Sights in Paris
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Salle St-Jean
Outstanding temporary exhibitions are held in the Salle St-Jean, which is inside Paris’ beautiful neo-Renaissance town hall. Exhibitions generally have a Parisian theme and are free.
reviewed
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Musée de Notre Dame de Paris
This small museum traces the cathedral’s history and life on the Île de la Cité from Gallo-Roman times to today, via scale models, contemporary paintings, engravings and lithographs. An interesting document is a petition signed by Victor Hugo, the artist Ingres and others who sparked the campaign to restore the cathedral.
reviewed
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Musée de la Franc-Maçonnerie
This museum, housed in the colossal and rather impressive Grande Orient de France building, provides a brief introduction to the secretive world of Freemasonry, which grew out of medieval stonemasons’ guilds of the 16th century. A visit to the museum including a guided tour of the building (in French) on Saturday afternoons costs €7.
reviewed
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Église Notre Dame de l’Espérance
Startling both for its modern design and size (it stands 20m tall and is 11m wide), the interior of the Church of Our Lady of Hope (Bruno Legrand, 1997) is filled with interesting features, including Nicolas Alquin’s Croix d’Espérance (Cross of Hope) made from an 18th-century oak beam and three gold squares representing the Trinity.
reviewed
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Crypte Archéologique
The Archaeological Crypt is under the square in front of Notre Dame. The 117m-long and 28m-wide area displays in situ the remains of structures built on this site during the Gallo-Roman period, a 4th-century enclosure wall, the foundations of the medieval foundlings hospice and a few of the original sewers sunk by Haussman.
reviewed
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Immeuble des Bons Enfants
Home to the Ministère de la Culture et Communication (Ministry of Culture & Communication), this inspired structure (Francis Soler and Frédéric Druot, 2004) is actually two separate and disparate buildings ‘linked’ by a metallic web of ‘tracery’ that lets in light and allows the diversity of the existing buildings to be seen.
reviewed
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Musée de La Halle St-Pierre
Founded in 1986, this museum and gallery is in the lovely old covered St Peter’s Market. It focuses on the primitive and Art Brut schools; there is no permanent collection but the museum stages three temporary exhibitions a year. There’s a lovely cafe on-site.
reviewed
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Musée du Vin
The not-so-comprehensive Wine Museum, headquarters of the prestigious International Federation of Wine Brotherhoods, introduces visitors to the fine art of viticulture with various mock-ups and displays of tools. Admission includes a glass of wine at the end of the visit. Entry is free if you have lunch at the attached restaurant.
reviewed
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Musée du Montparnasse
Housed in the studio of Russian cubist artist Marie Vassilieff (1884–1957) down a delightfully leafy alleyway off av du Maine, Montparnasse Museum doesn’t have a permanent collection; rather it recalls the great role Montparnasse played during various artistic periods of the 20th century, offered through temporary exhibitions.
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Galerie-Musée Baccarat
Showcasing 1000 stunning pieces of crystal, many of them custom-made for princes and dictators of former colonies, this flashy museum is at home in its striking new rococo-style premises designed by Philippe Starck in the ritzy 16e. It is also home to a superb restaurant called – what else? – Le Cristal Room.
reviewed
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Palais de Chaillot
The two curved, colonnaded wings of this palace and the terrace in between them afford an exceptional panorama of the Jardins du Trocadéro, the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. The palace's eastern wing houses the standout Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, devoted to French architecture and heritage. The western wing houses the Musée de la Marine. Also located in this wing is Musée de l'Homme, which is closed for renovations until 2015.
reviewed
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Musée Édith Piaf
This private museum in Ménilmontant, some 1.5km from the birthplace of the iconic singer Édith Piaf and closer to her final resting place in Cimetière du Père Lachaise, follows the life and career of the ‘urchin sparrow’ through memorabilia, recordings, personal objects, letters and other documentation. Admission by advance reservation; book a week in advance.
