Musée d’Orsay

Quai Anatole France, 7th, M° Solferino or RER C station Musée d’Orsay
Parisi
IIe-de-France
France
01 40 49 48 48

http://www.musee-orsay.fr

Type: Museum
Addmission Fee: Entry Euro 7; Euro 5 for visitors ages 18 to 25, and for everyone after 4:15pm (after 8pm Thursdays) and on Sunday; free for kids under 18, and everyone on first Sundays. Museum Pass accepted. Audio guides Euro 5. Guided tours in English twice a day Tuesday through Saturday, Euro 6 extra
Hours: Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10am to 6pm (from 9am mid-June to mid-September); Sunday, 9am to 6pm; and Thursday, 10am to 9:45pm

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Begin at one of the city’s most popular museums, the Musée d’Orsay Originally a train station built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, it was closed in 1939 because modern trains grew too large for the station. After almost being torn down, it reopened as a museum in 1986 to house a permanent collection of mostly French art from the period 1848-1914, including Art Nouveau, Impressionism, Rodin sculptures, a new photography gallery, and models of architectural arts such as the Opéra Garnier (including a replica of the original ceiling fresco covered by Chagall’s modern painting in 1964). The main hall still has the feel of a train station, especially with the giant glass and iron clock on the arched glass wall. The side rooms are more intimate and group paintings and decorative arts by style. Don’t miss the ornately gilded Salle des Fêtes, which was once part of the hotel built adjacent to the train station. The same décor of wooden floors, marble columns, ceiling frescos and crystal chandeliers can be found in the romantic museum restaurant overlooking the Seine (lunch 11:30am to 2:30pm, tearoom 3:30 to 5:40pm excluding Thursdays, dinner Thursdays 7 to 9:30pm). There’s also a more simply decorated café and a self-service snack bar on the upper level. Some great panoramic views of the Louvre, Tuileries, and Sacré-Coeur can be seen from the windows on the fifth floor, notably from rooms 33, 31 and 28. Visitors could easily see the entire collection in this museum in a half-day; but arrive at opening time to avoid long lines.