A great article by completefrance.com: 10 Paris museums you can visit for free
One of the great joys of Paris has to be the scores of specialty museums, each with its own focus, each with its own charms. Some of the museums mentioned in the following article will be familiar to the readers of ‘Desperately Seeking Paris,’ in that I’ve blogged on them: le Musée Picasso in the exquisite Hotel Salé, the Musée D’Orsay in the magnificently reconstructed train station, and the challenging Musée du Quail Branly, a veritable vertical garden, its walls cloaked in greenery.
What intrigued me about the article was how, if you planned well, you could save yourself a bundle of euros, enough to splurge on a lovely lunch with a glass of vin rouge between the morning and afternoon visits.
If I have visited nearly all of the museums listed, there is one—le Musée National Eugene Delacroix—that has long been on my radar. After learning that it’s the former apartment and studio of that great painter, I’ve moved it to the top of a list, the one called The Next Time I See Paris…
If you read on, you will be able to compile your own wish list, and not only that, but you will know exactly where to get off the Metro. Where’s my calendar and when is the first Sunday of the month?
Have you a favorite museum in Paris? If so, what might it be?
10 Paris museums you can visit for free
12:59 08 June 2016 - Sophie Gardner-Roberts
Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris © Paris Tourist Office - Marc Bertrand
It’s worth planning your next trip to Paris to take place on the first weekend of every month, because that's when national and municipal museums offer free entrances to their permanent collections. This, sadly, does not apply to the Louvre, to the Chateau de Versailles or to private museums and institutions, but there’s still plenty to satisfy your thirst for French art and culture while saving those euros for other important things. Like wine, for example.
Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine
Visitors to this museum can discover the evolution of French architecture through three galleries that exhibit civil and religious architecture from the 11th to 18th century, murals dating back from the 11th to the 16th century and modern and contemporary architectural developments.
Get off the metro at: Metro Trocadéro / Champ de Mars - Tour Eiffel
Centre Pompidou at night ©Dreamstime - Corepics Vof
Musée national d’art moderne - Centre Pompidou
Paris’ museum of modern art is fascinating both on the inside and the outside. With a large tube escalator running across a pipe-covered façade, the futuristic-looking glass building houses Europe’s leading collection of modern and contemporary art.
Get off the metro at: Metro Hôtel de Ville / Châtelet - Les Halles
To learn about the other 8 museums in Paris that you can see for free, read the full article.