred years old bicycles, barrels, swings and shooting galleries.
Musée des Arts et Métiers
60 rue Reaumur
3rd arrondissement
metro Reaumur-Sebastopol or Arts et Métiers
bus 20, 38, 39, 47
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18, Thursday until 21.30
café-restaurant A Toutes Vapeurs www.arts-et-metiers.net
History of art models and full size appliances. There is a tour of seven sections: scientific instruments, materials, construction, communication, energy, machinery and transport. Each department has a chronological structure.
If you want to know about microscopes, printing, construction of bridges and stairs, windmills, steam engines, lifting equipment, old cars, the Foucault pendulum, the calculator of Pascal, the cinema of Lumière and much more, this is your place. There are free demonstrations (including the pendulum of Foucault) and guided tours.
The museum was founded in 1794 as a repository for scientific instruments and inventions and is located in the Eglise Saint-Martin-des-Champs. The metro station Arts-et-Métiers was completely coated with copper after an idea of Belgian artist François Schuiten. It feels as if you are in a great engine.
Musée de l'Assistance Publique et des Hôpitaux de Paris
47 Quai de la Tourelle
5th arrondissement
metro Maubert-Mutualité or Cité
bus 24, 47, 63, 86, 87
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.aphp.fr
Museum about the history of hospitals from the Middle Ages until today. It is housed in Hôtel de Miramion from 1630, where since 1812 the central pharmacy of the Paris hospitals was established. There are 8000 items available in the form of paintings, prints, instruments and medical-technical equipment.
Galerie-Musée Baccarat
11 place des Etats-Unis
16th arrondissement
metro Iéna or Boissière
bus 32, 63
Monday and Wednesday-Saturday 10-18.30
restaurant Cristal Room
www.baccarat.fr
Luxury and refinement in the museum of crystal. Glasses, vases, lamps, dishes and jewelry by famous designers, one object is even more beautiful than the other. The company Baccarat, originally from Lorraine, created crystal for princes, kings, emperors, presidents and other wealthy people from around the world since 1764. The interior is decorated by Philippe Starck. There is an expensive restaurant and a shop.
* Maison de Balzac 47 rue Raynouard
16th arrondissement
metro Passy or La Muette
bus 32, 50, 70, 72
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.balzac.paris.fr
Former home of writer Honoré de Balzac with his office, paintings, manuscripts and personal belongings from the 19 th century. Balzac lived here from 1840-1847 under the name ‘Monsieur de Breugnol’ to escape his creditors and he often made use of the second exit in the garden to the rue Berton. Friends had to use a password to enter his house. Balzac wrote La Comédie Humaine in this house.
* Musée Bourdelle
18 rue Antoine Bourdelle
15th arrondissement
metro Montparnasse-Bienvenuë or Falguière
bus 28, 48, 58, 88, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.bourdelle.paris.fr
Former house and garden of sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), a pupil of Rodin. Displayed are photographs and over 500 sculptures in marble, bronze and plaster. There are also studies (including 21 of Beethoven), casts and models to show how a sculpture is made. In the garden are also works by Bourdelle.
Atelier Brancusi
place Georges Pompidou
4th arrondissement
metro Hôtel de Ville, Châtelet or Rambuteau
bus 21, 29, 38, 47, 58, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 81, 85, 96
Wednesday-Monday 14-18 www.centrepompidou.fr
Studio of sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) on the piazza in front of the Pompidou Center. It was rebuilt after his studio in the impasse Ronsin in Montparnasse, where he worked for more than 30 years. He left everything in the studio to the French government, who rebuilt the studio. All objects from the former studio have a place in the new Atelier: Brancusi's sculptures, his home-made furniture and his tools. Photographs show what the studio looked like in the course of time.
Musée Pierre Cardin 33 boulevard Victor Hugo, Saint-Ouen
metro 13 (Mairie de Saint-Ouen)
bus 137, 166, 173
Wednesday, Friday, weekends 14-17, advance reservation required www.pierrecardin.com
Pierre Cardin has his own museum since November 2006. You can find it in Saint-Ouen, north of Paris, just outside the Périphérique.
Cardin (86) has been a part of the fashion world for over sixty years. He founded the museum with the intention to leave behind something of his work. Among his personal collection of designs you can find coats from the fifties, mini skirts from the sixties, clothing for the athletes of the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, but also hats, shoes, eyeglasses, jewelry and furniture designed by Cardin.
There are 130 shop-window mannequins in the museum dressed in the characteristic style of his designs, which were particularly revolutionary in the sixties. At that time he designed clothes with geometric blocks and a Space-Age collection of astronaut suits, helmets and goggles.
* Musée Carnavalet
23 rue de Sévigné
3rd arrondissement
metro Chemin Vert or Saint-Paul
bus 29, 69, 76, 96
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.carnavalet.paris.fr
Museum dedicated to the history of Paris from prehistoric times until today. Located in two buildings in the Marais: Hôtel Carnavalet and Hôtel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, which are linked by a gallery on the first floor. Madame de Sévigné has lived in the Hôtel Carnavalet for 20 years. There is a garden in the courtyard. Through furniture, paintings, documents and models, you get an excellent picture of the history of the city.
There are more than 100 exhibition rooms and fully furnished period rooms of important people in history. Downstairs the presentation starts with the prehistory, with interesting models that show the emergence and growth of Paris. For example, models of the Ile de la Cité in the 16th and 17th century, of Notre Dame in the 19th century and the old Palais du Trocadéro. The further you go up, the further you travel in time: Middle Ages, Renaissance, French Revolution, Commune and 20th century.
You can have a rest in the beautiful courtyard.
Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain 261 boulevard Raspail
14th arrondissement
metro Raspail or Denfert-Rochereau
bus 38, 58, 68, 89
Tuesday 11-22, Wednesday-Sunday 11-20 www.fondation.cartier.fr
Building of glass and steel with a glass wall overlooking the street, designed by architect Jean Nouvel. Inside is an exhibition space for contemporary art. Except for the ground floor, you cannot visit the rest of the building. Around the building is a nice garden. In front stands a big Lebanon cedar.
Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson
2 impasse Leboui
14th arrondissement
metro Gaïté or Edgard Quinet
bus 28, 58, 88
Tuesday-Sunday 13-18.30, Saturday until 18.45, Wednesday until 8.30 www.henricartierbresson.org
Building that is dedicated to the famous photographer (1908-2004) and his enormous collection of photos. Before the war, he worked in Mexico and Eastern Europe and took photographs of the Spanish civil war. In 1944 he registered the liberation of Paris in detail. After the war he traveled to India, Burma, China, Indonesia and Tibet for many years. He made numerous black and white photos of people in their everyday life. Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa founded the Magnum photographers cooperative. He traveled the world and photographed many celebrities, including artists and writers and even Marilyn Monroe.
There are three exhibitions every year, one of Cartier-Bresson and two of other photographers. Upstairs is a conservatory where you can take a rest.
* Les Catacombes de Paris
1 avenue du Colonel Henri Roi-Tanguy
14th arrondissement
metro Denfert-Rochereau
bus 38, 68, 88
Tuesday-Sunday 10-17 www.carnavalet.paris.fr
Located on 10,000 m2 are 6 million bones from graves from Parisian church cemeteries which had become overcrowded in the 18th century. Originally this place was a Roman quarry. Between 1786 and 1810 the skeletons from the church graves were gathered and put in the quarry, including the victims of the French Revolution such as Marat and Robespierre.
Via a spiral staircase you go 200 m below ground, where the bones lie in neat piles, arranged by cemetery of origin but sometimes also displayed in macabre figures. This is only a part of the underground network of 300 km that lies underneath the city. During the Second World War the Catacombes were the headquarters of the French Resistance.
