Paris museums

A selection of Paris museums you must visit during your stay in Paris

Louvre

Formerly the residence of the Kings of France, the Louvre is one of the French capital’s most renowned sites. With its rich past and collections, it is one of the world’s greatest museums. The best known of the Louvre’s extensive art collection is undoubtedly its most oft-visited and famous painting, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, located in the Renaissance Italian Paintings section.

Pompidou Center

Not far from Les Halles, the funky and hip Centre Pompidou or better known as the Pompidou Center features a wonderful collection of modern art within its creatively designed building. It also features a cinema, concerts and children’s activities. Don’t leave before taking a ride on the escalators. As you go up, you will discover Paris as a horizontal skyline appears: the Sacré-Coeur, St-Eustache, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, the Panthéon, the Tour St-Jacques, and La Défense.

Cité de la musique

The Cité de la Musique, in the Parc de la Villette, invites the visitor to discover music and its multiple aspects. A place of teaching (pedagogical activities for adults and the young public) and for the practice of music, for information and discovery of cultural heritage, the Cité de la Musique is aimed at all the public: music lovers, young and future artists, amateurs and professionals of music.

The Orsay Museum

The museum’s nationally-owned collections originate from three main institutions: the Musée du Louvre, the Musée du Jeu de Paume and the Musée National d’Art Moderne. Besides painting, sculpture, graphic arts and decorative arts, the museum has also established collections of furniture, architecture and photography.

La Villette Park

The Cité des Sciences in the La Villette park is a beautiful and modern science museum. For the architecture alone, you should not miss visiting this ultra-modern museum. All glass and stainless steel, bridges and suspended walkways, transparent escalators and elevators, this museum has been designed so that you feel like you are in a “city of the future”.

Musée National Rodin

The Rodin museum occupies the hôtel particulier where the sculptor lived in the final years of his life. The Kiss, the Cathedral, the Walking Man, portrait busts and early terracottas are exhibited indoors, as are many of the individual figures or small groups that also appear on the Gates of Hell.The walls are hung with paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Carrière and Rodin himself.