Paris Digest
Paris city guide since 1997
Paris Technology Museum, called Musée des Arts et Métiers, is a first class technology history museum. Housed in the 13th century Saint-Martin priory in Paris, the museum has collections of old cars and planes worth the trip. Paris museums.
Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris is a first class technology museum. Founded in 1794 by Henri Grégoire, the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers is a museum of technological innovation. The Musée des Arts et Métiers was refurbished in 2000, and now exhibits over 2,400 inventions. There are guided tours, demonstrations by scientific interpreters, a quick tour focused on the museum's 150 "flagship objects", and audioguide tours in eight languages. Housed in the 13th century Saint-Martin priory, the museum displays unique collections including historic airplanes and cars. See there Foucault's pendulum, Cugnot's steam dray machine, Ader original Avion 3 , Bleriot IX airplane, Stephenson's locomotive and the Ford T.
Paris metro: Metro Arts et Métiers station, line 3. Closed on Mondays. Open 10am to 6pm. Locate museum on Paris map.
Spend half a day in this quiet museum, one of Paris best kept secrets. For those who don't have time to visit the Air and Space Museum in Le Bourget, the Musée des Arts et Métiers is a good alternative. Great with children. Paris for kids.
The Musée des Arts et Métiers is a museum of science and technology, part of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts) in the 3rd arrondissement. Founded in 1794 on a proposal by Father Gregoire to the National Convention, the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) was originally an institution designed to train technicians and engineers using demonstrations based on scientific objects and techniques. The CNAM is today a large institution of higher education and research. Its museum keeps all the machines, models, drawings that were used throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It continues to enrich its collections, particularly with the National Mission for the Safeguarding of Contemporary Scientific and Technical Heritage, which has been entrusted to it since 2003 by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
The Musée des Arts et Métiers is housed in the buildings of the former Royal Priory Saint-Martin-des-Champs. Nationalized in November 1789, this considerable architectural ensemble was assigned to the Conservatoire in 1798. The museum occupies the buildings where the monks of the former religious community were housed, as well as the former priory church.
The ensemble was largely reorganized under the Monarchy of July and under the Second Empire, under the direction of architect Léon Vaudoyer. A Neo-Gothic decoration thus dresses the nave and choir of the old church. The old buildings, prior to the twentieth century, are classified as historical monuments since 1935.
