Bercy and the Cour-Saint-Emilion

Housed in a former 19th-century wine storehouse, completely renovated and transformed into boutiques, the Cour Saint Emilion is ideal for shopaholics and anyone who loves to watch the world go by from the terrace of a cafe. Drawing its charm from its historic role in the capital’s love affair with wine, Bercy Village, an open air shopping centre, enables visitors to take their time and sample the delights of the adjoining Bercy garden.

This museum, a reconstitution of a fun fair, presents one of the world’s biggest collections of merry-go-rounds, fun-fair stalls and rides, restored and in working order, as well as some 1,500 historic works, from 1850 to the present.

With its 40,000 films, the Cinémathèque Française is one the biggest film archives in the world. Founded in 1938, this collection covers almost every film producing country in the world and features items from the 18th and 19th centuries (magic lanterns, optical boxes, etc.), and numerous projectors and cameras from around the world, enabling the visitor to explore almost every stage in the international development of cinematographic technology. In addition, the Cinémathèque also has a collection of costumes, devices, visual art works (drawings, models, posters, etc.) including the skull of Norman Bates’ mother in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, gears from Chaplin’s Modern Times and more.

Explore its history as Bercy’s former wine warehouse by exploring its rail system, storehouse and guardhouse, now transformed into a gardener’s lodge. The park is divided into three parts: plant beds consisting of a vegetable garden, orchard, etc., lawns and a romantic garden featuring a pond and the former house of the city’s tax collector. The garden has preserved the original orthogonal outline of its roadways and some cobbled pathways once used to transport wines from the banks of the Seine. A picturesque and refreshing leap in time!

Everything goes on under this grass-covered pyramid: spectacular shows with pop and rock stars, horse riding, skiing … even skating on the Sonja Henie ice-skating rink, from t4! The Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy is France’s largest concert venue and every year it hosts the biggest concerts in the capital. In its 20 or so years of existence, top French and international stars — Michel Sardou, Prince, Mylene Farmer, Madonna, etc. — have performed at Bercy.

Designed like the arch of a bridge over the river, this imposing government ministry is exceptionally open to the public during European Heritage Days.