Le Centquatre
104 rue d'Aubervilliers
19th arrondissement
metro Riquet, Crimée or Stalingrad
bus 54, 60
Sunday-Thursday 11-20 uur, Friday and Saturday till 23
café du Centquatre
www.104.fr
Not really a museum, but a center of comtemporary art in a renovated city mortuary of stone, glass and iron that closed in 1997. The center is 39.000 m2 large and is meant as a meeting place of public and artists of all disciplines: architecture, music, theatre, design and dance. It houses a variety of art events such as exhibits of young talents, art forums, fashion shows, showrooms and workshops. The artists' studios in the building can be visited during several hours a day. There is a café, a bookshop, some boutiques and a restaurant.
Musée national de Céramique-Sèvres
2 place de la Manufacture,
Sèvres
metro Pont de Sèvres, then tram T2 Musée de Sèvres
bus 26, 169, 171, 179, 279
Wednesday-Monday 10-17 www.musee-céramique-sevres.fr
History of the manufacture of all types of ceramics since teh Middle Ages, including those of Sèvres porcelain. All manufacturing skills and all types of clay are explained and examples of each method are shown. A short film shows how porcelain is made today.
The museum was formerly part of the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, one of the most famous porcelain factories in the world.
You can visit its shop to buy objects.
* Musée Cernuschi
Musée des arts de l'Asie de la Ville de Paris
7 avenue Velasquez
8th arrondissement
metro Villiers or Monceau
bus 30, 84, 94
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.cernuschi.paris.fr
Henri Cernuschi came from Italy to Paris around 1850 and became a banker. During a trip around the world he collected thousands of objects from China and Japan. He donated his collection to the city of Paris in 1896, along with his mansion at the entrance to the Parc Monceau. The neoclassical building from 1870 houses an important collection of oriental art.
The museum specializes in art and archeology of China (from the origin to the 13th century). There are many masterpieces to be seen from the various cultural periods of the great empires. A Japanese Buddha statue from the 18th century is one of the most notable pieces.
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
62 rue des Archives
3rd arrondissement
metro Hôtel de Ville or Rambuteau
bus
29, 75
Tuesday-Sunday 11-18 www.chassenature.org
Museum on hunting and nature in all kinds of art expressions. You'll find paintings by artists such as Desports, Chardin, and Oudry Vernet, hunting weapons and stuffed animals from Africa, America and Asia, sculptures, carpets and crockery. The works of art are arranged around a particular animal that is surrounded by products associated with that animal.
The museum is housed in the Hôtel de Guénegaud, built by Mansart in the 17th century, and the Hôtel Mongelas, built in the 17th and 18th century. It has an annex in the Château de Chambord in the Loire region.
Choco-Story - Musée Gourmand du Chocolat
28 boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle
10th arrondissement
metro Strasbourg-Saint-Denis
bus 20, 39, 48
every day 10-18 www.museeduchocolat.fr
The history of chocolate in 4000 years, from the Aztecs to the present time. You can see how chocolate is made from the 19th century till now and how production has changed since. In the demonstration center visitors can taste chocolate prepared onsite. In the shop chocolate is for sale.
La Cinémathèque française
51 rue de Bercy
12th arrondissement
metro Bercy
bus 24, 64, 67
Monday-Saturday 12-19. Thursday until 22, Sunday 10-20
restaurant 51
www.cinematheque.fr
Film museum, founded by film collector and film preservationist Henri Langois in the 1930’s. After World War II his collection became a film school for the Nouvelle Vague directors. The museum sits in a building designed by Frank Gehry.
The Cinematèque manages the largest collection of films (20,000), documentaries and articles dealing with film in the world and organizes lectures, exhibitions and performances of films in various themes. There are four screening rooms, several floors of museum space, a multimdia library and an bookstore. If you pay a daily fee you can view one of the 6000 films of the library at one of the video desks.
In the permanent collection Passion Cinema you may follow the history of collecting and preserving movies by way of films, objects, appliances, costumes and archival material.
* Musée Cognacq-Jay
8 rue Elzevir
3rd arrondissement
metro Saint-Paul or Chemin Vert
bus 29, 69, 76, 96
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.cognacq-jay.paris.fr
Interiors, sculptures, porcelain and paintings, mostly from the French 18th century, collected at the beginning of the 19th century by the couple Cognacq-Jay, founders of La Samaritaine department store. The museum is located in the Hôtel Donon, built in the 16th century.
Fondation Le Corbusier
8-10 square du Docteur Blanche
16th arrondissement
metro Jasmin or Michel-Ange Auteuil
bus 22, 32, 52
Monday 13.30-18, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10-18, Friday and Saturday 10-17 www.fondationlecorbusier.fr
Progressive, modern house, built in 1925 by Le Corbusier for art dealer La Roche and Corbusier’s brother Albert Jeanneret. Only the Villa La Roche is on view. The house of Albert Jeanneret is now the office of the Fondation.
The building and interior are still modern after almost 90 years. The exterior of the villa is plastered white, inside the walls have soft tones. Because of the poles that support the ceiling, separation walls could be put up anywhere. Furthermore, the windows are wide and a rising path leads to the library space. The famous chaise longue by Le Corbusier (1929) can be found on the landing.
* Crypte archéologique du Parvis Notre-Dame
7 Parvis Notre-Dame/place Jean-Paul II
4th arrondissement
metro Cité or Saint-Michel
bus 21, 38, 47, 85, 96
Tuesday-Sunday, 10-18 www.carnavalet.paris.fr
Remains of buildings from antiquity and the 19th century can be found under the square in front of Notre-Dame. You will see pieces of Roman quays, medieval cellars and shops, the foundation of the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Ardennes church, a 18th-century orphanage and a 19th-century sewer.
The square in front of Notre-Dame was called Parvis Notre-Dame until September 2006. Since then, the name of Pope Paul II was added.
Espace Dalí Montmartre
11 rue Poulbot 18th arrondissement
metro Anvers or Abbesses + funiculaire
bus 54, 80, Montmartrobus
daily 10-18 www.daliparis.com
Museum dedicated to the art works of Dalí in his later period. On display are mainly sketches, illustrations and sculptures from the nineteen sixties and seventies.
Musée Dapper
35 rue Paul Valéry
16th arrondissement
metro Victor Hugo or Kléber
bus 52, 82
Wednesday-Monday 11-19
café
www.dapper.com.fr
Museum named after Olfert Dapper, born in Amsterdam in 1635 and author of the book Description de l'Afrique, still a standard work for Africa connoisseurs. The museum holds African and Caribbean art and paintings, sculptures and photographs. There are also performances of African dance and music.
Palais de la Découverte
avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt
8th arrondissement
metro Champs Elysées-Clemenceau or Franklin D. Roosevelt
bus 28, 32, 42, 49, 72, 73, 80, 83, 93
Tuesday-Saturday 9.30-18, Sunday 10-19 www.palais-decouverte.fr
Science museum in a wing of the Grand Palais with designs from the time of Leonoardo da Vinci until today. Designs and audiovisual equipment bring the collection to life and answer scientific questions. There are permanent exhibitions on astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics and geology and in the Planète Terre department you will find the latest developments in the meteorological field.
Musée Delacroix 6 rue de Furstenberg
6th arrondissement
metro Saint-Germain-des-Prés
bus 39, 63, 70, 86, 95, 96
Wednesday-Monday 9.30-17 www.musee-delacroix.fr
Museum about painter Eugène Delacroix, who lived and worked in this building for six years until his death in 1863. At the time he painted frescoes in the Chapelle des Anges of the nearby Saint-Sulpice church.
The museum contains paintings, watercolors and drawings by Delacroix, but also letters and pictures of his friends including Baudelaire, Georges Sand and Gautier.
Musée des Egouts
opposite 93 quai d'Orsay, near the Pont de l'Alma
7th arrondissement
metro Alma-Marceau
bus 28, 63, 93
Saturday-Wednesday 11-16 (October-April), 11-17 (May-September) Musée des égouts
The sewer system that goes through Paris can be followed via an engineered trail in part of the underground network of 2100 km. The system was built under Hausmann in the 19th century. An exhibition shows machinery used in the sewer.
