Page 246 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Paris

244  P ARIS AREA B Y AREA

the most striking of all the
Grands Projets with which
President Mitterrand revitalized
this area. Four towers house
12,000,000 volumes, with
reference and research libraries
in the central podium.
Resources include 50,000
digitized illustrations, sound
archives and CD-ROMs.
Exhi bitions on its hidden
collections are often held.
u 13th
Bercy’s striking American Center, designed by Frank Gehry Arrondissement
t Bercy 70-ha (173-acre) Parc de Bercy Zac Paris Rive Gauche, 75013. Map 18
provides a welcome green space F5. q Bibliotheque F Mitterrand.
75012. Map 18 F3. q Bercy, Cour
St-Emilion. for this part of the city. The
park’s attractions for children Following a ten-year
This former wine-trading quarter include a traditional carousel. redevelopment project, the
east of the city centre, with its Former wine stores and cellars Zac Paris Rive Gauche, Paris’s
once-grim ware houses, pavilions along Cours St-Emilion have 13th arrondissement has
and slum housing, has been been restored as bars, become an area of startling
transformed into a modern restaurants and shops, and urban regeneration. The
district. An automatic Metro line one of the warehouses now once-disused area of land
(Line 14) links it to the heart of contains the Musée des Arts between Gare d’Austerlitz
the city. The centrepiece is the Forains (Fairground Museum), and Ivry-sur-Seine has now
AccorHotels Arena, now the city which is open only for private been revived to house a
centre’s principal stadium venue. tours. There is also a multiscreen university with some 30,000
The vast pyramidal structure cinema and numerous hotels. students. The area also boasts
has become a contemporary the MK2 Bibliothèque, a vast
landmark. Many sports events cinema complex with 14
are held here, as well as classical y Bibliothèque screens, cafés and exhibition
operas and rock concerts (see Nationale François areas. Connected to Bercy by
pp337 and 341–2). Mitterrand a bridge, the area also offers
Other architecturally new housing, schools and
adventurous buildings domi nate Quai François-Mauriac 75013. Map 18 business opportunities.
Bercy, notably Chemetov’s F4. Tel 01 53 79 59 59. q Biblio thèque
building for the Ministry of F Mitterrand, Quai de la Gare. Open
Finance, and Frank Gehry’s Reading rooms: 2–7pm Mon, 9am– i Parc Montsouris
American Center. This houses 7pm Tue–Sat. Exhibitions: 10am–7pm 2 Rue Gazan, Blvd Jourdan 75014. q
the Cinemathèque Française, Tue–Sat, 1–7pm Sun. Closed pub hols Porte d’Orléans. W Cité Universitaire,
a wonderful cinema museum & 2 wks Sep. & bring photo ID. 8 for Glaciere. Open 8am–5:30pm Mon–Fri,
that hosts frequent retro spec- groups by appt. 7 0 = ∑ bnf.fr 9am–dusk Sat–Sun; open 24 hrs in
tives on famous directors. summer. Times may vary. -
At the foot of these structures, Dominique Perrault’s 1996
the imaginatively designed land mark national library is Created in response to
Napoleon III’s desire for English-
style parks, Parc Montsouris
was laid out between 1865
and 1878 by the landscape
architect Adolphe Alphand
on the site of a former granite
quarry and cemetery.
Montsouris is one of the largest
parks in Paris. It has small hills,
clumps of trees, a large lake,
small bridges, grottoes, a
waterfall, numerous bronze
and stone sculptures and a
restaurant. The park draws a
Bibliothèque Nationale François Mitterrand number of migratory birds

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