Art & Exhibits Paris

A train station transformed into an art gallery

The Musée d'Orsay was once the Orsay train station, which was built by the architect Victor Laloux for the Great Exhibition of 1900, and inaugurated that year on July 14. The modern interior had special lifts for baggage, and separate lifts for passengers that led to a total of sixteen underground platforms. From 1900 to 1939 the station served the southwest of France. With advances in railroad electrification and train length, the cars at the Orsay Station were suited only for suburban destinations. After World War II began, it became a distribution centre for parcels to prisoners, and then later it was used as a film set by Orson Welles for his adaptation of Kafka's novel 'The Trial'.
It was not until October 20, 1977, that President Valérie Giscard d'Estaing initiated its conversion into a museum. The building was classed as an historic monument in 1978, and finally opened its doors as a museum in December 1986. The collection covers western art and culture in all its diversity from 1848 to 1914, and includes paintings, sculpture, graphics, furniture, architecture and photography. Not to be missed are Courbet's 'The Artist's Studio', Manet's 'Olympia', and Monet's 'Saint-Lazare Station'. The museum also hosts new exhibits, conferences, and films and has a superb panoramic view from its top floor terrace.

See also: Musée du Louvre - Bateau Concorde Atlantique - Restaurant du Musée d'Orsay - Café des Hauteurs - Musée d'Orsay - Auditorium

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