Musée de l'Erotisme 72 boulevard de Clichy
18th arrondissement
metro Blanche
bus 74, 68
daily 10-02 www.musee-erotisme.com
Seven floors of erotic art and objects in Montmartre. On the second floor, you will find a collection of 2000 documents, photographs and drawings on brothels from the end of the 19th century until 1946. On the top floor a display of contemporary erotic art can be seen. Furthermore, the museum has objects and images from different cultures dealing with sex and reproduction.
Maison Européenne de la Photographie
5-7 rue de Fourcy
4th arrondissement
metro Saint-Paul or Pont-Marie
bus 67, 69, 76, 96
Wednesday-Sunday 11-20
café
www.mep-fr.org
Center for contemporary photo art from 1950 till now, in temporary exhibitions. There is also a library, a bookstore and an auditorium.
There are five video terminals where you can check films, photographs and artists' portraits. The museum is situated in a 18th century 'hôtel particulier'.
Musée du Fumeur
7 rue Pache
11th arrondissement
metro Voltaire
bus 46, 56, 61, 69
Tuesday-Saturday 12.30-19 www.museedufumeur.net
Arts, books, articles and photographs from around the world that deal with smokers and smoking. The cultivation and processing of tobacco, smoking equipment since the 17th century, and portraits of smokers.
* Musée Galliéra
Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris
10 avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie
16th arrondissement
metro Iéna or Alma-Marceau
bus 32, 42, 63, 72, 80, 82, 92
Tuesday to Sunday 10-18 (during exhibitions only) www.galliera.paris.fr
Closed for renovation until the spring of 2011
Fashion museum in the former palace of the Duchess Galliéra from the 19th century. The museum has a collection of 90,000 pieces from the 19th century to the present day. There is clothing for men, women and children, but also accessories such as hats, bags, gloves, jewelry and shoes. Because the collection is very fragile, the documents are shown in two temporary exhibitions per year.
Historial Charles de Gaulle 129 rue de Grenelle (in the Musée de l'Armée)
7th arrondissement
metro Latour-Maubourg or Invalides
bus 28, 63, 69, 80, 82, 83, 87, 92, 93
Tuesday-Sunday, 10-17 (October-March), 10-18 (April-September) Historial Charles de Gaulle
Modern museum that contains images, films and sound fragments, dedicated to General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970). He was the leader of the Free French in World War II, founder of the Fifth Republic and President of France from 1959 to 1969.
The Historial was opened in February 2008. It consists of a room in an inverted and submerged dome where on five screens a film about De Gaulle is shown. Around this room a permanent exhibition on life and work of De Gaulle can be seen in film and radio clips, in such a way that it feels like walking around in history. Three doors symbolize three important turning points in the career of De Gaulle: his radio speech on the BBC in 1940 where he announced to continue to fight against Germany, the liberation of Paris in 1944 and the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1959. You can listen to movies and clips with an audio guide.
Galerie des Gobelins 42 avenue des Gobelins
13th arrondissement
metro Gobelins
bus 27, 47, 83, 91
Tuesday-Sunday 12.30-18.30 Manufacture des Gobelins
In 2007, the Galerie des Gobelins opened after a renovation of more than 30 years. The Gallery is used for temporary exhibitions and is part of the Manufacture des Gobelins, the Beauvais et de la Savonnerie.
Grand Palais
3 avenue du Général Eisenhower
8th arrondissement
metro Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau or Franklin D. Roosevelt
bus 28,42, 52, 72, 73, 80, 83, 93
during exhibitions only, see website for actual opening hours www.grandpalais.fr
Exhibition building for international exhibitions (there is no permanent collection). The palace was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, and reopened in 2005 after a renovation that lasted 12 years. The interior is beautiful and worth a visit, but until now, there are only temporary exhibitions. The Nef in the center with its glass roof is beautiful, but can only be viewed if you visit an exhibition that is held in the Nef.
You can visit the Grand Palais in a virtual tour.
Grévin
10 boulevard Montmartre
9th arrondissement
metro Grands Boulevards
bus 20, 39, 48, 67, 74, 85
Monday-Friday 10-18.30, Saturday, weekends 10-19 www.grevin.com
Wax museum, named after one of its founders. The museum works with themes. In the Théâtre du Tout Paris you wil find French political figures and movie stars, the Grévin Collection has images of dead but also living figures, Les clichés du 20th century show the main events of the 20th century. In the Palais des Images you can watch shows by means of mirrors, sound and light.
Musée des Arts asiatiques-Guimet
6 place d'Iéna
16th arrondissement
metro Iéna
bus 22, 30, 32, 63, 82
Wednesday-Monday 10-16
café
Panthéon Bouddhique: 19 avenue d'Iéna www.guimet.fr
The museum was founded in 1889 by industrial and East Asia specialist Emile Guimet to house his collection of Chinese and Japanese religious art. Later the oriental collection of the Louvre was added. The museum now houses about 45,000 items. The objects are displayed by country and in chronological order on five floors in the middle of which is a large staircase. The emphasis is on the division of Asia into two cultures: India and China.
A terrace with a beautiful view is on the 3rd floor. There is also an Asian restaurant. In the Panthéon Bouddhique further down the avenue d’Iéna is a department with Chinese and Japanese Buddhist art of the 6th to the 19th century. Take a look at the Japanese garden with high bambu canes and a teahouse.
You can look at the collection in a virtual tour.
Musée Jean-Jacques Henner
43 avenue de Villiers
17th arrondissement
metro Malesherbes or Wagram
bus 94
Wednesday till Monday 11-18 www.musee-henner.fr
Musem of portrait painter Henner (1829-1905) in the studio of fellow painter Edouard Louis Dubufe, near Parc Monceau. The six rooms are hung by paintings, medals, photographs and drawings by Henner, including many portraits. The museum was reopened in 2009 after four years of renovation.
Musée de l'Histoire de la France
60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois
3rd arrondissement
metro Hôtel de Ville or Saint-Paul
bus 29, 58, 67, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 96
Wednesday-Monday 10-12.30 and 14-17.30, weekends 14-17.30 musée de l'Histoire de France
Museum of the history of France, based on objects, paintings and documents that are in possession of the national archives. It is located in the magnificent Hôtel de Soubise from 1705. This museum has the farewell letter of Marie-Antoinette that she wrote before she went to the guillotine. It also contains the testament of Louis XVI, documents of Danton, Robespierre and Napoleon I and the keys of the former Bastille prison. One of the most beautiful rooms is the Salon de la Princesse, an oval room with frescoes by Boucher, Van Loo and Natoire.
You can visit the museum in a virtual tour.
Cité nationale de l'Histoire de l'Immigration – Aquarium Tropical
293 avenue Daumesnil
12th arrondissement
metro Porte-Dorée
bus 46
Tuesday-Friday 10-17.30, weekends 10-19
aquarium: same opening hours www.histoire-immigration.fr
Since 2007, this museum houses the Palais de la Porte Dorée after a thorough renovation of the building. It is both a museum and a center of culture with performances, films and conferences on the history and culture of immigrants in France from 1830 until the present day.
The building was built for the World Exhibition in 1931 in Art Deco style. First it was used as the musée des Colonies, then the musée des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie, and now the immigration museum. The art collection of Africa and Oceania was transferred to the new Quai Branly museum in 2003. The Aquarium (also from 1931) in the basement is considered among the best of the world.
Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle
36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
5th arrondissement
metro Jussieu or Austerlitz
bus 24, 57, 61, 63, 67, 89, 91
Wednesday-Monday 10-17, Saturday 10-20
café-restaurant La Baleine www.mnhn.fr
Natural history museum in the Jardin des Plantes. The museum has several interesting and well-designed sections. In the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution (with a glass roof) you will find everything about the evolution of humans and animals from micro-organisms to walruses. In the Galeries de Minéralogie et de Géologie minerals and meteorites from around the world are exhibited as well as art objects and jewelry with precious stones of the French monarchy. In the Galerie de Paléontologie 36,000 remains of vertebrate animals can be found including a fossil collection. For both children and adults this is a surprising museum.
Musée de l'Homme
17 place du Trocadéro (in the Palais de Chaillot)
16th arrondissement
metro Trocadéro
bus 22, 30, 32, 63, 72, 82
Wednesday-Monday 10-17, weekends 10-18
café Le Totem www.mnhn.fr
The museum is closed for renovation until 2012.
Museum about man, built in 1937 for the World Exhibition. It evolved from the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro in 1878. The evolution of man is followed from a biological, cultural and social point of view. In 2000, more than 500,000 pieces from the collection were transferred to the new Musée du Quai Branly.
*Maison de Victor Hugo
6 place des Vosges
4th arrondissement
metro Saint-Paul or Chemin-Vert
bus 20, 29, 65, 69, 96
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.musee-hugo.paris.fr
Former home of poet and author Victor Hugo with manuscripts and personal belongings. Hugo lived here from 1832 to 1848. His drawings (1st floor), furniture from every house he lived in, home-made furniture (2nd floor), portraits, busts and photographs of Hugo and his family are on display. He started writing his novel Les Miserables in this building.
The museum sits in the Hôtel de Rohan-Guémenée, a 17th-century mansion and one of the biggest houses in place des Vosges (formerly called place Royale).
Musée de l'Informatique Grande Arche de la Défense
Esplanade de la Défense
metro Esplanade de la Défense or La Défense-Grande Arche
bus 73, 141, 144, 159, 161, 174, 178, 258, 262, 272
daily 10-20 www.museeinformatique.fr
The museum is closed for repair of the elevators until August 2010
This science museum opened in April 2008 and is situated on the roof of the Grande Arche. There are 250 computers, heavy ones from the 1950’s to lightweight laptops. Also, you will find the first video games, portable phones and modems. Apart from the permanent collection there are also temporary exhibitions.
Musée Jacqemart-André 158 boulevard Hausmann
8th arrondissement
metro Miromesnil
bus 22, 28, 43, 52, 54, 80, 83, 84, 93
daily 10-18
café-restaurant www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Beautiful mansion of the 19th century couple Jacquemart-André in which they stored their art collection. After their death they left the building to the city of Paris on the condition that it would become a museum.
There is a huge collection of paintings by great masters such as Rembrandt, Van Dijck, Ruysdael, Botticelli, Uccello and David. Furthermore, you will find furniture, tapestries, frescoes and even coaches in a hall that once was illuminated by 1000 candles.
Galeries Nationales du Jeu de Paume
1 place de la Concorde (entrance on the side of the rue de Rivoli)
1st arrondissement
metro Concorde
bus 24, 42, 52, 72, 73, 84, 94
Tuesday 12-21, Wednesday-Friday 12-19, weekends 10-19
café www.jeudepaume.org
An annex is in the Hôtel de Sully:
24 rue Saint-Antoine
3rd arrondissement
metro Saint-Paul or Bastille
Tuesday-Friday 12-19, weekends 10-19
Gallery for exhibitions of photography, film, video and audiovisual arts. All year round there are exhibitions of photography, film and audio artists. The Jeu de Paume is a merger of the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, the Center National de la Photographie and the Patrimoine photographique.
The gallery was built in the 18th century as a kind of tennis court. Since 1909 it is an exhibition space and after the Second World War it became a museum for impressionist painting. In 1986, that collection went to the Musée d'Orsay and the Jeu de Paume is now a modern photo gallery. The gallery has an annex in the Hôtel de Sully in the Marais.
Espace Albert Kahn
10-14 rue du Port, Boulogne-Billancourt
metro 10 (station Boulogne-Pont de Saint-Cloud)
bus 52 or 72
Tuesday-Sunday 11-19 (May-September), 11-18 (October-April) www.albert-kahn.fr
Museum founded by banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn (1860-1940). It contains a huge collection of autochrome color photographs and films from 50 countries all over the world. He sent photographers to these countries to make pictures of various cultures. Kahn was a humanist and idealist. He believed that leading financiers, artists and scientists could play a role in promoting understanding between cultures and world peace.
Kahn’s collection Les Archives de la Planète consists of 72,000 fascinating photographs and 183,000 meters of 35 mm film, shot between 1908 and 1930. The museum is housed in a beautiful building with extensive gardens in the style of different countries and regions. It includes a Japanese garden, a greenhouse with palm trees (with a salon de thé), an English garden, and a ‘foret bleue’.
* Mémorial Leclerc - Musée Jean Moulin
23 allée de la 2e DB (Jardin Atlantique)
15th arrondissement
metro Montparnasse-Bienvenuë
bus 28, 48, 58, 82, 88, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.ml-leclerc-moulin.paris.fr
Memorial and museum of the Second World War and the lives of Marshal Philippe Leclerc and resistance leader Jean Moulin during the occupation and liberation of Paris. The museum is in the Jardin Atlantique on top of the Gare Montparnasse. You can watch a panoramic film on the liberation of Paris in a large room.
Musée de la Légion d'honneur et des ordres de chevalerie
2 rue de la Légion d'honneur
7th arrondissement
metro Solférino or Musée d'Orsay
bus 63, 68, 69, 73, 83, 84, 94
Wednesday-Sunday 13-18
www.musee-legiondhonneur.fr
Museum of the French and foreign orders and decorations and the history of the Légion d'Honneur, the highest French decoration. The museum sits in a modern wing of the beautiful Hôtel de Salm from 1788.
Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits
222 boulevard Saint-Germain
7th arrondissement
metro Rue-du-Bac or Saint-Germain-des-Prés
bus 63, 68, 69, 83, 84, 94
Tuesday till Sunday 10-18, Thursday until 20 www.museedeslettres.fr
Since 2010 this museum is housed in a historic building from the 19th century. Many libraries and editors have had their offices here. The museum has a rich collection of more than 300 letters, photographs and other documents including a love letter of Géricault, a rare score by Mozart and texts of various celebrities such as George Patton, Einstein, Kennedy, Toulouse-Lautrec, De Gaulle and Catherine de 'Medici.
Musée du Louvre
Cour Napoléon
1st arrondissement
metro Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
bus 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95
Monday, Thursday and weekends 9-18, Wednesday and Friday 9-22
for exact opening hours of the departments, see the schedule
restaurant Le Grand Louvre, café du Louvre, les pubs de la Pyramide, café Richelieu, Denon café, café Mollien, café Marly www.louvre.fr
This famous and most visited museum in the world has an art collection from the 7th century BC to the 19th century. There are actually several different museums: Egypt, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans, Middle Ages, Renaissance, the Middle East, Islamic art, interior art and much more.
The best advice: buy a book about the Louvre at home or look on the internet site of the Louvre and choose a collection or collections you would like to visit. It need not always be the most famous works of art. There is always a crowd visiting the famous painting La Joconde (or the Mona Lisa), but lesser known paintings and sculptures are just as (and even more) beautiful. There are hundreds of beautiful paintings on display, such as paintings from the 18th and 19th century in the Grande Galerie. Also, the collection of medieval paintings and the collection of Greek and Roman sculpture are worth a detour.
If you like to avoid the queue outside the glass pyramid of architect Pei, you can buy your tickets in advance via the ticket offices. You can than enter the museum directly by the passage Richelieu, the gallery du Carrousel or the Porte des Lions. The same applies if you have a Museum Pass or a Billet Louvre (10,20 euro). With the Billet Louvre, you can also visit the Musée Delacroix on the same day and you get a 10% discount in the cafés and restaurants of the Louvre.
