Monday: May 17
Musee d'Orsay and Musee National de la Legion d’honneur
There are a lot of museums in Paris; the most famous, the biggest, the richest, the everything is probably the Louvre. I like it, BUT, I find it too big. You can spend days and days in the Louvre and not see it all.
My favorite museum in Paris is the Museum d'Orsay. It is just down the road and across the Seine from the Louvre. It is smaller, more intimate, something you can see in a day, and appreciate without getting the Louvre overload. It has great works of art (assuming you want to see French art, and it is comfortable. Take a look; I'm sure you will like it.
The Musee Nation de la Legion d'honneur is right across the street from the Musee d'Orsay. It's a beautiful building, smaller as it was once a mansion. Inside you can find out everything you ever wanted to know about medals and orders....it's interesting but after a while, a bit of a bore. I wouldn't stand in line to see it, but there rarely is a line anyway. Take a peek; maybe you'll like it.
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay is on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway
station, the Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts edifice built between 1898
and 1900. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including
paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography, and 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, 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.
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.
D'Orsay Museum, seen from the right bank of the Seine river
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. The station's hotel
closed on 1 January 1973.
In
1977 the French Government decided to convert
the station to a museum. ACT Architecture (Renaud Bardon, Pierre Colboc and
Jean-Paul Philippon) were the designers and the construction work was carried by
Bouygues. The Italian
architect
Gae Aulenti oversaw the
design of the conversion from 1980 to 1986.
The work involved creating 20,000 sq. m. of new floorspace on four floors. The
new museum was opened by President François Mitterrand on 1 December 1986.
Click here to see other pictures; including some of the art works on display!
Click here to see other pictures; including some of the art works on display!
Musee National de la Legion d’honneur et des Orderes de Chevaler
The Palace
The Hôtel de Salm was commissioned by Prince Frederic III of
Salm-Kyrbourg from the architect Pierre Rousseau in 1782 and completed in 1788.
The Legion of Honour acquired it on 3 May 1804. Severely damaged in the Paris
Commune fire, the mansion was identically rebuilt by the architect Mortier
between the years 1871 and 1878.
It is the residence of the Grand Chancellor and the
headquarters of the Order. The building harbours the Grand Chancery which is the
administrator of the national orders: the Legion of Honour (since 1802), the
Military Medal (since 1852) and the Order of Merit (since 1963).
The palace is also the home of the National Museum of the
Legion of Honour and the Orders of Knighthood (since 1925).
The Museum
The museum was built between 1922 and 1925 in a wing that was
once the stables of the Salm Mansion. Founded by General Yvon Dubail, it was
funded by contributions from Legion of Honour and Military Medal holders. The
response was particularly generous from the United States.
The initial core of the objects exhibited when it opened in
1925 came from the Grand Chancery, from collections of the national museums and
from the collection of an enlightened amateur, Maurice Bucquet (1860-1921).
Numerous donations and prestigious purchases have been added along the years.
Click on the picture to see a larger view.
Click on the picture to see a larger view.