Paris - Champs Elysees and Chaillot Travel Guides | Paris | Sub Regions | Paris - Champs Elysees and Chaillot

The 8th arrondissement, the Champs-Elysées, has been something of an international byword for glamorous living since the 19th century, when the bourgeoisie started building here. A short detour to the Musée Jacquemart-André or the Musée Nissim de Camondo will feed the imagination on just how lavishly the other half once lived here. The neighbouring area of Chaillot – the posh 16th arrondissement – was once a royal hunting ground. The broad, luxurious streets are crammed with cultural attractions and smart townhouses, including excellent examples of art nouveau and art deco frivolity. The avenue des Champs Elysées itself is Paris's 'triumphal way', leading between the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe, Paris's 'triumphal arch'. The arch has always been the focus of parades and celebrations. Napoleon's funeral procession was held here in 1840, so were the victory celebrations of 1919 and 1944, and the Tour de France cycle race finishes here. In recent times Parisians have become snooty about the tackiness in the vicinity of the arch, but it seems that the down days of the Champs Elysées are coming to an end. Culturally and commercially the area is undergoing a mini-makeover, and there has been an influx of trendy new restaurants, designer shops and hip exhibition centres.

Sights

75008. M Charles de Gaulle-Etoile.

Easily the most famous street in Paris, the Champs Elysées has recently undergone a much-desired makeover. There are newly planted trees and tighter laws regulating what shops and restaurants can and can’t do with their shopfronts. This applies to the far western end, the end where fast-food restaurants, mini-malls, cinemas and car showrooms compete for tourist attention with the Arc de Triomphe. The other end of the avenue des Champs Elysées, beyond the Rond Point des Champs Elysées, is lined with flowerbeds and chestnut trees, which in December are strung with pretty lights. There’s still plenty of traffic but in place of the shops you’ll find the gargantuan Grand Palais and Petit Palais.

Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008, T 01 55 37 73 77. Summer Mon-Sun 0930-2300, winter Mon-Sun 1000-2230. €7, concessions €4.50, under 18s free. Free first Sun of month. M Charles de Gaulle-Etoile.

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument of celebration and of remembrance. It was conceived as an architectural expression of Napoleon’s war prowess at the moment when his ego must have been at its most inflated – the finished arch was to measure 50 m high and 45 m wide. He commissioned the architect Jean Chalgrin to begin work in 1806, the year after his landmark victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. Napoleon dreamt of leading parades of his victorious armies through the arch, but in the end it wasn’t completed until 1836, many years after his death. When his body was brought to France in 1840 the procession came up the Champs Elysées and under the arch. The decorative sculptures recall glorious moments in French military history: the frieze facing avenue Matignon depicts a scene from the Battle of Austerlitz, and each of the shields that border the roof is named after one of Napoleon’s victorious battles. After the First World War the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was installed under the arch. An eternal flame honours those lost in the First and Second World Wars. There are spectacular views from the top, which is undoubtedly the best place to appreciate the extent and grandeur of Haussmann’s extensive urban replanning. No less than twelve broad avenues radiate out from the arch like a star – hence the unbearable traffic fumes at street level – of which the most famous is the Champs Elysées. This junction was called place de l’Etoile (Star Square) until Charles de Gaulle’s death in 1969. At the far end of the avenue de la Grande Armée is La Défense , and there is a fantastic view to the Grande Arche.

158 blvd Haussmann, 75008, T 01 45 62 11 59, http://www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com Mon-Sun 1000-1800. €8, concessions €6, under 7s free. M Miromesnil.

In 1872 the portrait artist Nélie Jacquemart painted Edouard André. Nine years later they were married and living in this magnificent mansion on the fashionable boulevard Haussmann (the portrait hangs in the private apartments). The house combines a classically inspired symmetrical design with the latest technology of its time. The walls in the grand salon folded away using a state-of-the-art system of hydraulic jacks. In this way one large room was created, suitable for entertaining 1,000 high-society guests. The most breathtaking room of all is the winter garden, a large and light paved vestibule brimming with greenery. The delicate double staircase is constructed from marble, stone, wrought iron and bronze. Upstairs are three rooms containing treasures collected on their Italian trips, including Uccello’s St George killing the Dragon and Botticelli’s Virgin and Child. The dining room, complete with a Tiepolo ceiling, looks onto the courtyard and its sweeping driveways. It is now a grand café, open even to those not visiting the rest of the museum. Entertaining free audioguides are available in six languages.

63 rue de Monceau, 75008, T 01 53 89 06 40, http://www.ucad.fr Wed-Sun 1000-1700. €4.60, concessions €3.10, under 18s free M Monceau, Villiers.

