Page 240 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

238  P ARIS AREA B Y AREA

9 Parc de la Villette The Folies
These red cubes
The old slaughterhouses and livestock market of punctuate the park
Paris have been transformed into this Bernard and provide a variety
Tschumi-designed urban park. Its vast facilities of services, such as a
café and a children’s
stretch across 55 ha (136 acres) of a previously workshop.
run-down part of the city. The plan was to revive
the tradition of parks for meetings and activities
and to stimulate interest in the arts and sciences.
Work began in 1984, and the park has grown to
include a science museum, a concert hall, an
exhibition pavilion, a spherical cinema, a circus
and a music centre. Linking them all is the
park itself, Paris’s third largest, with its folies,
walkways, gardens and playgrounds. In the
summer, the park holds an open-air film festival.

Children’s Playground
The maze-like setting, complete
with sand pits and colourful
play equipment, makes this
playground a paradise
for young children.

. Grande Halle Entrance
The old cattle hall has been transformed
into a flexible exhibition space with
mobile floors and auditorium.

. Cité de la Musique
This complex holds the music
conservatory, library, studios
and the Musée de la Musique,
housing over 4,500 objects.

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