Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine

The Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine occupies the curved wings of the Palais de Chaillot, marked by giant colonnades and golden statues that frame the view toward the Eiffel Tower. It houses a vast collection of plaster casts of French medieval architecture, gathered in the nineteenth century when the state feared historic monuments were vanishing. When fire destroyed the old museum in nineteen ninety-seven, the architect Jean-Louis Cohen curated its rebirth, turning the space into a laboratory for studying how buildings evolve over time.