|
|
Unusual Paris
Another way of visiting Paris is to venture to places and districts situated a bit off the classic tourist tracks that nonetheless are part of the city’s heritage and contribute to its special character. There are many surprises in store for you.
|
|
|
|
|
Cemeteries
They are part of the city’s heritage. Often dating back many centuries, they are well-kept by the municipality and full of flowers and trees. Every year, several million visitors, numerous walkers and tourists enjoy their tranquil atmosphere, rich natural and artistic treasures, and meditate by the tomb of one or other of the many famous people buried here, a testimony of the rich cultural life of the city. Paris has 14 cemeteries and six in the suburbs all of which have their own particularities and which are an invitation to stroll and meditate.
The most well-known, Père-Lachaise to the east, Montmartre to the north and Montparnasse to the south feature many graves of cultural, historic, artistic or architectural interest. City of Paris guides offer themed guided tours throughout the year of the capital’s main cemeteries.
The cemeteries are open during the week and at the weekend, between 8am and 5.30pm; times vary from winter to summer.
back to top
 Cimetière du Père-Lachaise
As well as visiting the graves of Frédéric Chopin or Jim Morrison, among many others, visitors can attend commemoration services for the victims of the Nazis in front of the monuments for those who died in the concentration camps, or nearby at a commemoration service for victims of the Commune de Paris in front of the Mur des Fédérés.
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise
Paris 20e – M° Père-Lachaise
www.pere-lachaise.com
More Info
 Cimetière de Montmartre
Buried here are the painters Edgar Degas and Gustave Moreau, the composers Hector Berlioz and Jacques Offenbach, the writer Stendhal, the dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, and the film maker François Truffaut, to name just a few.
Cimetière de Montmartre
Paris 18e – M° Place-de-Clichy
www.paris.fr
More Info
 Cimetière de Montparnasse
Here you’ll find notably the graves of the writers Simone de Beauvoir and Marguerite Duras, the sculptor Constantin Brancusi, the photographer and artist Man Ray, the film maker Jacques Demy, and the poet Tristan Tzara.
Cimetière du Montparnasse
Paris 14e – M° Edgar-Quinet
www.paris.fr
More Info
|
|
|
|
|
Covered passages
Back to top
 Covered passages
In Paris, the 17th century saw the beginning of covered passages lined with shops. Most were to open a century later, and are part of 19th-century heritage, important to Paris. They are mostly to be found on the right bank of the Seine, mainly near to the Grands Boulevards, in areas that attracted the wealthy classes at the time of their construction. They usually take the form of a gallery which has been created by piercing through other buildings or that was built at the same time as them. The galleries are covered with a glass roof which provides daylight from above and which gives a special effect. These galleries evolved over the years: they were ideal for escaping the crowds, meeting someone or shopping out of the rain and bad weather. Abandoned, then revamped in the 20th century, twenty or so of them still exist today and are highly-prized by Parisians and visitors. In them, you’ll find numerous shops as well as restaurants, art galleries, tea rooms, each with its own speciality. Passage Jouffroy, Passage des Panoramas, Galerie Vivienne, Galerie Véro Dodat, Galerie Colbert, Passage du Caire, Passage Brady… They are part of Paris’s history and the association ‘Passages et Galeries’, which works to preserve them, regularly offers guided tours.
Association Passages et Galeries
30 rue Boissy d’Anglas, Paris 8e – M° Madeleine - RER Auber – Tel +33 (0)1 44 71 02 48
www.passagesetgaleries.org
|
|
|
|
|
Unusual museums
back to top
 Musée du Parfum
This private museum, devoted to the art of perfume, opened in 1983 in a fine Napoléon III mansion house dating back to 1860. It is situated close to the Palais Garnier opera house and has similar architecture. Painted ceilings, parquet floor, romantic stucco, fireplaces and chandeliers date back to the creation of the building, a large part of which is listed as a historical monument. Guided visits provide an introduction to a collection of perfume objects, from Antiquity to the beginning of the 20th century. It is also possible to see how perfume was made in the 19th century in the Fragonard workshop in Grasse in the south of France. Admission is free. Open from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm. Sunday and public holidays from 9am to 5pm.
Musée du Parfum
9, rue Scribe Paris 9e - M° Opéra
www.fragonard.com
 Musée des Arts Forains
This museum, in the Bercy district, provides the atmosphere of the funfair of the 19th century, when the big wheel was made of wood, the little wooden horses were king and sweets were hand-made.
Visitors discover the many different facets of the fairground world as there is also a workshop for restoring old merry-go-rounds from the rich Favand collection, devoted to the funfair. What’s more things are not exhibited behind glass. You are allowed to touch objects and have a merry-go-round ride. A wonderful moment for children and adults, notably at Christmas time. Outside this period, the museum is open all year by appointment and during Heritage Days, for guided tours.
