Museum sights in France
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Musée Claude Monet
The Musée Claude Monet was Monet's home and studio. The hectare of land that Monet owned has become two distinct areas. The northern part is the Clos Normand where Monet's famous pastel pink and green house and the Water Lily studio stand, surrounded by the symmetrically laid-out gardens. Through the tunnel is the resplendent Jardin d'Eau (Water Garden).
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Dauphinois Museum
Ever wondered who came before the tourists and students? The Musée Dauphinois documents everyday life in the Alps - culture, craft and tradition - and has a fantastic exhibition devoted to the region's surprisingly long skiing history. Set in a beautiful 17th-century convent and nestled at the foot of the hill below Fort de la Bastille, it's worth the visit.
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Maison de Balzac
This pretty, three-storey spa house in Passy, about 800m southwest of the Jardins du Trocadéro, is 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; it’s probably for die-hard Balzac fans only.
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Museum of the Sea
As you get off the boat at Île Ste-Marguerite, a map indicates a handful of rustic restaurants, trails and paths through the cool eucalyptus and pine forest. It also directs you to the 17th-century Fort Royal, which now harbours the 'Musée de la Mer'. Make sure you explore the old state prisons, built under Louis XIV, and see exhibits of the fort's history.
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Musée Maritime Neptunea
Moored at Bassin des Chalutiers are the two ships comprising the Musée Maritime Neptunea: the meteorological research vessel France 1, and Angoumois, a chalutier (fishing boat). A land-based extension of the museum on the adjacent dock incorporates a section dedicated to Jacques Cousteau, and a re-creation of the city's ancient fish market.
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Musée Camarguais
Inside an 1812-built sheep shed, the Musée Camarguais is a fantastic introduction to this unique area, covering its history, ecosystems, flora and fauna, with a glimpse into traditional life in the region. From here, a 3.5km nature trail leads to an observation tower, with bird's-eye views. The museum is 10km southwest of Arles on the D570 to Stes-Maries de la Mer.
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Musée du Santon
One of Provence’s most enduring, and endearing, Christmas traditions are its santons, plaster-moulded, kiln-fired nativity figures, first created by Marseillais artisan Jean-Louis Lagnel (1764–1822). The tiny museum displays a private collection of 18th- and 19th-century santons. At adjoining ateliers, watch the figures being crafted, or buy them at the boutique.
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Atelier Paul Cézanne
Cezanne’s final stop was the studio he had built on a piece of land he bought in 1901. Ironically the most visited but the least inspirational of all the Cézanne sights, the Atelier Paul Cézanne doesn’t hold any works by Cézanne but rather recreates his studio. Not all the tools and still-life models (recognise that green glass bottle?) strewn around the single room were his; many were added by the scholar who bought the studio after Cézanne’s death. The tall wooden frame in one corner is not an easel but rather a cherry-picking ladder Cézanne used to paint the studio walls grey. Take bus 1 from La Rotonde (av des Belges) to the Cézanne stop and walk five minutes downhill…
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Musée Lambinet
To the northeast of Château de Versailles, just around the corner from the Versailles–Rive Droite train station, and housed in a lovely 18th-century residence, the Musée Lambinet displays 18th-century furnishings (ceramics, sculpture, paintings and furniture) and objects connected with the history of Versailles, including the all-important Revolutionary period.
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Archaeological Museum
The Musée d'Archéologie has some interesting Roman and pre-Roman tombs, mosaics, inscriptions and artefacts unearthed around Nîmes. It also houses a hotchpotch of artefacts from Africa, piled high and tagged with yellowing captions such as 'Abyssinia' and 'Dahomey'. In the same building, the Natural History Museum has a musty collection of stuffed animals.
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Fine Arts Museum
The rich collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts include one of only four versions of Jacques-Louis David's world-famous Death of Marat (yes, the bloody one in the bathtub), 27 works by Camille Corot (only the Louvre has more), lots of Barbizon School landscapes, Art Nouveau creations by Émile Gallé and two works each by Monet, Gauguin and Pissarro.
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Musée de l'Automobile Henri Malartre
Motoring enthusiasts can drool over 120 vintage cars (not to mention Hitler's Mercedes and Jean-Paul II's Renault Espace!), 50-odd motorbikes, bicycles and modes of Lyonnais public transport over the centuries at the chateau-museum Musée de l'Automobile Henri Malartre, 11km north of central Lyon along the Saône-side D433. Take bus 40 or 70 to the 'Rochetaillée' stop.
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Musée des Arts et Métiers
The Arts & Crafts Museum, dating to 1794 and the oldest museum of science and technology in Europe, is a must for anyone with an interest in how things tick or work. Housed inside the sublime 18th-century priory of St-Martin des Champs, some 3000 instruments, machines and working models from the 18th to 20th centuries are displayed according to theme (from Construction and Energy to Transportation) across three floors.
