According to The Art Newspaper, which ranks yearly attendance for museums, the Louvre is No. 1 in the world, with 8.5 million visitors in 2008. Besides seeing the "Mona Lisa," don't miss the Egyptian artifacts and preserved mummies, famous Greek sculptures like the "Venus de Milo" and the Apollo rooms containing royal jewels and priceless antiques. Budget your time wisely; the Louvre is one the largest museums in the world and there is no way that you can see every room during a daily visit.
The Louvre
Mo Palais-Royal / musée du Louvre
Paris, France 75001
+33-01-40-20-50-50
louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en
According to the Paris Tourism Bureau, the Musee d'Orsay is the third-most-popular tourist attraction in the city, after the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. The Musee d'Orsay, housed in a renovated 19th-century train station, contains some of the world's most beloved paintings and sculptures by the Impressionists. Monet's water lilies, Van Gogh's sunflowers, Renoir's country dancers, Degas' ballerinas and Toulouse-Lautrec's cancan dancers can all be viewed at the Musee d'Orsay.
Musee d'Orsay
1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur
Paris, France 75007
+33-01-40-49-48-14
musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html
Rivaling the Louvre for visitors, the Centre Pompidou welcomes 6 million people each year to view its rotating Modern Art exhibits. Even if you are not a fan of Modern Art, the exhibits are varied enough---from paintings to sculpture to multi-media displays to performance art---that there is usually something for everyone to like, or at least find interesting. The Centre Pompidou building is an architectural marvel built inside-out, with the pipes, vents and wiring exposed on the outside and color-coded according to function. Don't miss the stunning ride on the outside escalators to the top of the building, with panoramic views over Paris rooftops and the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
Centre Pompidou
Place Georges Pompidou
75004 Paris, France
+33-01-44-78-12-33
http://www.centrepompidou.fr/
