This magnificently restored railway station houses the French national collection of art from 1848 to 1914. Since opening in 1986, the museum has attracted pilgrims from far and wide who come to take in the stunning collection of Impressionist and Post Impressionist art. Paintings include five Monet canvases of Rouen Cathedral, ballet scenes by Dégas, Courbet’s shocking L’Origine du Monde (the Origins of the World), a hyperrealistic painting depicting a naked woman lying on her back, and works by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec. The museum’s collection also contains several fine sculptures as well as examples from the Art Nouveau movement. The museum works upwards in chronological order, and there is a café on the sky-lit upper level, where views of Paris can be enjoyed from behind the original station clock. The museum’s restaurant is a finely decorated dining room, preserved in its original state, and popular with its many visitors.

Musée d’Orsay, 62 rue de Lille, 75343 Paris, France
Tel: (01) 4049 4872. Fax: (01) 4222 1184. E-mail: spa@musee-orsay.fr
Website: www.musee-orsay.fr

Air: Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport or Paris Orly Airport. Rail: Paris Gare du Nord (Eurostar) Station. RER: Musée d’Orsay. Underground: Solférino. Road: Bus: 24, 63, 68, 73, 83, 84 or 94. Car: A1 (from Lille); A16 (from Boulogne); E60 (from Brussels); A62, then A20, A71 and A10 (from Toulouse); A3 (from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport); A4 (from Strasbourg); A6 (from Lyon and Marseille) or A13 (from Caen).

Tues-Sun 0900-1800.

EUR7/FFr46 (adult over 25), EUR5/Ffr33 (adult 18-25), free (child under 18).

France, Paris