Art & architecture - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 105

North, East & South

12 2H

Nemo's Murals public art
Graffiti artist Nemo has been stencilling his “Shadow
Man” on building façades around Paris since 1990. The
silhouetted figure with its trademark suitcase pops up
in poorer districts, like the 20th arrondissement (most
spectacularly at 36 rue Henri Chevreau). Such is
Nemo's notoriety that he now receives commissions,
including a project around rue Mouffetard in the 5ème
to commemorate the Bièvre, Paris's underground river.

22 F1

Ministère des Finances landmark
The new headquarters of the finance ministry is a
dominating, three-building riverside complex that
was completed in 1989. Architects Borja Huidobro
and Paul Chemetov designed the spectacularly
arched Colbert building - part of which overhangs the
Seine to provide boat access for visiting officials - to
echo the form of the nearby metro viaduct. The whole
package is best viewed from the Pont de Bercy.

22 G2

Musée du Cinéma cinema heaven
51 rue de Bercy, 12ème • 01 53 65 74 74
www.cinemathequefrancaise.com
The former home of the ill-fated American Center was
designed by Frank Gehry and renovated in 2005 to
accommodate a mecca for cinephiles. The complex
has four cinemas including the mighty Cinémathèque
Française, temporary exhibition space and a museum
that looks back on a century of film-making. Adm

22 F3

Bibliothèque Nationale de France
- François Mitterrand modern library
11 quai François Mauriac, 13ème • 01 53 79 59 59
www.bnf.fr Galleries open 10-7 Tue-Sat, noon-7 Sun
A hallmark of Mitterrand's presidency was his ambi-
tious architectural Grands Projets . The last of these, a
controversial library building, consists of four L-shaped
towers, designed to look like half-open topics. It hosts
regular exhibitions of photographs and drawings.