Visiting the Orsay Museum Paris

I had some business travel to do in Europe and I managed to cut through Paris for just 5 days.

By the way, never ever choose a hotel in Paris which is less that 4 or 5 stars. In my 3 start hotel, it actually was like bed and breakfast, but breakfast was an orange juice and a big croissant! The point is the shower stopped working, the TV was mute. I said, well I am here for Museums and French Culture, I can live without the comfort I use to have in States for a ½ of the price, but it is not true, after 10 - 12 hours being a tourist you really need a good shower.

Anyway, what to do in just 5 days? Paris is really full of artistic events, museums, high value old architecture and new architecture, you name it, make a note; I did not mention the Shopping. It is a shopper paradise, if you start doing shopping you will end up not doing anything else.

I created a plan in which I supposed to visit 3 places of high interest for me per day.
Everything was on schedule until the day I visited the Orsey Museum in the morning.

First of all, Orsey had a warm atmosphere, an excellent use of spaces and lighting. It was built in a building of an old railway station by a brilliant group of architects. And it is a masterpiece, it is a modern museum as architecture, it has a great collection, and the original appearance was restored.

As I got in, I was impressed by the volume of the tall main lobby, the excellent utilization of 17,000 square meters of exhibition space using the benefit of the natural overhead lighting. In the main lobby, at the museum entrance, I filed welcome by the six big statues symbolizing the 6 continents. The entire museum was done in such a way that if you got in, you had all you need to spend an entire day.
I did not plan this way but I really was happy to stay an entire day.

They had a cafeteria with very good food for lunch. The price of food is decent; I spent $15.00 for food but the drinks were more expensive, around other $10.00. Believe me in that atmosphere you do not care about the prices.

They also had a Book shop; which had a big collection of exceptional value, I but 5 posters with Paris to decorate my office.

I want to tell you about the art collection, but I'll need days to enumerate the exceptional values. I'll try to summarize:

1) Paintings: Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Toulouse Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Gustave Courbet, Camille Pissarro

2) Remarkable sculptures: Rodin, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux , Joseph Bernard, Camille Claudel, Georges Lacombe

3) Photography: you will find photography from 1914 (the year the photography was invented) until the modern days, it is like a history of photography, and American photographers are very well represented.

4) Decorative Arts: furniture,

5) The cultural Services - to relate to the public, they introduced:

Audiovisual and Data Processing (films),

Welcome for Young Visitors (workshop rooms for visitors the age 5 to 15),

Conferences,

Classes,

Events,

Concerts,

Memberships.

I have to tell you, Orsey Museum it is not just a Museum, it is a Cultural Center, an event in itself, it is amazing and rewarding, time well spend. If you are there you must stay in it, at least one entire day.

I highly recommend, when you are in Paris to visit Orsay Museum.