Places to discover

Musée Carnavalet – histoire de Paris



The museum of the history of Paris takes its visitors from the dug-out canoes of the Gallic Parisii tribe to the bedroom of Marcel Proust. Two resplendent adjoining townhouses offer the perfect setting for this fascinating story. The Hôtel Carnavalet, built in 1548, traces the history of the Gallo-Roman, Merovingian and Carolingian city, the Paris of the Renaissance, and the wars of Religion, etc. In the Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, it is Paris-Revolution, then Napoléon leaving on one of his campaigns with his personal effects in gilded silver. And again it is the Paris of Mucha, art nouveau, a ballroom from the roaring Twenties, etc.
23, rue de Sévigné (3rd). M° Saint-Paul. Tél. : 01 44 59 58 58. Daily: 10am-6pm, except Mon and public hols. Permanent collections free.
www.carnavalet.paris.fr


Hôtel de Sully/Musée du Jeu de Paume – site Sully



“Ploughing and grazing are the two teats of France” affirmed Maximilien of Béthune, Duke of Sully and superintendent of the finances of Henri IV. Nevertheless, in 1634, he opted for a sumptuous pied-à-terre in the Marais – completed four years earlier – rather than the greenery of the countryside. This archetypal 17th-century Parisian mansion house wowed fashionable society before housing a dairy and a shop for the latest goods in the 19th century. Today, it houses the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.
62, rue Saint-Antoine (4th). M° Saint-Paul, Bastille. Tél. : 01 42 74 47 75. Tues to Fri: 12-noon to 7pm. Sat and Sun: 10am to 7pm. Mon and some public hols: closed. €5 – RR : €2.50.
www.jeudepaume.org


Musée des Arts et Métiers



The metro station sets the tone. Since the bicentenary of the museum, in 1994, the Arts et Métiers metro station has taken on the appearance of Jules Verne’s submarine the ‘Nautilus’, complete with copper walls and portholes. In this faithfullyrenovated abbey, the history of technology from the 16th century onwards is split into seven domains: communication, construction, energy, scientific instruments, materials, mechanical engineering, and transport. Visitors will learn all about great inventions and stand in wonder before the automatons and velocipedes, Lavoisier’s late-18th-century laboratory or Clément Ader’s airplane, just a century older.
60, rue Réaumur (3rd). M° Arts-et-Métiers. Tél. : 01 53 01 82 00. Daily: 10am-6pm, except Mon and some public hols. Thu: 10am-9.30pm. €6.50 – RR : €4.50. Under 18s, 1st Sun of the month and Thu : 6pm to 9.30pm : free.
www.arts-et-metiers.net



Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme



The culture and traditions of the Jewish community come to life in this 17th-century town house, with its rich collection of stunning, popular, religious, everyday, humble, precious, ancestral and nearcontemporary objects, such as paintings by Chagall, Modigliani and Soutine.
Hôtel de Saint-Aignan. 71, rue du Temple (3rd). M° Rambuteau. Tél. : 01 53 01 86 60. Daily: 11am-6pm, except Sat. Sun: 10am-6pm. Closed 1 Jan, 1 May for Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippour celebrations. €6.80 – RR: €4.50. Under 18s: free.
www.mahj.org


Mémorial de la Shoah
Opened on the site of the tomb of the Unknown Jewish Martyr, the Memorial is a place of remembrance and documentation about the Shoah and also a “museum of vigilance”, designed for teaching, learning and experiencing. A bastion against oblivion, the Wall of Names, perpetuates the memory of the 76,000 Jewish victims deported from France with the cooperation of the Vichy government.
17, rue Geoffroy-l’Asnier (4th). M° Saint-Paul. Tél. : 01 42 77 44 72. Daily, except Sat:10am-6pm. Thur: late opening until 10pm. Public hols and certain Jewish holidays: closed. Free.
www.memorialdelashoah.org



Centre historique des Archives nationales – musée de l’histoire de France
As their name suggests, the National Archives preserve the records of France, from the Merovingians to 1958, and house the Musée de l’Histoire de France. Located in the Palais de Soubise since 1808, with its extravagant rocaille-style decoration behind a fine classical façade, the National Archives have continued to grow, and now extend into the superb Hôtel de Rohan.
Hôtel de Soubise. 60, rue des Francs-Bourgeois (3rd). M° Hôtel-de-Ville. Tél. : 01 40 27 60 96. Mon to Fri, except Tue and public hols: 10am-12.30pm and 2-5.30pm. Sat and Sun: 2-5.30pm. €3 – RR: €2.30 (under 26s).
www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr



Musée de la Poupée



First, came dolls dressed like perfect little Parisian ladies in the elegant outfits of a marchioness. In 1878 after the Exposition Universelle, came the porcelain doll. In the twentieth century, baby dolls in celluloid were all the fashion… until a certain blonde-haired doll with the svelte figure of a model appeared on the scene. Happy daydreaming in the world of little girls!
Impasse Berthaud (3rd). M° Rambuteau. Tél. : 01 42 72 73 11. Daily: 10am-6pm, except Mon and public hols. €7 – RR: €5/3. Under 3s: free.**
www.museedelapoupeeparis.com



Musée de la Curiosité et de la Magie
This labyrinth of vaulted cellars was said to have been as a place of debauchery for the Marquis de Sade. Today, it is a perfectly commendable place for those with a sense of curiosity and lovers of tricks, and recounts the history of magic, illusionists and conjurers from the 18th century onwards. Indian mail, automatons, unusual boxes of surprises and secrets, magic wands, distorting mirrors: everything is here!
11, rue Saint-Paul (4th). *M° Saint-Paul. Tél. : 01 42 72 13 26.Wed, Sat, Sun: 2-7pm. €9 – RR: €7.
www.museedelamagie.com


Musée Cognacq-Jay
The couple Cognacq-Jay, founders of the Samaritaine department stores, devoted part of their great wealth to buying works and objects of art (paintings, sculptures, furniture, etc.) with a preference for those of the French 18th century.
8, rue Elzévir (3rd). M° Saint-Paul. Tél. : 01 40 27 07 21. Daily: 10am-6pm, except Mon and public hols. Closed Mon and public hols. Permanent collections: free.
www.cognac-jay.paris.fr

Monuments

Place du Châtelet



Don’t come here looking for tranquillity – this is one of the busiest crossroads in Paris. There are however many lovely things to see, including the Châtelet or ‘Palm’ Fountain, erected in 1806 to commemorate the victories of Napoléon I, and two Italian Renaissance-inspired theatres, designed by Davioud in 1862. The Théâtre du Châtelet, with over two thousand seats, is devoted primarily to opera and music. The Théâtre de la Ville – almost its twin – was for a long time named after the actress Sarah Bernhardt, who performed there for over twenty years. Today, its programme is divided between drama, dance and music.



Église Saint-Eustache



Built over a century, this church features Gothic and Renaissance influences combined with an 18th-century classical façade, along with traces of a questionable restoration after 1840. Nevertheless, Saint-Eustache is truly beautiful and houses treasures like a Rubens painting and a statue of Pigalle. And it has an impressive celebrity line-up, including the baptism of Richelieu, Molière and Mme de Pompadour, Louis XIV’s first communion, the mariage of Lulli, the funeral of La Fontaine and Mirabeau as well as Colbert, Marivaux and Rameau, who found their final resting places here. It was even a “Temple of Agriculture” between 1797 and 1803!
Place du Jour (1st). M° Châtelet-les-Halles. Tél. : 01 42 36 31 05. Daily: 9.30am-7pm.



Tour Jean-sans-Peur




A 27-metre-high medieval tower on rue Étienne- Marcel? It’s true! Let’s step back in time for a moment. During an interlude in the One Hundred Years War, Jean, Duke of Burgundy, took advantage of the situation to order the assassination of his cousin Louis d’Orléans and seize power. He ruled from his Parisian mansion, in which, in 1409, he had the tower built – the only remaining vestige of the building today. A magnificent spiral staircase with a vault sculpted in oak, hop, and hawthorn leads to the meeting rooms. Today, a permanent exhibition in the six rooms of the tower portrays the history of early-15th-century society and architecture.
20, rue Étienne-Marcel (2nd). M° Étienne-Marcel. Tél. : 01 40 26 20 28. Self-guided tours 1.30-6pm. Apr to Nov: Wed to Sun. Nov to Mar: Wed, Sat, Sun. €5/8 – RR: €3.
www.tourjeansanspeur.com



Tour Saint-Jacques
What a history! This curious Gothic belfry is the only remaining vestige of the church of Saint-Jacques-dela- Boucherie, a meeting point for pilgrims journeying to Santiago de Compostela in Spain in the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, Pascal experimented here with gravity. The tower escaped demolition in 1797 and was converted into a meteorological station in 1891, where air quality is measured. In the last few years, the tower has been beautifully restored … Stop to admire it!
Square de la tour Saint-Jacques (1st). M° Hôtel-de-Ville.



Forum des Halles et son jardin



From the 12th century until 1969, the “belly of Paris” and its colourful population, so well depicted in the novels of Émile Zola, supplied the capital with food. Transferred to Rungis, the covered market was replaced by galleries including a shopping centre, a swimming pool, a tropical hothouse, numerous cinema auditoriums … On the garden side, there are lawns, fountains, and children’s play areas to enjoy before a new renovation of the area, planned for 2010. The code name for the project, by the architects Patrick Berger and Jacques Anziutti, is “Canopy”!
1-7, rue Pierre-Lescot (1st). M° Châtelet-les-Halles.