Musée d'Orsay- Paris, France - VirtualTourist.com

impressionists paradise, the great ones are here; what it was an old railroad station now houses one of the world's great museums. Presenting arts from the period of 1848 to 1914.

In the 19C, the place was occupied by the cavalry headquarters and the Palais d'Orsay,built between 1810 and 1838 by Jean-Charles Bonnard, and later by Jacques Lacornée. Later it was the seat of the Foreign Affairs ministry,and the Civil courts, and the Council of States. During the communard de 1871, the entire neighborhood was burned, 30 yrs in ruins.

At the approach of the Universal Exposition of 1900, the State give the land to the Compagnie des Chemins de fer d'Orléans which in view of the deplorable position of the gare d'Austerlitz, envision build at the site of the Palais d'Orsay ,a train station. Finally, Victor Laloux, who just finished the 'Hôtel de Ville in Tours, was chosen for the work in 1898. The train station and its hotel was built in two years ready for the opening of the Universal Exposition on July 14, 1900.

The grand hall fo 32 meters high, 40 meters wide and 138 meters long were preceeded by a long vestibule and a entrance porch. From 1900 to 1939, the train station of Orsay was the head line for the southwest of France. The hôtel d'Orsay received travelers,associations, and political rallies for banquets and such. However, from 1939, the station was only serving the suburbs or banlieux, its lines were too short due to the upcoming electricity progress in railroad lines and the enlargement of trains. The train station was used more and more for a center of expositions,and the hotel close its doors in 1973. The city of Paris , museum council was already thinking of a museum .

The train station was put in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments in order to protect it from demolishion on March 8th, 1973. The final decision to build the museum of Orsay was done by the interministerial council on October 20th ,1977, by initiative of then Président Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. In 1978, the building was classify a historical monument and a public domain was created for the creation of the museum. In December 1st,1986,the Président of France, François Mitterrand, open the new museum which will open its door to the general public on December 9th, 1987.
Over 3M visitors came to see this magnificent museum in 2008!

Open from 9h30 to 18h
Tuesdays, Wednesdays,Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
from 9h30 to 21h45 Thursdays
ticket sold until 17h, 21h on thursdays
visitors to leave by 17h30, 21h15 on thursdays

Closing all Mondays, January 1st,May 1st,and December 25th

at the restaurant
from 11h45 to 14h30 for lunch
from 15h30 to 17h30 (except Thursdays) for the salon de thé
from 19h to 21h30 on thursdays only for dinner

Cafe high level for individual visitors only,no groups
from 10h30 to 17h, on thursdays until 21h , in the mezzanine from 10H30 to 17H; in the parvis of museum, fast food sale (drinks,sandwiches,etc) from 10H30 to 17H30

Admission, full fare adults 8 euros, reduce fare for

from 18-25 member of the UE
for the 26-30 .
for all from 16h15 (except thursdays)
for all on nights thursdays from 18h
unique reduce price of 5,50 Euros

Musée d'Orsay, Paris

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Musée d'Orsay, Paris

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