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Institut du Monde Arabe
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.
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Jardin des Plantes
Founded in 1626 as Louis XIII's herb garden, Paris' botanical gardens are a serious institute rather than a leisure destination, but fascinating all the same. They're split into sections including a winter garden, tropical greenhouses and an alpine garden, as well as the school of botany. (There's also a menagerie.) The most scenic transport to get here is Batobus.
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Jardin des Tuileries
Bisected by the Axe Historique, these 28-hectare formal gardens are where Parisians once paraded their finery. The gardens were laid out in the mid-17th century by André Le Nôtre, the green thumb behind the Palace of Versailles. Now a Unesco World Heritage Site, the paths, ponds and old-fashioned merry-go-round here are as enchanting as ever for a stroll.
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Jardin du Luxembourg
When the weather is warm - or even just slightly sunny - Parisians of all ages flock to the formal terraces and chestnut groves of Luxembourg Gardens. There are art galleries, activities and plenty of room around the grounds just to run about.
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Jardin du Palais Royal
This lovely park is just north of the Palais Royal, where a young Louis XIV once resided (and which now houses government buildings). The park is flanked by two arcades, which house shops selling old-fashioned items such as lead toy soldiers. The black-and-white striped columns at the southern end were installed by sculptor Daniel Buren in 1986, creating a public outcry that temporarily halted construction.
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Jeu de Paume
The Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume is housed in an erstwhile jeu de paume (royal tennis court), built in 1861 during the reign of Napoleon III in a corner of the Jardin des Tuileries. Once home to much of France's national collection of impressionist art (now housed in the Musée d'Orsay), the gallery now stages innovative exhibitions of contemporary art.
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La Défense Espace Histoire
La Défense History Space below the Espace Info-Défense traces the development of La Défense via drawings, architectural plans and enough scale models to make you feel like Gulliver.
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La Seine
In the city of romance, the Seine River is its lifeblood. Formerly a major trade route, today the river's islands, bridges and quays evoke the most romantic visions of Paris. This nostalgia is heightened after dark when the Seine shimmers with the watery reflections of floodlit monuments and bridges. C'est magnifique!
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Maison de Balzac
Balzac's House, about 800m southwest of the Jardins du Trocadéro, is the Passy spa house where the realist novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) lived and worked from 1840 to 1847, editing the entire Comédie Humaine and writing various books. There's lots of memorabilia, letters, prints and portraits, but this place is decidedly for dyed-in-the-wool Balzac fans only.
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Maison de Victor Hugo
One of the symmetrical houses on the place des Vosges, the former home of Victor Hugo is where he wrote much of Les Misérables . The museum offers an evocative insight to the writer's life, featuring drawings, portraits, and furnishings preserved just as they were when he resided here.
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Maison Européenne de la Photographie
The European House of Photography, housed in the rather overwrought 18th-century Hôtel Hénault de Cantorbe, has cutting-edge temporary exhibits (usually retrospectives on single photographers) and a huge permanent collection on the history of photography and its French connections. There are frequent screenings of short films and documentaries on weekends.
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Manufacture des Gobelins
The Gobelins Factory has been weaving haute lisse (high relief) tapestries on specialised looms since the 18th century along with Beauvais-style basse lisse (low relief) ones and Savonnerie rugs. The visit, by guided tour, takes you through the workshops and exhibits of the carpets and 5000 tapestries woven here.
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Mémorial de la Shoah
Established in 1956, the Memorial to the Unknown Jewish Martyr has metamorphosed into the Memorial of the Holocaust and documentation centre after a lengthy renovation. The permanent collection and temporary exhibits relate to the Holocaust and the German occupation of parts of France and Paris during WWII; the film clips of contemporary footage and interviews are heart-rending and the displays instructive and easy to follow.
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Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation
The Memorial to the Victims of the Deportation, erected in 1962 on the southeastern tip of the Île de la Cité, is a haunting monument to the 160,000 residents of France - including 76,000 Jews - who were killed in Nazi concentration camps during WWII. A single barred 'window' separates the bleak, rough concrete courtyard from the waters of the Seine.
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Mosquée de Paris
Paris' central mosque with its striking minaret was built in 1926 in the ornate Moorish style popular at the time. Visitors must remove their shoes at the entrance to the prayer hall and be modestly dressed. The complex includes a North African-style salon de thé and restaurant, and a hammam , a traditional Turkish bath open to men and women on different days.
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Musée Atelier Zadkine
This museum is devoted to the life and work of Russian Cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967), who arrived in Paris in 1908, and lived and worked in this cottage in a lovely courtyard opposite the Jardin du Luxembourg for almost 40 years. Though he is scarcely known outside France, Zadkine produced an enormous catalogue of work in wood, clay, stone and bronze.
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Musée Bourdelle
The Bourdelle Museum, due north of Gare Montparnasse, contains monumental bronzes in the very house and workshop where the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), a pupil of Rodin, lived and worked. The three sculpture gardens, one of which faces rue Antoine Bourdelle, are particularly lovely and impart a flavour of the Montparnasse of the belle époque and post-WWI periods.
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Musée Carnavalet
The artefacts on display in this important museum, subtitled Musée de l'Histoire de Paris (Paris History Museum), chart the history of Paris from the Gallo-Roman period to the 20th century. Some of the nation's most important documents, paintings and other relics from the French Revolution are here.
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Musée Cernuschi
The Cernuschi Museum, recently renovated and its exhibition space redefined and enlarged, houses a collection of ancient Chinese art (funerary statues, bronzes, ceramics) and some works from Japan assembled during an 1871-73 world tour by the banker and philanthropist Henri Cernuschi (1821-96), who settled here from Milan before the unification of Italy.
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Musée Cognacq-Jay
The oil paintings, pastels, sculpture, objets d'art, jewellery, porcelain and 18th-century furniture amassed by the founder of La Samaritaine department store are a great excuse to peek inside this museum, housed in the beautiful Hôtel de Donon.
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Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
Documents from the Dreyfus Affair, famously championed by Parisian novelist Emile Zola in his open letter to the government, J'accuse…! ( I Accuse…!; 1898), are the highlights of this comprehensive Jewish Art and History museum tracing Jewish communities throughout Europe from the Middle Ages to today. The 17th-century mansion is also an impressive showcase for works by Chagall and Modigliani.
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Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
The Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris, established in 1961 and housed in what was the Electricity Pavilion during the 1937 World Expo, displays works from just about every major 20th-century artistic movement: Fauvism, cubism, Dadaism, surrealism, expressionism and so on. Artists represented include Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Modigliani and Chagall.
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Musée d'art Naïf Max Fourny
Founded in 1986, the Max Fourny Museum of Naive Art is housed in Halle St-Pierre, across from square Willette and the base of the funicular. The dozen or so paintings in the permanent collection represent both the primitive and Art Brut schools and were gathered from around the world. The museum stages some three temporary exhibitions a year.
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Musée d'Orsay
This former railway station houses a superb collection of French Impressionist and post-Impressionist works, making it a must-see for any art lover. The museum displays France's national collection of paintings, sculptures, objets d'art produced between 1848 and 1914, including the fruits of the Impressionist, Post Impressionist and Art Nouveau movements.
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Musée Dapper
This fantastic museum of Sub-Saharan African art collected and exhibited by the nonprofit Dapper Foundation in a 16th-century hôtel particulier (private mansion) with wonderful 21st-century add-ons stages two major exhibitions each year. The collection is mostly of carved wooden figurines and masks, which famously influenced the work of Picasso, Braque and Man Ray.