Musée du Luxembourg
19 rue Vaugirard
6th arrondissement
metro Saint-Sulpice or Odéon
bus 58, 84, 89
Monday and Friday 10.30-22, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10.30-19, Sunday 9.30-19
café Médicis www.museeduluxembourg.fr
The museum is closed for reorganisation until 2011
Built in 1615 on behalf of Maria de ‘Medici’s collection of 24 Rubens paintings. Since then, the building has been a museum. There is no permanent collection, only temporary exhibitions with works from the Renaissance and of modern art between 1887 and 1937.
Musée de la Magie
11 rue Saint-Paul 4th arrondissement
metro Saint-Paul or Sully-Morland
bus 67, 69, 76, 86, 87
Wednesday and weekends 14-19 am and daily during the short school holidays www.museedelamagie.com
Museum on conjuring and magic. There are magic shows and a collection of magic and magical attributes, including the coffin of the girl who was sawed in half. You will find magical machines, secret boxes, optical games and puzzles that visitors can try to solve.
You can visit the museum in a virtual tour.
Musée Maillol Fondation Dina Vierny
61 rue de Grenelle
7th arrondissement
metro Rue du Bac
bus 63, 68, 69, 83, 84
Wednesday-Monday 11-18 www.museemaillol.com
Works by sculptor Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) in a museum that was founded by his former model Dina Vierny. There are sculptures, paintings and drawings by Maillol, but also the art collection of Vierny itself, including primitive paintings and drawings by Braque, Picasso, Cézanne, Rousseau (le Douanier) and Derain. Moreover, you will find 18 sculptures of women by Maillol in the Tuileries Gardens.
Musée national de la Marine
17 place du Trocadero (Palais de Chaillot)
16th arrondissement
metro Trocadéro or Iéna
bus 22, 30, 32, 63, 72, 82
Wednesday-Monday 10-18 www.musee-marine.fr
History of mainly the French navy. Ship models, paintings, uniforms and weapons of the 17th century to the present.
Musee Marmottan Monet
2 rue Louis-Boilly
16th arrondissement
metro La Muette
bus 22, 32, 52, 63
Tuesday 11-21, Wednesday to Sunday 11-18 www.marmottan.com
Museum with three collections: furniture and art objects from the 18th century, medieval sculptures and manuscripts, and paintings of Claude Monet and his contemporaries. Here you will find the picture after which the Impressionists were named: Impression Soleil Levant by Monet. There are also paintings of Degas, Manet and Renoir.
The building is an old hunting pavilion that Jules Marmottan bought in 1882. His son Paul rebuilt it for his own 18th-century art collection. Only later the collection of Monet’s son Michel was added. The medieval works of art were donated by art dealer Daniel Wildenstein in 1981.
Maxim's Art Nouveau Museum The 1900 Collection
3 rue Royale
8th arrondissement
metro Madeleine or Concorde
bus 24, 42, 52, 72, 73, 84, 94
Wednesday-Sunday guided tours only at 14, 15.15 and 16.30 www.maxims-artnouveau-museum.com
Above the famous Maxim's restaurant there are 12 rooms on 2 floors with 550 units of Art Nouveau furniture and trinkets collected by Pierre Cardin. It is as if you were in the apartment of a famous courtesan. You will find silverware, cutlery, furniture, glass, lamps and dishes, designed by celebrities such as Tiffany, Toulouse-Lautrec and Majorelle.
Mémorial de la Shoah
17 rue Geoffroy l'Asnier
metro Saint-Paul or Hôtel de Ville
bus 67, 69, 76, 96
every day except Saturday 10-18, Thursday until 22 www.memorialdelashoah.org
Museum about the Holocaust at the site of the tomb of the unknown Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The museum consists of a comprehensive documentation library, photo library and video library, the largest archives on the history of European Jews during World War II.
Musée de la Minéralogie de l'Ecole des Mines de Paris
60 boulevard Saint-Michel
6th arrondissement
metro Luxembourg
bus 21, 27, 38, 82, 85
Tuesday-Friday 13.30-18, Saturday 10-12.30 and 14-17 www.ensmp.fr
Museum with a huge collection (10,000) of gems, minerals, crystals and meteorites in the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines, founded by Louis XIV in 1783. The museum is housed in the Hôtel Vendôme, a former monastery.
You can visit the museum in a virtual tour.
Musée de la Mode et du Textile
107 rue de Rivoli
1st arrondissement
metro Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre
bus 21, 27, 39, 48, 68, 72, 81, 95
Tuesday-Friday 11-18 (Thursday until 21), weekends 10-18
restaurant Le Saut du Loup
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr
Costume museum with a collection of 16,000 costumes, 35,000 fashion accessories and 30,000 pieces of textile. The museum covers the history of costume from the 17th century to the present. Also, you will find fashion products from great designers such as Schiaparelli, Dior, Lanvin, Dufy and Delaunay. The textile collection includes silk, printed fabrics, lace and embroidery.
Institut du Monde Arabe 1 rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard
5th arrondissement
metro Jussieu or Cardinal-Lemoine
bus 24, 63, 67, 86, 87, 89
Tuesday to Sunday 10-18
café-restaurant Le Ziryab, café littéraire, cafetaria Le Moucharabien www.imarabe.org
The permanent collection is closed for renovation until the 2nd half of 2011
Collection of Arab-Islamic art in a modern building, designed by Jean Nouvel and built in 1987. The building is made of glass and aluminum and in the south facade there are 240 geometric lattices that are designed as photo diaphragms: they open and close to modulate the light that enters the building.
Three floors contain the history of Arab civilization, with boards on calligraphy, fabrics and carpets. Also shown is Spanish and Indian art from the 9th till the 19th century. The institute was founded by France and 20 Arab countries with the aim of mutual understanding and cooperation.
Restaurant is Le Zyriab is on the top floor. From the terrace, you have a beautiful view of Paris.
Musée de la Monnaie
11 quai Conti
6th arrondissement
metro Odéon or Pont-Neuf
bus 24, 27, 58, 70
Tuesday-Friday 11-17.30, weekends 12-17.30 www.monnaiedeparis.fr
The museum is closed for renovation from July 2010 until 2012
The history of French currency from the franc to the euro. In the Hôtel des Monnaies Louis XV founded the Mint, but nowadays the French euros are made in Pessac (Gironde). The museum gives an overview of the coins in France from 300 BC onwards and the art of minting of medals, and shows the instruments that are required. For collectors this is an interesting museum.
Musée de Montmartre
12 rue Cortot 18th arrondissement
metro Abbesses
bus 80 or Montmartrobus
Wednesday-Sunday 11-18 www.museedemontmartre.fr
Located in the old Hôtel de Rosimond near the vineyard in Montmartre. Artists like Renoir, Dufy, Suzanne Valadon and her son Maurice Utrillo lived in this building. The museum shows the history of Montmartre, the artists and cabarets in paintings, drawings, posters, crockery and a scale model of the former village of Montmartre.
Musée du Montparnasse
21 avenue du Maine
15th arrondissement
metro Montparnasse-Bienvenuë or Falguière
bus 28, 48, 58, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96
Tuesday-Sunday 12.30-19 (during exhibitions only) www.museedumontparnasse.net
Museum in the artist studio of artist Marie Vassilieff, who ran a soup kitchen for hungry artists, including Modigliani and Zadkine between 1912 and 1918. The building is situated on a green lane and was built with parts of pavilions of the World Exhibition of 1900. There are temporary exhibitions on the history of Montparnasse as an art center and the artists who have lived there. Since 2003, the work of French sculptor Krajcberg was added to the museum. His themes are nature and environment.
