Institut du Monde Arabe

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  • Address
    Place Mohammed V, 1 rue des Fossés St-Bernard, 5e, 75236
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  • Phone
    40 51 38 38
  • Website
  • Transport
    underground rail: Cardinal Lemoine, Jussieu

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Lonely Planet review

The Institute of the Arab World was established to promote cultural relations between the Islamic and Western worlds. The museum, spread over three floors, displays 9th- to 19th-century art and artisanship from around the Islamic world, as well as instruments from astronomy and other fields of scientific endeavour in which Arab technology once led the world.

The stunning building, designed by Jean Nouvel, successfully mixes modern and traditional Arab and Western elements. Its most unique feature is its thousands of mouche-arabies (photo-electrically sensitive apertures built into the glass walls), inspired by the traditional latticed wooden windows found throughout the Arab world that let you see out without being seen. They also regulate the amount of light and heat that reaches the interior of the building.