Top Paris Museums You Have to Visit

Paris is a city of art and history, with over 300 museums to explore. From the Louvre to the Orsay, Paris offers something for everyone.

In this article, we want to look at the top 3 museums in Paris and what they have to offer. Read on!

1) Louvre Museum

The Louvre Museum is a world-renowned art museum in Paris, France. It was originally built as a fortress in 1190 and was transformed into a museum in 1793. The Louvre Museum is home to over 35,000 works of art and attracts nearly 10 million visitors each year.

The most famous work of art housed at the Louvre is Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting. It was stolen by Da Vinci's former pupil, Titian in 1503 and recovered four years later.

The Louvre is located in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris, in the center of Paris. It houses works from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, including the Mona Lisa, Raphael's "The School of Athens", and the Venus de Milo.

The Cariatides are buried under the Louvre Museum. Cariatides, not to be confused with the Carian goddess Caria, is a stone structure that constitutes one of the foundation stones supporting a wing of the Louvre Palace. The cariatides are six side-by-side monolithic columns set at an angle within a large carved octagonal block that rises from a plinth to a corona.

It opens from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and from 9 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

It is free for children up to 17 years. Adults pay a fee of 20 euros.

2) Orsay Museum

The Orsay Museum is a museum in Paris, France, located on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900.

The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings by Eugène Delacroix, Édouard Manet and Paul Cézanne. It also contains Impressionist and post-impressionist paintings by such artists as Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

It was originally a train station called "Gare d'Orsay" because the railway line to Orsay ran through it. The building was originally a station for the Paris Metro's Line 1 between 1899 and 1935. It is now a museum dedicated to fine arts and was designed by Hector Guimard in 1898 as one of his Art Nouveau metro stations.

It opens from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Mondays. It is also free for children below 17. Adults pay a fee of 17.50 euros.

3) George Pompidou Museum

The museum is located in the city of Paris, France. It is one of the most famous museums in the world. The George Pompidou Museum was opened to the public on 19 October 1977. It is located in a modernist building at the Beaubourg art centre, near Les Halles and Rambuteau metro stations.

This museum was created by Georges Pompidou, former president of France, and his wife Jacqueline de Romilly. The museum was named after them both when it opened.

The museum usually has a large number of visitors each day because it is one of the most popular museums in Paris. It was designed by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

It houses collections of ancient Egyptian artifacts, African art (with a focus on the work of Henri Matisse), art from other regions, and European paintings. The museum's paintings include masterpieces by Picasso, Monet, Manet, and van Gogh. These are all on display in the huge halls that make up the main part of the museum.

It is closed on Tuesdays. On other days, it is open from 9 am to 9 pm. It is also free for children below 17 years and costs 15 euros for adults.

Conclusion

Paris has a lot of rich culture for all to learn from and there are many museums that have been built to preserve it for all to see. If you are looking for the best museums in Paris, Louvre, Orsay, and George Pompidou are definitely the places to look. Also, check out our previous post on the things to do in Paris with kids.