The 23 Best Museums in Paris, France
Paris is home to the world's most recognisable smile (well, smirk), but there's much more to the City of Light's museum...
Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain
261 Bd Raspail, 75014 Paris, France
Jean Nouvel's glass and steel building, an exhibition centre with Cartier's offices above, is as much a work of art as the installations inside. Shows...
Musée National Picasso-Paris
5 Rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris, France
First opened in 1985, the Musée Picasso is one of the city’s most precious and prestigious institutions. Set in the great 17th century Hôtel Salé in...
Musée Jacquemart-André
158 Bd Haussmann, 75008 Paris, France
Long terrace steps and a pair of stone lions usher visitors into this grand 19th-century mansion, home to an impressive collection of objets d’art and...
Cluny Museum - National Museum of the Middle Ages
28 Rue du Sommerard, 75005 Paris, France
The national museum of medieval art is best known for the beautiful, allegorical Lady and the Unicorn tapestry cycle, but also has important...
Musée Carnavalet
23 Rue de Sévigné, 75003 Paris, France
Here, 140 chronological rooms depict the history of Paris, from pre-Roman Gaul to the 20th century. Built in 1548 and transformed by Mansart in 1660,...
Palais de Tokyo
13 Av. du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris, France
When it opened in 2002, many thought the Palais’s stripped-back interior was a design statement. In fact, it was a response to tight finances. The...
Petit Palais
Av. Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris, France
On the other side of the road from the Grand Palais, you’ll find the Petit Palais. Although this institution was also built for the 1900 Exposition...
Musée de la Vie Romantique
16 Rue Chaptal, 75009 Paris, France
The 9th arrondissement was teeming with composers, writers and artists when Dutch artist Ary Scheffer built this small villa in 1830. The likes of...
Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine
1 Pl. du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, 75116 Paris, France
Opened in 2007, this architecture and heritage museum impresses principally because of its scale (massive). The expansive ground floor is filled with...
Museum of Hunting and Nature
62 Rue des Archives, 75003 Paris, France
Many of the exhibits here seem more suited to an art gallery than a museum. The history of hunting and humankind’s broader relationships with the...
Gustave Moreau Museum
14 Rue Catherine de la Rochefoucauld, 75009 Paris, France
This wonderful museum combines the small private apartment of Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau with the vast gallery he built to display his work –...
Musée des Arts Décoratifs
107 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France
Taken as a whole (alongside the Musée de la Mode et du Textile), this is one of the world’s major collections of design and the decorative arts....
Musée Nissim de Camondo
63 Rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris, France
Put together by Count Moïse de Camondo, this collection is named after his son Nissim, who was killed during the First World War. Moïse replaced the...
Grand Palais
3 Av. du Général Eisenhower, 75008 Paris, France
The huge, sprawling galleries of the Grand Palais were originally constructed for the Exposition Universelle of 1900 – so it’s no surprise this place...
Musée Marmottan Monet
2 Rue Louis Boilly, 75016 Paris, France
While the Musée de l'Orangerie is home to his tapestries, it's this former hunting pavilion on the edges of Bois de Boulogne that lays claim to the...
Musée de l'Orangerie
Jardin des Tuileries, 75001 Paris, France
The Orangerie is home to eight, tapestry-sized ‘Nymphéas’ (water lilies) paintings. Housed in two plain oval rooms, the sparse setting allows visitors...
Musée d'Orsay
1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur, 75007 Paris, France
If you like art that leaves an impression, then the Musée D'Orsay is a must. Housed in a former train station, the collection includes all of the...
Louvre Museum
75001 Paris, France
The world’s largest and most visited museum needs no introduction, but here's one anyway. Established in 1793, the Louve has grown into a city within...
Bourdelle Museum
18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015 Paris, France
Sculptor Antoine Bourdelle was a big deal in the late 1800s and early 20th century. A pupil of Rodin, the Frenchman produced a number of monumental...
Jeu de Paume
1 Pl. de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France
The Centre National de la Photographie's Tuileries gardens location makes it the ideal second stop after a trip to the Louvre or Orsay. Although the...
Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
37 Quai Jacques Chirac, 75007 Paris, France
The living walls of the Musée du Quai Branly are worth the short walk along the Seine from the Eiffel Tower alone, but it's what is inside that will...
Musée des Arts et Métiers
60 Rue Réaumur, 75003 Paris, France
Don't get confused by the name. This ‘arts and crafts’ museum is, in fact, Europe’s oldest science museum. Founded in 1794 by constitutional bishop...
The Centre Pompidou
Place Georges-Pompidou, 75004 Paris, France
It takes a lot to rival the iconic historic landmarks of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, but Centre Pompidou's primary colours, exposed pipes...