A beautiful insight into how the other half lived. When the Comte Moïse de Camondo (a man born into a wealthy banking family) inherited the family home in 1910, he promptly demolished it. He replaced it with a mansion that better suited his taste, similar to the Petit Trianon at Versailles. He decorated the rooms according to the most exquisitely luxurious French fashions of the 18th century. Even the lift features a parquet floor, carved wooden panelling and a red, velvet seat. According to Moïse de Camondo’s wishes the house and its contents were converted into a museum after his death in 1935, the museum to be named after his son Nissim, who died as a fighter pilot in the First World War.

The English-style Monceau Park, visible from the upper rooms, is particularly lovely in spring, when the trees are in blossom and the daffodils are out. Gravelled paths meander around the park, between the pond, playground, benches, statues and small glades of trees.

3 rue de Général Eisenhower, 75008, T 01 44 13 17 17, T 0892 684 694 (reservations). Wed-Mon 1000-2000 (Wed until 2200). Prices change with each new exhibition. M Champs Elysées Clemenceau. Palais de la Découverte, Tue-Sat 0930-1800, Sun 1000-1900. €5.60, concessions €3.65, under 5s free. M Franklin-D. Roosevelt.

The Grand Palais was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. The building is impressive simply because of its sheer size, but without doubt the best bit is the roof. It is constructed from iron and glass, with an elegant glass dome in the centre and bronze statues of racing horses and chariots by Récipon crowning the four corners. The large exhibition galleries beneath the dome are used for temporary exhibitions, while the wing on the avenue Franklin-Roosevelt has contained a small science museum called the Palais de la Découverte since 1937. This museum has interesting exhibits on scientific discoveries, as well as a planetarium. Restoration work on the Grand Palais has been ongoing for years, and is optimistically scheduled to finish in 2005. Prohibitive costs means it could drag on a lot longer.

Av Winston Churchill, 75008, T 01 44 51 19 31. M Champs Elysées Clemenceau.

The Petit Palais, like its big brother, was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. Also like its brother, it is undergoing critical modernisation work, which means it is not expected to reopen until January 2005. Inside is the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, the City of Paris’s collections of art and furniture. Highlights include the half-moon courtyard garden.

75008. M Champs Elysées Clemenceau, Invalides.

This bridge was inaugurated in 1900, another of the Universal Exhibition projects, and is the most beautiful of all the bridges traversing the Seine. The single-arch design is elegant, and the art nouveau cherubs and winged horses make graceful decorations.

10 ave Pierre 1er de Serbie, 75016, T 01 56 52 86 00. Tue-Sun 1000-1800 during exhibitions. €7, concessions €5.50, children €3.50. M Alma-Marceau, Iéna.

The 19th-century Galliera Palace is dedicated to hosting temporary exhibitions related to fashion in all its forms, whether it be dress designers or fashion photographers. Exhibitions normally run for about four months. Those planned for 2003 include one on Marlene Dietrich. For each exhibition some sort of interactive game is prepared for children.

13 rue avenue du Président Wilson, 75016, T 01 47 23 38 86, http://www.palaisdetokyo.com Tue-Sun 1200-2400. €5, concessions/ under 26 €3, under 18s free. Free first Sun of month. M Alma-Marceau, Iéna.

In 1999 the Ministry of Culture decided a project was needed to end France’s invisibility on the international contemporary art scene, a place to stage important temporary exhibitions in various forms. The result is the Palais de Tokyo, which opened to the great excitement of arty Parisians in January 2002. It takes its name from the rue de Tokio (sic) that ran along the Seine in 1937, the year the building was completed for the Universal Exhibition. The architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Phillipe Vassal demonstrate commitment to architectural economy in the spacious, minimalist design – essentially it feels like a big warehouse. The buzz words are 'experimental', 'innovative' and 'inter-disciplinary', the driving philosophy to break down barriers between the public and art, and to establish a dialogue between French and international artistic creation. Opening hours are more evidence of the ultra-modern, non-elitist agenda. The restaurant has large square tables where everyone sits together – similarly designed to be relaxed and lively.

11 ave du Président Wilson, 75016, T 01 53 67 40 00. Tue-Sun 1000-1900. Permanent exhibition free. Temporary exhibitions prices vary. M Alma-Marceau, Iéna.

The left wing of the Palais de Tokyo hosts a separate museum, the Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris. There is a large permanent collection spreading through some 15 rooms, as well as temporary exhibitions, which together are designed to serve as a forum for movements in contemporary art. The permanent collection includes Matisse, Picasso and Modigliani.