Musee Gustave Moreau
14 rue de la Rochefoucauld
9th arrondissement
metro Trinité or Saint-Georges
bus 32, 43, 49, 67, 68, 74
Wednesday-Monday 10-12.45 and 14-17.15 www.musee-moreau.fr
In this house painter Moreau lived his entire life until 1898. It was designed by his father, who was an architect. Moreau left 1000 oil paintings and 7000 drawings, usually with biblical and mythological scenes. On the first floor you can see his office. On the 2nd floor, the walls are hung with paintings and a beautiful central staircase leads to the 3rd floor with still more paintings. Moreau also taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and had much influence on writers like Proust, Sartre and Oscar Wilde.
Musee National du Moyen Age et Thermes de Cluny
6 place Paul Painlevé
5th arrondissement
metro Cluny-la-Sorbonne, Saint-Michel or Odéon
bus 21, 27, 38, 63, 85, 86, 87
Wednesday-Monday 9.15-17.45 www.musee-moyenage.fr
Late Gothic palace of the monks of Cluny, built on the remains of a Roman bath complex of the 2nd and 3rd century, which was destroyed in the 3rd century. The abbot of Cluny had an inn built at the end of the 15th century for the Benedictine monks who came to visit Paris.
The building became a museum in 1833 when collector Alexandre du Sommerard showed his collection of objects from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In 1842 it became a national museum. Since 2000, there is a garden inspired by plants of the Middle Ages.
Musée de la Musique 221 avenue Jean Jaurès
19th arrondissement
metro Porte de Pantin
bus 75, 151
Tuesday-Saturday 12-18, Sunday 10-18
Café de la Musique www.cite-musique.fr
In this museum in the Parc de la Villette, some 900 musical instruments from the Renaissance to the present day can be seen along an audiovisual route. You will also find paintings and sculptures that have to do with music, and models of operas. Each section has a theme and is accompanied by music, to which you can listen with infrared headphones. You can visit the museum in a virtual tour.
Musée Nissim de Camondo
63 rue de Monceau
8th arrondissement
metro Villiers or Monceau
bus 84, 94
Wednesday-Sunday 10-17.30 www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr
Decorative objects in Louis XVI-style in a city palace of the Camondo family, built in 1914. Count Moïse the Camondo of Turkish-Jewish origin, was a collector of classical 18th-century art, including furniture, paintings, silver and porcelain. In memory of his son, Nissim, who was killed during the First World War, the count gave his collection to the French state.
On the ground floor you can see the kitchens and the rooms of the staff that still have the original equipment. In the opulent reception rooms are most pieces of the collection. The private rooms of the count and his children were on the 1st floor.
Musée de l'Orangerie
Jardin des Tuileries
1st arrondissement
metro Concorde
bus 24, 42, 52, 72, 73, 84, 94
Wednesday-Monday 9-18 www.musee-orangerie.fr
Museum with paintings by Claude Monet. Reopened in 2006 after 6 years of renovation. The elongated building was formerly the place where the orange trees from the Tuileries Gardens were kept in winter. From 1927 there are eight of Monet's waterlily paintings displayed in this building, painted at different times of the day.
With the purchase of the collection of Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume in the sixties, the building was split into two floors. The new collection (with works including Cézanne, Derain, Maillol, Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, Renoir and Utrillo) was displayed on the top floor. The paintings of Monet therefore had to be illuminated by lamps instead of daylight. Now, after a renovation, they're back in daylight because the top floor has gone. The Walter-Guillaume collection is now shown in a newly constructed basement.
The renovation took longer than expected, because during the work on the basement part, a defensive wall dating from the 17th century was found, the ‘Fosses Jaunes’.
Musée d'Orsay
1 rue de Bellechasse
7th arrondissement
metro Solférino or Musée-d'Orsay
bus 24, 63, 68, 69, 73, 83, 84, 94
Tuesday-Sunday 9.30-18, Thursday until 21.45
café des Hauteurs www.musee-orsay.fr
Former railway station, since 1986 a museum of art from 1848 to 1914. The interior is beautifully decorated and the station clock is still there. The collection is divided into sculpture, painting, architecture and decorative arts. Important trends are brought together per room: for example, neo-classicism (Ingres), romanticism (Delacroix), realism (Courbet), School of Barbizon (Rousseau), symbolism (Rodin, Klimt), Impressionism (Degas, Sisley, Cézanne, Pissarro, Renoir and Monet ) and post-impressionism (Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh).
The architectural department of the museum covers the years 1852-1870. There are models on display, for instance of the Opéra district on scale 1:100. In the decorative arts section you will find many Art Nouveau objects by Lalique, Galle, Van de Velde, Horta and Thonet. On the ground floor there is a room with pictures of famous and less famous photographers from 1839 to 1920.
The pieces in this collection come from three Parisian museums: the Louvre (artists born after 1820), the Musée du Jeu de Paume (Impressionists) and the Musée National d'Art Moderne (artists born between 1820 and 1870).
Musée de la Parfumerie Fragonard
9 rue Scribe
9th arrondissement
metro Opéra
bus 20, 21, 29, 42, 52, 68, 81, 95
Monday-Saturday 9-18, Sunday 9.30-17 www.fragonard.com
Perfume museum in a 19th-century mansion opposite the Opéra. Special collection of objects related to the preparation of perfume from antiquity to this day: various perfume bottles, including ancient Egyptian, distillation flasks, travel beauty cases and a perfume organ with dozens of scents. Perfume is also for sale. An annex of the museum is in the Théâtre Musée des Capucines (39 boulevard des Capucines, opposite the Olympia).
Musée Pasteur
25 rue du Docteur Roux
15th arrondissement
metro Pasteur or Volontaires
bus 88, 95
Monday-Friday 14-17.30 www.pasteur.fr
Museum about the life and works of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), the chemical scientist who discovered that microbes cause disease, unraveled the force of infection, developed vaccines against infectious diseases such as cholera and rabies and introduced concepts like sterilization and pasteurization.
The museum sits in part of the Institut Pasteur, where Pasteur lived the last 7 years of his life. The rooms are decorated in 19th century decorative style and include private and scientific objects from Pasteur himself. His body was buried in a chapel in Byzantine style, that you can visit. You can view a photo impression of the museum here.
* Petit Palais
Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris
avenue Winston Churchill
8th arrondissement
metro Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau or Concorde
bus 28, 42, 49, 73, 80, 93
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18
café Le Jardin du Petit Palais www.petitpalais.paris.fr
Neoclassical building from 1900, reopened after renovation in 2005. You will find works of art from antiquity up till the 20th century, including some paintings by Sisley, Courbet, Cézanne and Bonnard, but also quite a collection of Dutch paintings from the 16th century. Furthermore, glass and ceramics in art-nouveau-style, paintings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance can be found in this museum. There is a beautiful courtyard.
Musée Edith Piaf
5 rue Crespin du Gast
11th arrondissment
metro Ménilmontant
bus 96
by appointment only
Monday-Wednesday 13-18, Thursday 10-12 (tel. 01-43 55 52 72)
Museum decorated by fans of Edith Piaf (1915-1963) with lots of memories of the famous French singer. Her evening dresses and other clothing, posters of concerts and films, letters, pictures, crockery, plates, portraits and photographs show what her life was like. Of course you can hear her singing in the museum.
The museum, founded in 1977 by the Amis d'Edith Piaf, is in the neighborhood where Piaf was born and raised. It is located in two rooms of an apartment with no elevator on the fourth floor. There are two biographies of Piaf for sale.
Musée Picasso
5 rue de Thorigny
3rd arrondissement
metro Saint-Paul
bus 29, 69, 75, 96
Wednesday-Monday 9.30-18, October-March until 17.30 www.musee-picasso.fr
The Picasso Museum is closed for renovation from August 23rd 2009 until 2012.
Paintings, sculpture and ceramics by Picasso (1881-1973) and some of his contemporaries. In this museum you will find the largest collection of works by Picasso: 251 paintings, 160 sculptures, 88 ceramics pieces and over 1500 graphics. All periods of Picasso's career are shown in chronological order. Even his private collection is on display: some 50 works by artists such as Corot, Renoir, Braque and Cézanne. On the top floor you can view films about his life and works.
