Month: March 2009

Musee d’Orsay’s Clock Overlooking the River Seine

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The Train Station on the Banks of the Seine
For its Exposition Universelle of 1900, Paris hosted a record 50 million visitors who came to see its world’s fair. The fair was grand in size, featuring 76,000 exhibitors and covering 1.12 square kilometres (277 acres) of Paris.

A number of Paris’s most noted structures were built for the Exposition, including the train station called Gare d’Orsay which was located in the center of Paris on the banks of the Seine.

Its Second Life as the Musee D’Orsay
Gare d’Orsay eventually became the location to house Musee d’Orsay, a wonderful museum whose doors opened in 1986 with its collection that focuses on artistic creation in the Western world between 1848 and 1914.

The soaring, arched ceilings and the museum’s lighting design provide an airy, uplifting ambiance to see some 54,000 items from architects, photographers, sculptors, and French painters that are on display there.

The Café with the Huge Clock
When you want a break from all that beauty to rest your feet for a while, I recommend the café on the top floor of the museum.

What’s so striking about the cafe is the huge clock first used in the Gare d’Orsay which hits your field of vision as soon as you enter.

Peek between the clock’s large metal spokes that divide its hour demarcations and you can look out as David and I did beyond the River Seine towards the Sacre Coeur, the famous Roman Catholic basilica located at the summit of the butte Montmartre which is the highest point in Paris.

Here is one of our Quotations e-cards that features this scene:
 
clock
 
Impressive as that view is, the vista from street level of the River Seine is equally striking.

For example, here you can see the Pont Royal (the Royal Bridge) straddling the Seine, with buildings on the riverbank that are part of Louvre Museum:
 
seine

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