Taking pride of place in the choir of the attached church of St-Martin des Champs is Foucault’s original pendulum, which he introduced to the world at the Universal Exhibition in Paris 1855, and Louis Blériot’s monoplane from 1909. Guided tours are in…
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Musée des Beaux-Arts
Chartres’ Musée des Beaux-Arts, accessed via the gate next to Cathédrale Notre Dame's north portal, is in the former Palais Épiscopal (Bishop’s Palace), built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its collections include 16th-century enamels of the Apostles made for François I, paintings from the 16th to 19th centuries and poly-chromatic wooden sculptures from the Middle Ages.
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Musée de l'Évantail
Around 900 handheld fans are on display here, dating as far back as the mid-18th century. The small museum is housed in what was once a well-known fan manufactory, and its original showroom, dating from 1893, is sublime. It closes during August.
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Galerie David d'Angers
Larger-than-life sculptures by Angers-born sculptor David d'Angers (1788-1856) are displayed in Galerie David d'Angers, housed in a 12th-century abbey church transformed into contemporary architecture in the early 1980s. The cloister next door leads to a garden overlooked by Nikki de St-Phalle's colourful Serpent Tree, a children's playground (behind the library) and the Musée des Beaux-Arts.
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Musée Basque et de l'Histoire de Bayonne
The seafaring history, traditions and cultural identity of the Basque people are all explored at this superb museum through exhibits including a reconstructed farm and the interior of a typical etxe (home). Labelling is in French, Spanish and Basque only but English information sheets are available. In July and August free 'nocturnal' visits are possible on Wednesday evenings from 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
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Musée des Arts Forains
The Museum of the Fairground Art, housed in three old wine warehouses in Bercy Village, is a wonderful collection of old amusements from 19th-century funfairs including carousels, organs and stalls. Most of the items still function and are pure works of art. The place is usually rented only out for corporate events with minimum numbers but phone or visit the website and try your luck. The tour lasts 1½ hours.
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Musée du Fumeur
The Smoker’s Museum traces the history of one of humankind’s greatest vices: the smoking of tobacco. Hard-core butt-fiends will feel vindicated, though the museum takes an impartial stance, providing (as it states on entry) ‘a vantage point for the observation of changing behaviours’. Done up as an old tobacco warehouse, it has a wonderful collection of portraits.
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Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
The Hunting & Nature Museum may sound like an oxymoron to the politically correct, but in France, where hunting is a very big deal, to show your love for nature is to go out and shoot something – or so it would seem. The delightful Hôtel Guénégaud (1651) is positively crammed with weapons, paintings, sculpture and objets d’art related to hunting and, of course, lots and lots of trophies – horns, antlers, heads.
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Casa Païral
Casa Païral, the museum of Roussillon and Catalan folklore, occupies Le Castillet, a 14th-century red-brick town gate. Once a prison, it's the only vestige of Vauban's fortified town walls, which encircled the city until the early 1900s. The museum houses bits and pieces of everything Catalan - from traditional bonnets and lace mantillas to a 17th-century kitchen. From the rooftop terrace there are great views of the old city and citadel.
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Museu di a Corsica
The Museu di a Corsica is a definite must-see for anyone interested in Corsica’s culture. It houses an outstanding exhibition on Corsican traditi ons, crafts, agriculture and anthropology. The building has two main galleries, with a third space allocated to temporary exhibitions. The museum is housed inside the former barracks and administrative buildings, which previously served as a WWII prison and a French Foreign Legion base.
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Musée a Bandera
Tucked away on a little side street, this quirky little museum explores Corsican history up to WWII. Among the highlights are a diorama of the 1769 battle of Ponte Novo that confirmed French conquest of the island, a model of the port of Ajaccio as it was in the same period, and a proclamation by Gilbert Elliot, viceroy of the shortlived Anglo-Corsican kingdom (1794–96). There are also a few worthy panels describing the role of women in Corsican society.
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Musée d'Histoire Naturelle
There's something delightfully old-fashioned about this natural history museum, which dates back to the period after the French Revolution when French society began to embrace the benefits of science. There is one section devoted to housing an exhibition of regional fauna and lots of bugs on pins and quality taxidermy.
The mansion that houses the museum, the Hôtel de Lisleferme, is an impressive sight even if the museum is a little old-school.
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Musée National de la Maison Bonaparte
Napoléon spent his first nine years in this house. Ransacked by Corsican nationalists in 1793, requisitioned by English troops from 1794 to 1796, and eventually rebuilt by Napoléon's mother, the house became a place of pilgrimage for French revolutionaries, and visitors are still encouraged to observe suitably hushed tones. It hosts memorabilia of the emperor and his siblings, including a glass medallion containing a lock of his hair. It's closed Monday mornings.
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