Musée de la Marine

The Musée de la Marine occupies the Palais de Chaillot, recognizable by its two curved, sweeping wings that frame a wide terrace overlooking the Seine. It holds a collection begun by King Louis the fifteenth, who started preserving elaborate ship models for naval training and displays of royal power. In seventeen forty-eight, he ordered that these intricate vessels be kept as a royal collection. Centuries later, Henri, a naval officer, spent years scouring attic corners to recover these same delicate, wooden, eighteenth-century frigates.