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Parc Floral
The best playground in the Paris area is in the Parc Floral, a perfect picnic spot with outdoor jazz concerts, puppet shows and giant climbing webs, 30m-high slides and a zip line, among other attractions. In summer, Paris Plages is an excellent spot for kids of all ages, though it can get crowded.
reviewed
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Les Orgues de Flandre
These two enormous housing estates are known as ‘the Organs of Flanders’ due to their resemblance to that musical instrument and their street address. Storeys are stacked at oblique angles and the structures appear to be swaying, though they are firmly anchored at the end of a park south of the blvd Périphérique.
reviewed
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Tenniseum-Musée de Roland Garros
The Stade Roland Garros, home of the French Open tennis tournament, is also the Tenniseum-Musée de Roland Garros, the world’s most extravagant tennis museum, tracing the sport’s 500-year history through paintings, sculptures and posters. Stadium tours depart at 11am and 3pm (English) and at 2pm and 5pm in French; reservations required.
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Centre de la Mer
France has a long history of success in the field of oceanography (think Jacques Cousteau and, well, Jules Verne), and the Sea Centre cruises through that science, as well as marine biology, via temporary exhibitions, aquariums, scale models and audiovisuals. Kids will love the aquariums and the audiovisuals.
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Explora
The huge Explora , the heart of the exhibitions at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, looks at everything from space exploration and automobile technology to genetics and sound. Tickets are valid for a full day and allow you to enter and exit at will. Access to some temporary exhibits costs an extra €2.
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Musée National d’Art Moderne
The 4th and 5th floors of Centre Pompidou house the Musée National d’Art Moderne, France’s national collection of art dating from 1905 onwards. About a third of the 50,000-plus works, including the work of the surrealists and cubists, as well as pop art and contemporary works, are on display.
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Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris
Continue north on rue Pavée (Paved Street), the first cobbled road in Paris. At No 24 stands Hôtel Lamoignon, built between 1585 and 1612 for Diane de France (1538–1619), duchess of Angoulême and legitimised daughter of Henri II. It now houses the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris.
reviewed
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Hôtel de Sully
In the southwestern corner of place des Vosges is the back entrance to this aristocratic mansion, built in 1625 and home to the headquarters of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, responsible for many of France's historical monuments. From the square, duck beneath the arch and be instantly wooed by two beautifully decorated, late-Renaissance courtyards, both festooned with allegorical reliefs of the seasons and the elements.
In the northern courtyard look to the southern side for spring (flowers and a bird in hand) and summer (wheat sheaves); in the southern courtyard turn to the northern side for autumn (grapes) and winter, with a symbol representing both the end of the…
reviewed
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Petit Palais
Like the Grand Palais opposite, this architectural stunner was also built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, and is home to the Paris municipality’s Museum of Fine Arts. It specialises in medieval and Renaissance objets d’art such as porcelain and clocks, tapestries, drawings and 19th-century French painting and sculpture. There are also paintings here by such artists as Rembrandt, Colbert and Cézanne.
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Maison Rouge
Subtitled ‘Fondation Antoine de Galbert’ after the man who endowed it, this cutting-edge gallery shows contemporary artists and seldom-seen works from private collections. The hip, health-conscience Rose Bakery has a branch here. Note that everything closes between exhibits.
reviewed
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Palais de la Porte Dorée
Built as part of the Exposition Coloniale Internationale of 1931 when all seemed right with the world at home and abroad, the lavish ‘Palace of the Golden Door’, which retains some delightful Art Deco elements including frescoes of the peoples of the world, today houses two major attractions.
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Musée en Herbe
One of the city’s great backstreet secrets, this children’s museum is a surprise gem for art lovers of every age, not just kids. Its permanent exhibition changes every March and focuses on the work of one artist through a series of interactive displays.
Captions are in English as well as French, children get a jeu de piste (activity sheet) to guide and entertain, and additional workshops and guided visits for kids and adults – think hands-on art workshops, afternoon tea, early evening aperitif and so on (€6 to €10, reserve in advance) – add to the playful experience.
reviewed
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Musée de l’Érotisme
The Museum of Erotic Art attempts to raise around 2000 titillating statuary, stimulating sexual aids and fetishist items to a loftier plane, with antique and modern erotic art from four continents spread out across several floors. Some of the exhibits are, well, breathtaking, to say the least.
reviewed