Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
This museum inside Hôtel de Donon displays oil paintings, pastels, sculpture,
objets d'art,
jewellery, porcelain and furniture from the 18th century assembled by Ernest Cognacq
(1839-1928), founder of La Samaritaine department store, and his wife Louise Jay.
Although Cognacq appreciated little of his collection, boasting that he had never visited
the Louvre and was only acquiring collections for the status, the artwork and
objets d'art
give a good idea of upper-class tastes during the Age of Enlightenment.
MUSEUM
MUSÉE DES ARTS ET MÉTIERS
10am-6pm Tue, Wed & Fri-Sun, to 9.30pm Thu; Arts et Métiers)
The Arts & Crafts Museum, dating to 1794 and Europe's oldest science and technology mu-
seum, is a must for anyone with kids - or an interest in how things tick or work. Housed in-
side the sublime 18th-century priory of St-Martin des Champs, some 3000 instruments, ma-
chines and working models from the 18th to 20th centuries are displayed across three floors.
In the attached church of St-Martin des Champs is Foucault's original pendulum, introduced
to the world at the Universal Exhibition in Paris 1855.
Louis Blériot's monoplane from 1909 is also here.
Guided tours are in French only but the excellent English audioguide (€5) more than
compensates.
MUSEUM
MUSÉE DES ARCHIVES NATIONALES
10am-5.30pm Mon &
Wed-Fri, 2-5.30pm Sat & Sun; Rambuteau or St-Paul)
The greatest appeal of the National Archives and its small museum is the stunning twinset
of
hôtels particuliers (
mansions) they are squirreled away in - and the stunning gardens in
which they languish. Dating from the early 18th century, Hôtel de Rohan and Hôtel de
Soubise are extravagantly painted and gilded in the rococo style inside, with antique fur-
niture and 18th-century paintings alongside a rather dry collection of documents on display
(the most interesting and precious are hidden away in the archives).
MUSEUM
MUSÉE DE LA CHASSE ET DE LA NATURE
11am-6pm Tue-Sun; Rambuteau or Hôtel de Ville)
The Hunting and Nature Museum, inside the delightful Hôtel Guénégaud (1651), is posit-
ively crammed with weapons, paintings, sculpture and
objets d'art
related to hunting and, of
