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Category Archives: Offbeat Museums & Monuments
Gaziantep Zeugma Mosaic Museum
Well-known for its food, the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep (or Antep) also houses the largest mosaic museum in the world, the Gaziantep Zeugma Mosaic Museum. With admission at only 8 TL per person, I visited the most incredible collection of mosaics I’ve ever seen for about the price of a kebab. Continue reading
National Postal Museum
The U.S. Postal Service has been in the forefront of the 24-hour news cycle lately, or at least that’s how things look from the non-stop-CNN-barrage that is my office kitchen. While I think I can learn to live in a world where I have to wait until Monday for a package transported over the weekend, the prospect of canceling Saturday deliveries seems to have provoked a bit of a panic (will they or won’t they?!?). I don’t propose to know the ultimate fate of mail delivery in the digital age, but a part of me that remains somewhat resistant to change understands the protectionist response. Getting a letter or card — that someone took the time to write, slip into an envelope and post — tops an email any day. I look forward to holiday cards from my mother (she even sends them for Halloween and Thanksgiving) and letters from friends who vehemently keep to the pen-to-paper correspondance. I just received a card from my grandmother and it made my day.
For all of these reasons, I’ve been pestering Z to go with me to visit the National Postal Museum, and he finally relented. Regular readers will already know that I love exploring quirky museums and monuments – little depositories that zoom in on one industry, hobby, person or anything someone out there had enough interest in to create a space dedicated to its memory. This one in particular, devoted to mail and the postal service, appeals to that little geek girl in me that watched with rapt curiosity as Mr. Rogers explained where crayons come from.
The Medical Museums of rue de l’école de médecine
I think my love for Paris’ quirkly musées insolites is well-established at this point. Most occasional tourists don’t get to them. Let’s face it, after in the space of a few days, you’ve seen the impressionist big shots at the Orsay, paid your respects to Napoléon at Invalides, walked through the hôtel Biron and the gardens at the Musée Rodin, caught the Waterlilies, done the Pompidou, and tried to cram in as much of the Louvre as possible before your brain melted, do you really want another museum on your plate? For those of us who live here, it’s way too easy to visit these giants once and never again, constantly “meaning to get over there one of these days.” (If that’s you, I suggest you give this a go). So, in addition to the many roving special exhibits at the big museums above, these smaller, less-known ones are a good excuse to take an afternoon to get out there and appreciate some of the great art, history and culture this city has to offer. Continue reading
Posted in France, Offbeat Museums & Monuments, Travel
Tagged 6e arrondissement, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Medical museum, Musée d'histoire de la médecine, Musée Dupuytren, Offbeat Paris museum, Paris, Paris museums, rue de l'école de médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
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Le Musée d’Edith Piaf: a little-known Paris museum
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This article was first published in VINGT Paris Magazine, an online magazine devoted to the arts in the 20 arrondissements of Paris. They’re a great resource for things going on around the city. If haven’t already, you should check ‘em out.
Tucked away in northeastern Paris’ Ménilmontant neighbourhood is the Musée d’Edith Piaf, a small, unassuming collection of mementos of the singer’s life and work. Truly one of the city’s musées insolites, the only thing that hints at its location from the outside is a plaque marked, “Les Amis de Piaf,” an association that maintains this museum as well as the singer’s tomb at Père Lachaise cemetery. Continue reading
Seeing the Louvre in a new way with THATLou
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When I found out my mom was coming to town for a week, I started looking for activities. Her usual stomping grounds are across the Seine from mine, so I couldn’t wait to show her everything that the rive droite has to offer: Bastille, Belleville, the Marais, Ménilmontant, Montmartre …
Although she’s a Paris veteran, it’s been some time since she’s been here, so I thought a revisiting of the classics was also in order. She hadn’t been to the Orsay post-renovation, or seen les Nymphéas in their new digs, so those were both definite yeses.