The museum is housed in the magnificent Hôtel Salé dated from 1659. It was built for a salt tax collector.
Pinacothèque de Paris
28 place de la Madeleine
8th arrondissement
metro Madeleine
bus 24, 42, 52, 84, 94
daily 10.30-18.00 and the first Wednesday of each month until 21 www.pinacotheque.com
New exhibition space (2007) in a beautifully renovated building on the Place de la Madeleine. There are only temporary exhibits, no permanent collection.
Centre Georges Pompidou
place Georges Pompidou
4th arrondissement
metro Hôtel de Ville, Châtelet or Rambuteau
bus 21, 29, 38, 47, 58, 69, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 81, 85, 96
Wednesday-Monday 11-21
café-restaurant Georges, café Mezzanine www.centrepompidou.fr
Colorful building of glass and steel, built in 1977, with the tubes and pipes in various bright colors on the outside, making it look as if the building is turned inside out. The green pipes are for water, blue for air, yellow for electricity and red for the areas where visitors are allowed, such as escalators and lifts.
The building was designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano and was an initiative of President Georges Pompidou. The museum has the largest collection of modern art in Europe. All art movements of the 20th century are represented: expressionism, cubism, constructivism, surrealism, pop art, op art and kinetic art, arte povera and hyper-realism. Beside visual arts there is music, film, theater and books.
The first three floors contain the library, with books, prints on DVD, video and film, all accessible to the public. On the fourth floor you find art from 1960 till now, on the fifth floor art from 1905-1960. The 6th floor is used for exhibitions. If you take the escalator on the outside of the building (3 euros), you will see more of Paris the higher you get. Café-restaurant Georges, expensive, but with spectacular views over Paris, can be found on the top floor.
The Pompidou Center has an branch in Metz and in Shanghai, China.
Musée de la Poupée
impasse Berthaud (at 22 rue de Beaubourg)
3rd arrondissement
metro Rambuteau
bus 29, 38, 47
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.museedelapoupeeparis.com
Museum for young and old doll lovers with a collection of 500 dolls from 1800 until now, collected by owners Guido and Samy Odin, father and son.
The dolls are made of porcelain, paper maché, fabric, rubber, plastic or celluloid. They are exhibited in chronological order in four rooms and are surrounded by furniture, accessories and toys from the corresponding time. There is also a shop where you can buy dolls and doll’s clothes. Recommended for children!
Musée de la Prefecture de la Police 4 rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève
5th arrondissement
metro Maubert-Mutualité
bus 24, 47, 63, 86, 87
Monday-Friday 9-17, Saturday 10-17 musée de la Préfecture de la Police
Small museum of the history of the Parisian police from the 17th century to the present day. The museum was created in 1909 when prefect Louis Lepine brought together documents that were exhibited at the World Exhibition of 1900. These documents can be viewed in chronological order in a room on the 2nd floor.
You will find arms and documents about notorious murderers, prison records, photographs, court documents and the blood-stained book that President Paul Doumer had in his hands when he was murdered in 1932. Also exhibited are the tools with which people were measured according to the Bertillion method: all body parts (e.g. the distance between the eyes, the length of the nose) were measured so that suspects could be identified.
Musée de la Publicité
71 rue de Rivoli
1st arrondissement
metro Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre or Pyramides
bus 21, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95
Tuesday-Friday 11-18, Thursday until 21, weekend 10-18 www.museedelapub.org
Collection of international publicity posters for TV, radio and cinema commercials and press releases from the mid 18th century until now. There is a database with thousands of commercials and advertising posters that may be consulted (by appointment). The building was designed by Jean Nouvel. You can watch the collection online.
Musée du Quai Branly
37 quai Branly
7th arrondissement
metro Alma-Marceau, Bir-Hakeim or Iéna
bus 42, 63, 72, 80, 92
Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday 11-19, Thursday, Friday, Saturday until 21 www.quaibranly.fr
Museum at the bank of the Seine, opened in 2006, with non-western art and objects from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Architect is Jean Nouvel, who also designed the Institut du Monde Arabe and the Fondation Cartier in Paris. The facade was painted by eight aboriginal artists.
The museum consists of four buildings on stilts, each with five floors. The buildings have the form of a curve that follows the Seine. The garden was designed by garden architects Gilles Clément and Patrick Blanc. The collection comes from two museums, the Musée de l'Homme and the Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie. Half the space in the museum is for temporary exhibitions.
The musical instruments from the collection are displayed in a glass cylinder in the lobby, which goes up till the fourth floor. Here and there are listening stations where visitors can listen to the sound of an instrument. They can also listen to traditional music. The collection of objects on the 3rd floor is arranged by continent.
You will find special vegetation from around the world in the garden, that is protected from traffic on the quay by a 200 meter-long glass wall, 12 meters high and on the outside covered with plants. In the rest of the building transparency is important: glass, wood, smooth lines and warmth. In order to create a kind of museum that is hidden in a forest, a wall is covered with various plants. On the top floor is a large terrace where you have a beautiful view on the Eiffel Tower and Paris.
The entire collection of 300,000 objects is online. Only a few thousands are shown in the museum itself.
Or you can visit the collection in a virtual tour.
Musée Rodin
77 rue de Varenne
7th arrondissement
metro Varenne
bus 69, 82, 87, 92
Tuesday-Sunday 9.30-17.45 (April-September), until 16.45 (October-March)
café Le Jardin de Varenne www.musee-rodin.fr
Museum on sculptor Rodin in the Hôtel Biron, where Rodin spent the last years of his life. Presented are his famous sculptures, including the Kiss, the Cathedral, and the Walking Man. You can relax and have a bite to eat in the beautiful garden, where there are sculptures like the Citizens of Calais, the Gates of Hell and The Thinker. Most sculptures are made of bronze or marble, upstairs are plaster models and also works by Rodin’s mistress Camille Claudel.
La Maison Rouge
10 boulevard de la Bastille
12th arrondissement
metro Bastille or Quai de la Rapée
bus 24, 29, 57, 61, 63, 91
Wednesday-Sunday 11-19, Thursday until 21
restaurant
www.lamaisonrouge.org
Collection of art collector Antoie de Galbert (1955) in a renovated factory. Regular exhibitions of contemporary art.
Halle Saint-Pierre
Musée d'Art naïf Max-Fourny
2 rue Ronsard
18th arrondissement
metro Anvers or Abbesses
bus 30, 53, Montmartrobus
daily 10-18 www.hallesaintpierre.org
Museum of primitive art, founded by art collector Max Fourny. The museum shows 800 paintings and 80 sculptures by painters from all over the world.
Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie
30 avenue Corentin-Cariou
19th arrondissement
metro Porte-de-la-Villette
bus 75, 139, 150, 152, 249
Tuesday-Saturday 10-18, Sunday 10-19
café de la Cité, restaurant Le Hublot, cafetaria Au Pain Perdu
www.cite-sciences.fr
Futuristic science museum in a 5-storey building in the Parc de la Villette. It is the largest science museum in the world. Ideal for the curious: you can try everything that is displayed. There is a Planetarium on travels to the universe, a submarine, the Argonaut, a greenhouse, an aquarium and the Explora, where you can be a pilot in a plane, see the inside of a camera or travel through the human body.
Outside the building, the Geode is a giant ball with mirrors on the outside and a cinema with a cloth hemisphere of 180 ° on the inside. For children there is the Cité des Enfants (for 2-7 years and 5-12 years). It is advised to start with Explora. From there you can choose other attractions (for which you sometimes need to buy another ticket).
Since March 2008, a new permanent exhibition was set up: Le Grand Récite de l'Univers, the origin and laws of the earth and the universe.
Musée du Sport
93 avenue de France
13th arrondissement
metro Bibliothèque François Mitterrand
bus 62, 89, 132
Tuesday-Friday 10-18, Saturday and the first Sunday of the month 14-18 www.museedusport.fr
Museum full of the history of sports in France. On view are sports equipment, posters, outfits, old and new racing bikes, sports and art.
