The Musée des Arts et Métiers (; English: Museum of Arts and Crafts) is an

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

museum in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

that houses the collection of the

Conservatoire national des arts et métiers The (; ; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited French ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement''. It is a member of the '' Conférence des Grandes écoles'', which is an equivalent to the Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in th ...

, which was founded in 1794 as a repository for the preservation of

scientific instrument A scientific instrument is a device or tool used for scientific purposes, including the study of both natural phenomena and theoretical research. History Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, an ...

s and inventions. Cray-2-1985

History

Since its foundation, the museum has been housed in the deserted priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs on the Rue Réaumur in the

3rd arrondissement of Paris The 3rd arrondissement of Paris (, ) is one of the 20 (districts) of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as "" () meaning "the third". Its postal code is 75003. It is governed locally to ...

. Today the museum, which underwent major renovations in 1990, includes an additional building adjacent to the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

, with larger objects remaining in the abbey itself.

Collection

The museum has over 80,000 objects and 15,000

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

s in its collection, of which about 2,500 are on display in Paris. The rest of the collection is preserved in a storehouse in Saint-Denis. Among its collection is an original version of the

Foucault pendulum The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circu ...

, the original model of ''Liberty Enlightening the World'' (commonly known as the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

) by

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi ( , ; 2 August 1834 – 4 October 1904) was a French sculptor and painter. He is best known for designing ''Liberty Enlightening the World'', commonly known as the Statue of Liberty. Early life and education Barthol ...

, some of the first planes (

Clément Ader Clément Ader (; 2 April 1841 – 3 May 1925) was a French inventor and engineer who was born near Toulouse in Muret, Haute-Garonne, and died in Toulouse. He is remembered primarily for his pioneering work in aviation. In 1870 he was also one o ...

's Avion III,

Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of t ...

Blériot XI The Blériot XI is a French aircraft from the Aviation in the pioneer era, pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. ...

...), and

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...

's Pascaline (the first

mechanical calculator A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or a simulation like an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators were comparable in si ...

). The museum presents seven different collections : Scientific Instruments, Materials, Energy, Mechanics, Construction, Communication, Transportation. In the former church of St-Martin-des-Champs Priory are displayed cars, planes, the

Foucault Pendulum The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circu ...

and some other monumental objects. The first portable steam engine and self propelled vehicle (automobile) Nicolas Cugnot's 1770 Fardier has been in this collection for over 200 years.Le Blériot XI de la traversée de la Manche au Musée des Arts et Métiers
/ref> File:CONSERVATOIRE NATIONAL DES ARTS ET METIERS. Medal - Photo Estelle Binant.jpg, Medal of the

(

) File:Pendule de Foucault au musee des arts et metiers.jpg, The original

at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in 2005 File:Avion III Art et Metiers.jpg,

's Avion III at the Musée des Arts et Métiers File:Camerae-obscurae.jpg, 1840-1841 cameras obscurae for

Daguerreotype Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...

called "Grand Photographe" produced by Charles Chevalier File:Lunette-binoculaire.jpg,

Binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

, by Father Chérubin d'Orléans, 1681, Musée des Arts et Métiers File:Laboratoire-de-Lavoisier.jpg,

Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

Laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...

, Musée des Arts et Métiers,

File:17th-century-mechanical-calculators.jpg, Versions of

's mechanical

calculator An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics. The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-si ...

s File:Musée des Arts et Métiers 008.jpg, Ford T, 1908 File:Breguet Type IV RU1 001.jpg, Louis Charles Breguet, 1911 File:Hispano-Suiza 1935.jpg, Hispano Suiza 1935 File:MuseedesArtsetMetiers.jpg, Grand Staircase File:Arithmometer-ThomasDeColmar1850.jpg, Arithmometer - calculating machine File:Peugeot 1909.jpg, Peugeot 1909 at the Musée des Arts et Métiers File:ArtsetMetiersWallCars.jpg, A wall of cars in Musée des Arts et Métiers File:Celestial Sphere at Arts et Metiers.jpg, Celestial sphere driven by a clock mechanism, circa 1580

Cultural references

The museum appears in literature as the scene of the climax of the 1988 novel ''

Foucault's Pendulum ''Foucault's Pendulum'' (original title: ''Il pendolo di Foucault'' ) is a novel by Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco. It was first published in 1988, with an English translation by William Weaver being published a year later. The bo ...

'' by

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

, and is featured in the 2019 documentary film about the

, ''Liberty: Mother of Exiles''.

Transportation

The museum can be accessed by the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

station Arts et Métiers. (The museum's entrance is at the corner of Rue Réaumur and Rue Vaucanson.)

References

External links