6 place d’Iéna, 75016, T 01 56 52 53 00, http://www.museeguimet.fr Wed-Mon 1000-1745. €5.50, concessions €4, under 18 years free. Sun €4. Free first Sun of month. M Alma-Marceau, Iéna.

The National Museum of Asian Arts, renovated in 2001, is no minor undertaking – five floors exhibiting 45,000 items covering five millennia of Asian civilisations. Exhibits include sculptures in stone and bronze from India, sculptures from Southeast Asia, funerary statuettes from Ancient China, art from Nepal and Tibet, paintings on silk and old manuscripts from Mogul India, classical Chinese painting, a large ceramics collection of over 10,000 pieces and two fine Chinese lacquer screens, richly decorated with birds and trees. Labels are only in French, but audioguides in eight languages are included in the ticket price (bring ID). There is an ornate Japanese garden at the rear of the museum.

Place du Trocadéro, 75016. Musée de l’Homme, T 01 44 05 72 72, http://www.mnhn.fr Wed-Mon 0945-1715. €4.60, concessions €3.05. Musée de la Marine, T 01 53 65 69 69. Wed-Mon 1000-1750. €7, concessions €5.50, 6-18s €4, under 6s free. Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, T 01 46 33 90 36. Tue-Sun 1230-1900. Free. M Trocadéro.

The Trocadéro complex of buildings and gardens was created for the Universal Exhibition of 1937. The terraced gardens that descend the hill towards Pont d’Iéna must have been pretty once, but are now rather poorly kept. Nevertheless, the fountains and statues come into their own when the lights are on by night, and of course there is an excellent view of the illuminated Eiffel Tower directly across the river. During the day the gardens are overrun with pigeons and hustlers, and by evening it is a hang-out for excitable teenagers and foreign tour groups. The Palais de Chaillot houses three separate museums. The Museum of Man charts man’s evolution, while the Naval Museum is dedicated to all aspects of maritime history, including collections of model ships and navigational instruments. The Architecture Gallery has temporary exhibitions of international architectural interest.

2 rue du Commandant-Schloesing, 75016, T 01 47 27 51 42. Mon-Sun 0800-1745 (until 1715 winter). Free. M Trocadéro.

A pocket-sized refuge from the hustle-and-bustle of the Trocadéro, the 2 ha Passy cemetery holds 2,600 tombs shaded by about 100 healthy chestnut trees. If you are coming from (or going to) the Palais de Chaillot, notice that the entrance pavilion, by sculptor Verger in 1934, is of the same period and in the same style. Celebrity residents include the composer Claude Debussy, painter Edouard Manet and writer Tristan Bernard.

Rue des Eaux, 75016, T 01 45 25 63 26, http://www.museeduvinparis.com Thu-Sun 1000-1800. Restaurant lunch only. €6, concessions €5.40, students €5.25, under 14s free. M Passy.

Exhibits take you through the history of how wine is produced, with interesting displays on champagne and Grand Marnier too. Fortunately the ticket price includes a mini dégustation (tasting). The wax figures are not very lifelike, but the artefacts tell their own stories of how the vines were tended, the grapes harvested, the wine bottled and so on. There are fantastic displays of wine containers – made from wood, leather, pottery and even dried marrow – as well as wine cups, pitchers and corkscrews. The museum is located in the cavernous cellars of a monastery that was destroyed during the Revolution. The arched rooms of today’s restaurant are where the Friars of the Passy Monastery stored the wine made from the few hectares of vines throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Those eating in the restaurant – one course €5, two courses €22 – can visit the museum for free.

16 rue de la Faisanderie, 75116, T 01 56 26 14 00. Tue-Sun 1400-1730 (closed Sat-Sun in August). €2.30, under 12s free. M Porte Dauphine.

A small museum of glass cabinets full of counterfeits. Videos, CDs, perfumes, food blenders, tape measures, car parts, camera films and fish hooks, not to mention banknotes and cheques, may not be all that you think.

2 rue Louis-Boilly, 75016, T 01 44 96 50 33, http://www.martmottan.com Tue-Sun 1000-1730. €6.50, concessions €4, under 8s free. M La Muette.

Located on the outskirts of Paris, the Marmottan is a bit far out for most fleeting visitors, dedicated Impressionist fans excepted. The museum takes its name from art historian Paul Marmottan, onetime owner of the house and many of the paintings and pieces of furniture on display. The collection includes works by Gauguin, Sisley, Renoir, Morisot, Caillebotte and Pissarro, but it is most definitely Claude Monet who steals the show, thanks to a bequest by his son Michel. The museum now boasts a wonderful series of his water lilies, as well as the Monet that gave the Impressionist movement its name, Impression – Sunrise. In addition, there are collections of primitive art and medieval illuminated manuscripts.

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