Built in 1900, Osray museum is located in a grand railway station which is considered as the den of the numerous sculptures and impressionist work of art. The museum has developed into one of the most admired establishment in Paris.

Home of the many sculptures and impressionist work of art

A museum housed in a grand railway station.

Early 19th century the Gare de Lyon and the Gare d’Orsay, two of the largest railway in Paris was built. Along the Seine opposite the Louvre is the Gare d’Orsay. It was planned to bring electrified trains right to the city of Paris by the Compagnie d’Orleans.

The first designer of the Orsay Museum was Eugene Henard. He planned to use industrialized materials facing the Louvre. But he then receives mixed reviews from preservationists and decided to seek advice into a competition from a parliamentary commission.  Victor Laloux, the winner of that contest had also planned the railway station in Tours, France.

His design was commended for the assimilation of the metal vault in the stone exterior. It measures 140 meter long, 32 meter high and 40 meter wide. As a whole it has 175 x 75 meter in measurement. About 12,000 tons of metal was utilized for the construction of the Gare d’Orsay, more than that of metals used in Eiffel Tower.

It was then a railway stationGare d’Orsay was considered a work of art of industrial architecture and was inaugurated in the 14th of July 1900 during the World Paris Exposition. But when trains arise for modernization, the Gare d’Orsay was set aside as a train station. As time passes it has been used as a parking lot, as a theatre location and even as an area for the prisoners of war.

In 1961, the train station was abandoned for good. In 1978, President Giscard d’Estaing converted the train station into a museum. When this museum was finally opened for public, it displayed about 2,300 work of art, 1,500 sculptures and 1,000 other antique objects. Today it is called Musee Orsay.

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