The Musée d'Orsay is unique in the world, both for its exceptional setting and the wealth of its collections - over 150,000 works. It is also the only museum whose mission is to explore artistic creation in all its forms, in Europe and the United States, between 1848 (when the February Revolution established the Second Republic) and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
This period was marked by profound upheavals that still resonate in today's world: industrialization, urbanization, globalization... Against this backdrop, Paris asserted its position as the world capital of the arts and defined itself as the “City of Light”. The vast Gare d'Orsay building, built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition and converted into a museum almost 40 years ago, is a prime example of this dual ambition.
Home to numerous masterpieces - paintings, sculptures, objets d'art, drawings, architectural designs and photographs - the Musée d'Orsay welcomes nearly 4 million visitors every year from all over the world, attracted by its remarkable collections and an exhibition program as varied as it is ambitious.
Located 22 km from Paris, the Versailles Palace was originally a hunting lodge for King Louis XIII (1601-1643). For his successor, his son, King Louis XIV (1638-1715), or Sun King, it became a place for entertainment and, above all, for the exercise of the king's power surround by his royal court.
The castle was enlarged by the architects Le Vau and Hardouin-Mansart, the gardens were designed by the gardener Le Nôtre, and the living quarters were decorated by the painter Le Brun. The castle is famous for its Hall of Mirrors, the setting for prestigious receptions. Les Grandes Eaux, Molière's comedies and Lully's music accompanied the festivities held at Versailles. In addition to the gardens, the estate has been enriched by the Parc, including the Grand Canal, the Orangery, the Trianon Estate with the Grand Trianon, Small Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine.
Within the castle, you can visit the Grands Appartements of King Louis XIV. Versailles has inspired a number of other palaces abroad, including : Schönbrunn Palace in Austria, Esterházy Palace in Hungary, Wilanów Palace in Poland, Granja Palace in Spain, Peterhof Palace and Drottningholm Palace in Russia. In the 19th century, Versailles became a museum.
Latin Quarter
So called because it was the district of students and intellectuals in the days when writing was in Latin. It's located near the center of Paris on the left bank of the Seine. Here you'll find the buildings of many former universities and schools (some of which have since moved outside Paris), as well as numerous bookshops. A few publishers still remain.
The district is criss-crossed by two major thoroughfares: rue Saint-Jacques, which was the north-south route through Lutetia in the time of the Romans and their successors the Gallo-Romans, and boulevard Saint-Germain, which runs east-west. Numerous other streets, both wide and narrow, complete the layout.
Between the Cluny Museum or Middle Ages Museum (whose ancient Gallo-Roman walls can still be seen) and the small Curie Museum (featuring a reconstruction of Marie Curie's laboratory), between the Sorbonne and the Ocean House in Paris (formerly the Oceanographic Institute), a scale model replica of the Prince's Palace in Monaco, between the Ecole Normale Supérieure on rue d'Ulm and the School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry on rue Vauquelin, between the Lutetia arenas and the Luxembourg Palace (upper house of Parliament where senators sit) in the Luxembourg Gardens, you'll find a wealth of varied treasures: remnants of the ancient Philippe II Auguste wall (1165-1223) or a copy of the metre-standard on rue de Vaugirard, the Pantheon "To great men, the grateful fatherland" or the oldest tree in Paris (which is not the most beautiful), a robinia or false acacia, planted 424 years ago in the Square Viviani, next to Notre-Dame Cathedral and, at the start of Rue Henri-Barbusse, the Arcueil water manhole, which supplied Parisians with drinking water in the early 17th century, and the Médicis fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens.