Musée d´Orsay - Paris, France
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manchanegra
N 48° 51.630 E 002° 19.509
31U E 450502 N 5412167
The Musée d'Orsay is a famous museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900.
Waymark Code: WMCT95
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 10/10/2011
Views: 43
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. It is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces (the largest in the world) by such painters such as Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin and Van Gogh. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum's opening in 1986.
Rhe Building
The museum building was originally a railway station, Gare d'Orsay, constructed for the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans and finished in time for the 1900 Exposition Universelle to the design of three architects: Lucien Magne, Émile Bénard and Victor Laloux. It was the terminus for the railways of southwestern France until 1939.
By 1939 the station's short platforms had become unsuitable for the longer trains that had come to be used for mainline services. After 1939 it was used for suburban services and part of it became a mailing centre during World War II. It was then used as a set for several films, such as Kafka's The Trial adapted by Orson Welles, and as a haven for the Renaud-Barrault Theatre Company and for auctioneers, while the Hôtel Drouot was being rebuilt.
In 1970, permission was granted to demolish the station but Jacques Duhamel, the then Minister for Cultural Affairs, ruled against plans to build a new hotel in its staid. The station was then put on the supplementary list of Historic Monuments and finally listed in 1978. The suggestion to turn the station into a museum came from the Directorate of the Museums of France. The idea was to build a museum which would bridge the gap between the Louvre and the National Museum of Modern Art at the George Pompidou Centre. This plan was accepted by George Pompidou and a study was commissioned in 1974. In 1978, a competition was organized to design the new museum. ACT Architecture, a team of three young architects (Pierre Colboc, Renaud Bardon and Jean-Paul Philippon, were awarded the contract which involved creating 20,000 sq. m. of new floorspace on four floors. The construction work was carried out by Bouygues. In 1981, the Italian architect, Gae Aulenti was chosen to design the interior including the internal arrangement, decoration, furniture and fittings of the museum. Finally in July 1986, the museum was ready to receive it's exhibits. It took 6 months to install the 2000 or so paintings, 600 sculptures and other works. The museum was officially opened in December 1986 by the then president of the Republique François Mitterand.
Text from Wikipedia
The "Official Tourism" URL link to the attraction: [Web Link]
The attraction’s own URL: [Web Link]
Hours of Operation:
Opens:
Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
From 9.30am to 6pm
Open on public holidays :
Easter | 8 May | Ascension Day | Whitsuntide | 14 July | 15 August | 1 November | 11 November
Late opening on Thursday until 9.45pm.
Admission Prices:
Ticket for museum and exhibitions from 20 October 2009 to 4 February 2010:
€9.50 Reduced rate: €7
- For 18-25 year olds from outside the European Union
- For 26-30 year olds
- For everyone from 4.15pm (except Thursday)
- For everyone, Thursday late opening, 6pm onwards
Free :
Free admission for everyone the first Sunday of every month. Since 4 April 2009, free for under 26s belonging to the European Union and for primary and secondary school teachers (except temporary exhibitions).
Free for:
- Disabled visitors with an accompanying person
- Job seekers
-Under 18s
Direct and free access for:
- Carte blance and MuséO card holders
- Member of the Société des Amis du Musée d'Orsay
Approximate amount of time needed to fully experience the attraction: Full day
Transportation options to the attraction: Personal Vehicle or Public Transportation
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