Fodor's Expert Review Musée Guimet

Champs-Élysees Fodor's Choice
Musee Guimet, Paris France

The outstanding Musée Guimet boasts the Western world's biggest collection of Asian art, thanks to the 19th-century wanderings of Lyonnaise industrialist Émile Guimet. Exhibits, enriched by the state's vast holdings, are laid out geographically in airy, light-filled rooms. Just past the entry, you can find the largest assemblage of Khmer sculpture outside Cambodia. The second floor has statuary and masks from Nepal, ritual funerary art from Tibet, and jewelry and fabrics from India. Peek into the library rotunda, where Monsieur Guimet once entertained the city's notables under the gaze of eight caryatids atop Ionic columns; Mata Hari danced here in 1905, and the museum still hosts an impressive series of musical events. The much-heralded Chinese collection, made up of 20,000-odd objects, covers seven millennia. At the Hôtel d'Heidelbach next door ( 19 Avenue d'Iéna), you'll find Asian furniture and implements for tea ceremonies, which are performed... READ MORE

The outstanding Musée Guimet boasts the Western world's biggest collection of Asian art, thanks to the 19th-century wanderings of Lyonnaise industrialist Émile Guimet. Exhibits, enriched by the state's vast holdings, are laid out geographically in airy, light-filled rooms. Just past the entry, you can find the largest assemblage of Khmer sculpture outside Cambodia. The second floor has statuary and masks from Nepal, ritual funerary art from Tibet, and jewelry and fabrics from India. Peek into the library rotunda, where Monsieur Guimet once entertained the city's notables under the gaze of eight caryatids atop Ionic columns; Mata Hari danced here in 1905, and the museum still hosts an impressive series of musical events. The much-heralded Chinese collection, made up of 20,000-odd objects, covers seven millennia. At the Hôtel d'Heidelbach next door ( 19 Avenue d'Iéna), you'll find Asian furniture and implements for tea ceremonies, which are performed on special dates during the year in the garden's authentic Japanese tea pavilion. Grab a free English-language audioguide and brochure at the museum entrance. If you need a pick-me-up, stop at the Salon des Porcelaines café on the lower level for a ginger milkshake or an Asian-influenced meal. Don't miss the Guimet's spectacular offshoot, the Musée d'Ennery, housed in a Belle Époque mansion on Avenue Foch and noted for its exquisite collection of Japanese netsuke, as well as 3,000 works of Chinese and Japanese art (open Saturday by appointment only via the Musée Guimet website).

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Fodor's Choice Art Museum

Quick Facts

6 pl. d'Iéna
Paris, Île-de-France  75016, France

01–56–52–54–33

www.guimet.fr

Sight Details:
Rate Includes: €11.50, Closed Tues.

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