Petit Palais

Yesterday, I took a trip to the Petit Palais. It’s a museum that belongs to the city of Paris, therefore, it’s FREE! Even if they charged you 10 euros, I think it would be worth it. The structure itself is a refined architectural building. It is the smaller, hence “petit”, partner to the Grand, “large”, Palais which is across the street. The Petit Palais is now a museum with works of art spanning from medieval times to the early 20th century. The collection is very manageable and you will find that it is not crowded. I love finding museums that have great art but seem to be out of most people’s guide books. The only area I found crowded was it’s small bookstore/souvenir shop. As in a lot of museums in Europe, I find they are lacking in the capitalist art of marketing and there are not many objects that advertise the museum. No pins, no magnets, calendars, etc. In fact, here they had a lot of postcards from the Louvre and the Orsay. Nothing said Petit Palais and the postcards they had of the works of art contained therein were not a great quality. I think the photos I took of some of the objects were better.

The Petit and Grand Palais were built for the world expo of 1900. The iron work, ceilings and structure are fantastic and there is a semicircular garden in the interior, where they threw up a very nice cafe, with a gorgeous view and very nice cherry blossom trees. Despite it being a bit chilly yesterday, in the mid-50’s, I opted for sitting outside with a glass of rose and a carrot curry soup. After lunch I spent a couple of hours happily checking out the museum and then walked back home. I’m South of the river and the museum is North of the river. Was a very pleasant couple of miles walk . An afternoon well spent. I plan on checking out the Grand Palais in the next few days.

If you’d like to know more about the two buildings, check it out here.
Petit Palais Wiki
Grand Palais Wiki