art galleries & museums
in paris

Paris has some of the finest and most celebrated art galleries and museums in the world. Just three alone will make massive inroads into available time in this timeless city: the Louvre, of course, is renowned for Western art from the Middle Ages to 1850; the Musée d'Orsay is devoted to all the arts between 1850 and the First World War, while the amazing bit of plumbing that is the Centre Pompidou is the only museum in the world to offer an overall view of 20th- and 21st-century art.

centre pompidou
musÉe national d'art moderne

Places Georges Pompidou

Tel: 01 44 78 12 33

www.centrepompidou.fr

Open: daily except Tuesday 1100-2100 (last admission 2000

Housed under one roof, the centre houses one of the most important museums in the world, embracing the leading collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, a massive reference library, educational activity areas, bookshop, restaurant and café.

musÉe d'orsay

1 rue de la Légion d'Honneur

Tel: 01 40 49 48 14

www.musee-orsay.fr

Open: Tuesday-Sunday 0930-1800 (Thursday 2145). Last admission 1700 (Thursday 2100)

Right in the centre of Paris on the banks of the Seine, the Musée d'Orsay occupies the sight of the former Orsay railway station. The museum displays collections of art from the mid-19th century to the start of the First World War.

A chance to admire the works of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas, Gauguin and Rodin

musÉe du louvre

Rue de Rivoli

Tel: 01 04 20 50 50

www.louvre.fr

Open: Monday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday 0900-1800; Wednesday and Friday 0900-2145

Closed: Tuesday, 1 Jan, 1 May, 15 Aug and 25 Dec.

This former residence of kings is one of the largest palaces in the world, and certainly one of the most illustrious. Today it houses not kings but an outstanding collection of ancient and Western art.

It is arguably the world's best-known and most-visited museum, and an enduring symbol of French excellence.

The museum houses over 35,000 pieces of artwork dating from antiquity to early modern times.