We’ve each been to the Louvre more times than we could count, so it wasn’t at the top of my list. But, when I got word about Daisy and THATLou — which stands for Treasure Hunts at the Louvre — I was intrigued. I signed us up for one of the Sunday Series hunts, held on the first Sunday of the month when admission is free, hoping it would be a new and interesting way to revisit this behemoth of a museum. And, it was! Continue reading
Posted in France, Offbeat Museums & Monuments, Travel
Tagged 1e arrondissement, Louvre, Offbeat Paris museum, Paris, Paris museums, THATLou
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Le Musée du Fumeur
This article was first published in VINGT Paris Magazine, an online magazine devoted to the arts in the 20 arrondissements of Paris. They’re a great resource for things going on around the city. If haven’t already, you should check ‘em out.
At first glance, the Musée du Fumeur (7, rue Pache, 75011. Closed Sunday and Monday.), a tiny museum near Père Lachaise, has a bit of a head shop feel – with cigarettes, lighters, and all manner of smoking contraptions for whatever your choice of poison on sale in the boutique. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that it also boasts an interesting little collection, appealling to les fumeurs and les non-fumeurs alike. Continue reading
Posted in France, Offbeat Museums & Monuments, Travel
Tagged 11e arrondissement, Musée du Fumeur, Paris, Paris museums, Smoking Museum
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Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
One of the most endlessly entertaining things about this city is that it’s practically bursting at the seams with incredible museums, many of whose buildings are often as much a part of the experience as the collections they house. I don’t think I’ll ever really feel like I’ve “done” the Louvre, and the light-drenched Musée d’Orsay is always a pleasure. But sometimes you want to get away from the hoards of tourists trying to check the boxes at break-neck speed (“Everyone got a photo of the Mona Lisa? On to the Venus de Milo! You’ll have to shoot the Winged Victory as we walk.”) The reality is, it simply cannot be done in such a short time, although I don’t blame anyone for trying. Lord knows I’ve done that schlep myself and with just about every visitor I know. But, one of the greatest pleasures about Paris is slowing down, and it’s a shame so many people miss that on such short visits.
So in addition to the “greats,” which have certainly earned their status as such, I love visiting Paris’ smaller, often offbeat museums. There are so many, covering just about anything you can think of, and they’re so worth a visit. Today, I wanted to share one of my favorites with you: la Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (62, rue des Archives, 75003. Closed Mondays).
La chasse means “the hunt” in French, and this museum is dedicated entirely to the relationship between human beings and nature. I’ve never been hunting (nor do I think I’d have the stomach for it if given the opportunity), but this is, in my opinion, one of the most well-executed museums in Paris. It’s tucked away in a rather unassuming building in the Archives area of the Marais, which shows no outward signs of the quirkiness that awaits inside.
La Samaritaine
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I’m absolutely fascinated by this building, although I’ve never actually been inside. I love its art deco feel and the way it stands out in the skyline, recalling an era as equally classic Paris as it is far removed from the Louvre nearby. But more than that, I’m moved by the terrible sadness of it. Up-close, it’s a crumbling mess. Boarded-up and rusting, the only thing moving in and around it is the occasional rat. Despite its role in the city’s history and amazing details like iron work by Gustav Eiffel, it was closed in 2005 for safety concerns — essentially condemned. Yet there it stands on the right bank side of Pont Neuf, resolutely asserting its relevance in the Paris Seine-scape. Continue reading
Posted in France, Offbeat Museums & Monuments, Travel
Tagged 1e arrondissement, 3e arrondissement, Au Bonheur des Dames, Émile Zola, Comédie-Française, Conseil Constitutionnel, Conseil d'Etat, Ernest Cognacq, Galeries Lafayette, grands boulevards, grands magasins, Haussmann, l'urbanisme, La Samaritaine, Le Bon Marché, Marie-Louise Jay, Ministère de la Culture, Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, musée Cognacq-Jay, Musée Ernest Cognacq, Opéra Garnier, Palais Royal, Paris, Paris department stores, shopping
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