Originally, this was the collection of racing cyclist Jean Dury in the 60s. Now it has a collection of more than 100,000 objects, including 30,000 posters.
The items are exposed in a chronological way. There is a 1850s model of a gymnasium, and the Grand Bi, the famous bicycle with a big wheel in front and a small one behind, from the second half of the 19th century.
Palais de Tokyo - site de création comtemporaine
13 avenue du Président Wilson
16th arrondissement
metro Alma-Marceau or Iéna
bus 32, 42, 80, 82
Tuesday-Sunday 12-24 www.palaisdetokyo.com
café Tokyo Self, restaurant Tokyo Eat
Museum of contemporary art, opened in 2002, in one of the wings of the Palais de Chaillot. There are exhibitions, conferences, lectures about visual art, design, fashion, literature, dance and cinema in an ultra-modern industrial interior all year long.
*Musée de la Vie Romantique
16 rue Chaptal
9th arrondissement
metro Saint-Georges or Pigalle
bus 67, 68, 74
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18
salon de thé
www.vie-romantique.paris.fr
Romantic home, garden and studio of the Dutch painter Ary Scheffer (19th century) in the Nouvelle-Athènes district. Here he entertained famous artists like Ingres, Liszt, Victor Hugo, Chopin and Delacroix on his weekly ‘soirees’. The museum has a collection of furniture, portraits and objects of Georges Sand, paintings of Scheffer, and you can view his studio.
Musée du Vin
5 square Charles Dickens
16th arrondissement
metro Passy
bus 72
Tuesday-Sunday, 10-18
restaurant
www.museeduvinparis.com
History of viniculture in France and a collection of utensils and objects used in growing grapes and making wine. The museum sits in a former stone quarry dating from the Middle Ages that was rebuilt as a cellar by monks. Wine and cheese tasting.
*Musée Zadkine
100 bis rue d’Assas
6th arrondissement
metro Vavin or Notre-Dame-des-Champs
bus 38, 82, 83, 91
Tuesday-Sunday 10-18 www.zadkine.paris.fr
Sculptures in the studio, house and garden of Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967). A small museum with about 400 sculptures, gouaches, drawings and photographs showing Zadkine’s evolution from primitivism through cubism to abstract sculpture.
The garden is a gem. Among high trees and bushes you will find some more sculptures that you can admire from a bench. One of them is the beautiful Woman with bird.
Zadkine is known for his sculpture Ruined City, a monument he made as a memorial of the bombing of Rotterdam in 1940. A copy of that sculpture is also in the garden.
Permanent exhibition at the Parc de Belville on the quality of air in Paris in seven themes, such as history of the atmosphere, pollution and the weather in Europe. 
Museum on war in art and history from the stone age. There are more than 50,000 documents to view: weapons and armor, banners, artillery, toy soldiers. In addition, information on the military life of Napoleon and documents from the First and Second World War. Objects, films, photographs and texts explain the historical events. 
bus 32, 42, 63, 72, 80, 92 
* Musée Bourdelle 
Pierre Cardin has his own museum since November 2006. You can find it in Saint-Ouen, north of Paris, just outside the Périphérique. 
261 boulevard Raspail 
Musée national de Céramique-Sèvres
Progressive, modern house, built in 1925 by Le Corbusier for art dealer La Roche and Corbusier’s brother Albert Jeanneret. Only the Villa La Roche is on view. The house of Albert Jeanneret is now the office of the Fondation. 
Remains of buildings from antiquity and the 19th century can be found under the square in front of Notre-Dame. You will see pieces of Roman quays, medieval cellars and shops, the foundation of the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Ardennes church, a 18th-century orphanage and a 19th-century sewer. 
18th arrondissement 
Musée Dapper 
42 avenue des Gobelins 
Museum of the history of France, based on objects, paintings and documents that are in possession of the national archives. It is located in the magnificent Hôtel de Soubise from 1705. This museum has the farewell letter of Marie-Antoinette that she wrote before she went to the guillotine. It also contains the testament of Louis XVI, documents of Danton, Robespierre and Napoleon I and the keys of the former Bastille prison. One of the most beautiful rooms is the Salon de la Princesse, an oval room with frescoes by Boucher, Van Loo and Natoire.
You can visit the museum in a 
158 boulevard Hausmann 
Museum founded by banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn (1860-1940). It contains a huge collection of autochrome color photographs and films from 50 countries all over the world. He sent photographers to these countries to make pictures of various cultures. Kahn was a humanist and idealist. He believed that leading financiers, artists and scientists could play a role in promoting understanding between cultures and world peace. 
The best advice: buy a book about the Louvre at home or look on the internet site of the Louvre and choose a collection or collections you would like to visit. It need not always be the most famous works of art. There is always a crowd visiting the famous painting La Joconde (or the Mona Lisa), but lesser known paintings and sculptures are just as (and even more) beautiful. There are hundreds of beautiful paintings on display, such as paintings from the 18th and 19th century in the Grande Galerie. Also, the collection of medieval paintings and the collection of Greek and Roman sculpture are worth a detour. 
Museum with three collections: furniture and art objects from the 18th century, medieval sculptures and manuscripts, and paintings of Claude Monet and his contemporaries. Here you will find the picture after which the Impressionists were named: Impression Soleil Levant by Monet. There are also paintings of Degas, Manet and Renoir. 
Collection of Arab-Islamic art in a modern building, designed by Jean Nouvel and built in 1987. The building is made of glass and aluminum and in the south facade there are 240 geometric lattices that are designed as photo diaphragms: they open and close to modulate the light that enters the building. 
18th arrondissement 
Late Gothic palace of the monks of Cluny, built on the remains of a Roman bath complex of the 2nd and 3rd century, which was destroyed in the 3rd century. The abbot of Cluny had an inn built at the end of the 15th century for the Benedictine monks who came to visit Paris. 
The architectural department of the museum covers the years 1852-1870. There are models on display, for instance of the Opéra district on scale 1:100. In the decorative arts section you will find many Art Nouveau objects by Lalique, Galle, Van de Velde, Horta and Thonet. On the ground floor there is a room with pictures of famous and less famous photographers from 1839 to 1920. 
* Petit Palais 
Museum decorated by fans of Edith Piaf (1915-1963) with lots of memories of the famous French singer. Her evening dresses and other clothing, posters of concerts and films, letters, pictures, crockery, plates, portraits and photographs show what her life was like. Of course you can hear her singing in the museum. 
Paintings, sculpture and ceramics by Picasso (1881-1973) and some of his contemporaries. In this museum you will find the largest collection of works by Picasso: 251 paintings, 160 sculptures, 88 ceramics pieces and over 1500 graphics. All periods of Picasso's career are shown in chronological order. Even his private collection is on display: some 50 works by artists such as Corot, Renoir, Braque and Cézanne. On the top floor you can view films about his life and works. 
The building was designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano and was an initiative of President Georges Pompidou. The museum has the largest collection of modern art in Europe. All art movements of the 20th century are represented: expressionism, cubism, constructivism, surrealism, pop art, op art and kinetic art, arte povera and hyper-realism. Beside visual arts there is music, film, theater and books. 
You will find arms and documents about notorious murderers, prison records, photographs, court documents and the blood-stained book that President Paul Doumer had in his hands when he was murdered in 1932. Also exhibited are the tools with which people were measured according to the Bertillion method: all body parts (e.g. the distance between the eyes, the length of the nose) were measured so that suspects could be identified.
The museum consists of four buildings on stilts, each with five floors. The buildings have the form of a curve that follows the Seine. The garden was designed by garden architects Gilles Clément and Patrick Blanc. The collection comes from two museums, the Musée de l'Homme and the Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie. Half the space in the museum is for temporary exhibitions. 
