Art & architecture - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 89

Centre

9 C3

Jeu de Paume films and photos
1 place de la Concorde, 8ème • 01 47 03 12 50
www.jeudepaume.org
Open noon-7 Wed-Fri, 10-7 Sat & Sun, noon-9:30 Tue

Once an indoor court for real tennis, the Jeu de Paume
is now a museum of photography and film. Shows are
either retrospective or thematic, and have included
works by fashion photographer Guy Bourdin and
experimental films from Jean-Luc Godard. Adm

10 F3

Bibliothèque Nationale de
France Richelieu exhibition space
58 rue de Richelieu, 2ème • 01 53 79 59 59
www.bnf.fr Galleries open 10-5 Mon-Sat
Stripped of topics since the new national library (see
p111) opened in 1996, the original is still worth visiting
for its breathtaking domed Salle Labrouse and for the
frescoed galleries that host temporary exhibitions of
mostly modern photography, drawings and engravings.

17 C1

Musée Carnavalet historical collection
23 rue de Sevigné, 3ème • 01 44 59 58 58
Open 10-6:30 Tue-Sun
With a superb setting and exhibits that include
paintings, furniture and personal artefacts, the Musée
Carnavalet's colossal collection offers an authoritative
and highly engaging history of Paris. Occupying two
buildings, the museum was founded by Baron
Haussmann, who had the foresight to preserve some of
the Paris he was demolishing as he reshaped the city
in the mid-1800s. The 16th-century Hôtel Carnavalet,
one of the Marais' oldest hôtels particuliers , focuses
on Paris from prehistoric times up until the 1700s. Its
rooms are furnished with fabulous period furniture and
paintings. The neighbouring hôtel picks up the story
from 1789 to the present day and has France's biggest
collection of Revolutionary exhibits. Check out the
painting of Danton with his gargantuan head; in com-
parison, the portrait of fellow revolutionary Robespierre
shows a far less powerful and rather prim leader. Adm