Page 171 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

JARDIN DES PLANTES QU AR TER  169

62 million specimens, the Pathé, a major French film
museum has the third-largest production and distribution
research collection in the world. company, is the second-oldest
Built in 1838 for the Universal operating film company in
Exposition, the Galeries the world. The foundation is
d’Anatomie Comparée et de dedicated to the preservation
Paléontologie mesmerize young of it’s legacy and to promoting
visitors with their collection of cinematography. The building
dinosaur skeletons, including a has a 68-seat screening room for
Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus silent films, plus temporary and
rex. Children will also be permanent collections of films,
entranced by the Grande cameras, projectors, programmes
Galerie de l’Evolution, with its and posters dating back to 1896.
vast display illustrating the It is a treasure trove for film
evolution and subsequent enthusiasts and researchers.
extinction of various organisms.
Climate change and sustain-
ability also play a large part in The cedar of Lebanon, Jardin des Plantes w Mobilier National
this exhibit. Created for children et La Manufacture
aged 6–12 and their families in anatomy, it quickly attracted des Gobelins
mind, the Children’s Gallery, renowned scientists, such as the
also in the Grande Galerie de Comte de Buffon (see opposite), 42 Ave des Gobelins 75013. Map 17
l’Evolution, is a hands-on whose studies were to shape B3. Tel 01 44 08 53 49. q Gobelins.
exhibition focusing on Darwin’s views on evolution. Open for guided tours Sat, or groups
biodiversity and man’s impact Today, this popular botanical by appt. Temporary exhibitions:
on the environment. garden is home to three galleries 11am–6pm Tue–Sun. 8 2:30 & 4pm
The bookshop is located in of the Muséum National Sat. & Closed 1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec.
∑ mobiliernational.culture.
the house where Buffon lived d’Histoire Naturelle, and it gouv.fr
until his death in 1788. includes a small zoo, a gorgeous
rose garden and a labyrinth that Originally a dyeing workshop set
kids adore. As well as beautiful up in about 1440 by the Gobelin
vistas and walkways flanked by brothers, the building became
ancient trees and punctuated a tapestry factory early in the
with statues, the park features a 17th century. Louis XIV took
remarkable alpine garden with it over in 1662 and gathered
plants from the Alps, the together the greatest craftsmen
Himalayas, Corsica and Morocco, of the day – carpet weavers,
and an unrivalled display of wild cabinet-makers and silversmiths
and herbaceous plants. It also – to furnish his new palace
Skull of a dimetrodon, in the Muséum has the first cedar of Lebanon to at Versailles (see pp250 –55).
National d’Histoire Naturelle be planted in France, originally Working under the direction
from Britain’s Kew Gardens. of court painter Charles Le
0 Jardin des Brun, 250 Flemish weavers laid
Plantes q Fondation the foundations for the factory’s
international reputation. Today,
57 Rue Cuvier/2 Rue Buffon 75005. Jérôme Seydoux- weavers continue to work in
Map 17 C1. Tel 01 40 79 56 01. q Pathé the traditional way but with
Jussieu, Austerlitz. Open 7:30am–8pm modern designs, including
(8am–5:30pm winter) daily. 0 8 73 Ave des Gobelins 75013. Map 17 B4. those of Picasso and Matisse.
Tel 01 83 79 18 96. q Place d’Italie, Les
A treasure to locals in the 5th Gobelins. Open Salle Charles Pathé &
arrondissement, the Jardin des Exhibitions: 1–7pm Tue–Fri, 11:30am–
Plantes comprises a museum, 7pm Sat. Research Centre: by appt only.
a zoo, botanical gardens, a Ciné-Spectacle: 2:30pm Wed (01 83 79
science lab and a university 18 96). & 8 noon Sat.
research centre. Previously ∑ fondation-jeromeseydoux-
known as Jardin de Roi, it pathe.com
started as a medicinal herb
garden created by Guy de la The headquarters of the Fon-
Brosse and Jean Hérouard, King dation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé
Louis XIII’s physicians in 1626. sits on the site of a mid-19th-
After opening to the public in century theatre that was trans-
1640 and offering a free school formed into one of Paris’s first Versailles tapestry by Le Brun, La Mobilier
of botany, chemistry and cinemas in the mid-1900s. National et La Manufacture des Gobelins

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