Musée des Arts et Métiers

Machines, clocks and Foucault's pendulum in a deconsecrated priory

Area 3rd arrondissement
Type Museum
Time needed 1h 30m

Musée des Arts et Métiers — Photograph: Arnaud 25 / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Musee des Arts et Metiers in the 3rd arrondissement is the industrial and scientific collection founded in 1794, housed in the deconsecrated priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. It holds roughly 2,400 objects on display out of a far larger reserve: instruments, clocks, engines, early cars and aircraft, and the pendulum with which Foucault demonstrated the rotation of the earth. It is the strongest technical museum in Paris and one of the least crowded of its size.

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Getting there

Arts et Metiers on lines 3 and 11 is at the door; the line 11 platform is lined in riveted copper like the inside of a submarine and is worth the thirty seconds to look at. Reaumur-Sebastopol on lines 3 and 4 is four minutes away. From Chatelet it is two stops on line 11 or about fifteen minutes on foot up rue Beaubourg. The entrance is on rue Reaumur at number 60.

What you see

The route runs through seven collections in a fixed order. Scientific instruments come first, with Pascal's calculating machine and ranks of brass telescopes and orreries. Then materials, construction and communication, including early telegraph and telephone apparatus and Cros and Edison sound machines. The energy and mechanics rooms hold steam engines, turbines and a wall of transmission models. Transport is the strongest single gallery: Cugnot's 1770 steam dray, the oldest surviving self-propelled vehicle, early motor cars, and Bleriot's monoplane from the 1909 Channel crossing hung overhead. The finish is the priory church itself, kept bare and lit, with aircraft and vehicles standing on the nave floor and Foucault's pendulum swinging from the vault, under a copy of the original 1851 arrangement. The staircase model collection and the clock room reward slowing down.

What to pair it with

The Marais and the Musee Carnavalet are ten to fifteen minutes south-east, the Centre Pompidou is twelve minutes south, and rue Montorgueil is fifteen minutes west.

When to go

Weekday mornings are near empty and the best time for the transport gallery and the church. Weekend afternoons and school holidays bring families and the noise level with them. One evening a week there is usually a late opening, which is a good quiet slot; check before you go. The church at the end is dim by design, so the time of day makes little difference to it.

What is hard about it

Labelling is strong in French and thinner in English, and some of the older cases explain very little, so a visit here goes much better with the audio guide or an interest you already have. It is a long museum on one route with limited seating and a lot of standing, and the mechanics rooms can feel repetitive if machinery is not your thing. The pendulum in the church is a reconstruction, not the 1851 original, which disappoints some people. Timed tickets are normally sold online and the museum is closed one day a week, so check before travelling.

Common questions

How long do you need at the Musee des Arts et Metiers?

About ninety minutes for the full route. Two to three hours if you read the cases properly or have a child who likes machines.

Is the Foucault pendulum the original?

No. The original sphere was damaged in 2010 and is kept in reserve; what hangs in the church today is a copy, swinging in the same way.

Is it suitable for children?

Yes, particularly the transport and energy galleries, though there is little in the way of hands-on interaction and the labelling is written for adults.