Archives for “arsenal” tag

The Pavillon de l’Arsenal – a great place to understand historical and contemporary architecture and urban planning of Paris – recently changed its permanent collection, making it even more attractive than before.

The central space is now occupied by a huge interactive animation which allows the visitors (one by one) to show an aerial view of a specific place or district in Paris or its region. All around, short notices (with explanations in French and English), illustrations, maps and models explain how Paris’s territory evolved since the Middle Ages and what major urban planning decisions were undertaken in the 19th and 20th centuries to shape contemporary city. A section is also dedicated to the current projects in Paris and its suburbs.

The only thing I regret is that the very comfortable cushions on the floor were substituted by strangely shaped triangular chairs, quite comfortable too, but a little bit too serious to my taste…

The first and second floors are still dedicated to temporary exhibitions, generally more technical than the permanent one on the floor ground, still about architecture and urban planning. And a documentation centre is accessible from Tuesday to Friday (14:00 – 18:15, 14:00 – 17:15 on Fridays).