Musée des Arts Forains
Les Pavillons de Bercy 53, avenue des Terroirs de France Paris 12e - M° Cour Saint Émilion
www.pavillons-de-bercy.com
 Musée des Egouts
An underground museum showcasing the city’s sewers, situated next to Pont de l’Alma with a kiosk as an entrance. Paris has the largest and most ingenious network of sewers in the world and this is one of the essential points to its successful functioning. The sewer system is made up of galleries, situated under the streets, and drains the roads and buildings. Altogether it offers another insight to Paris. The tour relates the long and rich history of Paris’s sewers, from Antiquity to Belgrand, an engineer of the 19th-century, who designed the sewer system as it is today during the construction of Haussmann Paris, as well as the water cycle and the work of the sewage workers. It also involves travelling down the tunnels partly on foot and partly by boat.
Musée des Egouts de Paris
Pont de l'Alma, rive gauche, Face au 93 quai d'Orsay Paris 7e - M° Alma-Marceau (traverser le pont) - RER Pont de l'Alma
www.paris.fr
 Musée de l’Erotisme
Situated right in the heart of Pigalle, close to the Moulin Rouge, this 7-floor private museum showcases the history of eroticism throughout the world in its artistic form. On show are machines and mechanisms with an erotic vocation, objects and statues of traditional art from America, Africa, Oceania and Asia, numerous photos and postcards from the 19th century, etc. A saucy visit, for adults only. Open daily from 10am to 2am in the morning.
Musée de l’Erotisme
72 bd de Clichy Paris 18e - M° Blanche
www.musee-erotisme.com
 Musée de Montmartre
The museum is situated in a former artist’s studio on the heights of Montmartre where painters such Renoir, Utrillo, Valadon and Dufy once lived. The Manoir de Rosimond, the oldest residence in Montmartre exhibits souvenirs of Montmartre and retraces the political, artistic and bohemian past of the district, from the ‘Temps des cerises de la Commune’ to the crazy evenings at the Moulin-Rouge or Lapin Agile cabarets. A time when Montmartre was the centre of artistic creation and partying and was the making of a legend. Open from 11am to 6pm, except Monday and some public holidays.
Musée de Montmartre
12, rue Cortot Paris 18e M° Lamarck Caulaincourt – Abbesses – Anvers – Montmartrobus
www.museedemontmartre.fr
 Les Catacombes de Paris
A municipal ossuary situated in the former underground quarries in the 14th arrondissement. These were converted into an ossuary in the 18th-century, when Parisian cemeteries, notably the Innocents des Halles, were saturated. The remains of 6 million Parisians, the famous and the unknown, were deposited in these disused quarries measuring 1.7 km long and up to 30-metres deep. Arranged artistically and thematically, the bones are arranged along the galleries, which were converted into a museum by the city council and come under the supervision of the Musée Carnavalet. There is also a fountain and a chapel to be seen. Some 255,000 visitors come here each year and it is the only Parisian ossuary open to the public. Open from 10am to 4pm, except Monday and public holidays.
Catacombes de Paris
1, avenue du Colonel Henri Rol Tanguy Paris 14e –
M° Denfert-Rochereau – RER Denfert-Rochereau
www.catacombes-de-paris
 Musée Cernuschi
Housed in a beautiful mansion house next to Parc Monceau, the museum is devoted entirely to Asian arts and in particular the art of China, Japan and Korea. It conserves more than 12,000 works and exhibits 900 including notably the Buddha of Meguro, an imposing Japanese statue in bronze dating from the end of the 18th century, and important paintings from imperial china, from the 14th century to the beginning of the 20th century. It is the second most important museum in France devoted to Asiatic arts and the fifth devoted to Chinese art in Europe, thanks to the legacy of its collections made to the Paris City Council by the financier Henri Cernuschi. Inaugurated in 1898, it is also one of the city’s oldest museums and welcomes 100,000 visitors each year.
Open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 6pm.
Musée Cernuschi
7 av Vélasquez Paris 8e - M° Monceau – Villiers
www.paris.fr
 Les Beaux-Arts de Paris
This fine arts school stretches over three hectares in the heart of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district. A veritable institution founded in the 17th century, it offers courses in art that are world renowned. But it was also in one of these fine buildings that the first museum in France was opened to the public. It has more than 450,000 works and publications, some of which are by Rembrandt, Raphael and Ingres. These collections by masters, paintings, statues and buildings are a source of inspiration for art students (Henri Matisse was one of them) and a source of admiration for all lovers of art. Temporary exhibitions are organized and a tourist agency offers a guided tour of different areas and the collections www.cultival.fr
Ecole des Beaux-Arts
14, rue de Bonaparte Paris 6e - M° St Germain des Prés
www.ensba.fr
|
|
|
|
|
Our institutional
partners
|
|
|
|
Français
Deutsch
Español
Parisian train stations
Paris and its vines
