Palais de la Découverte

The Palais de la Découverte is a science museum located in the Grand Palais, in the 8th arrondissement on Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt, Paris, France. It is open daily except Monday; an admission fee is charged.

The museum was created in 1937 by Jean Baptiste Perrin (awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1926) during an international exhibition on "Arts and techniques in modern life". In 1938 the French government decided to convert the facility into a new museum, which now occupies 25,000 square meters within the west wing of the Grand Palais (Palais d'Antin) built for the Exposition Universelle (1900) to designs by architect Albert-Félix-Théophile Thomas. In 2007 plans were announced to merge the museum with the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie.

Today the museum contains permanent exhibits for mathematics, physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, and biology, featuring interactive experiments with commentaries by lecturers. It includes a Zeiss planetarium with 15-meter dome.

See also

* List of museums in Paris

References

* [http://www.palais-decouverte.fr Palais de la Découverte]
* [http://www.grandpalais.fr/en/The_building/The_building/p-570-The_palais_de_la_Decouverte.htm Grand Palais description]
* [http://www.paris.org/Musees/Decouverte/ Paris.org entry]
* [http://www.senat.fr/noticerap/2006/r06-354-notice.html "Le Palais de la découverte : un condensé de dysfonctionnements administratifs et politiques", Rapport d'information de M. Philippe ADNOT, fait au nom de la commission des finances, n° 354 (2006-2007) - 27 juin 2007]
* [http://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/20070705.FIG000000025_le_palais_de_la_decouverte_a_la_derive.html Figaro, "Le Palais de la découverte à la dérive", 14/10/2007 (French)]