Musée national des Arts et Traditions Populaires (France)

The Musée national des Arts et Traditions Populaires occupies a stark, minimalist building of concrete and glass at the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. It was built in the nineteen seventies to house a massive collection of everyday French objects, from rustic farm tools to traditional costumes. Georges Henri Rivière, the museum's founder, wanted to document a vanishing rural way of life before industrialization erased it entirely. He once famously insisted that even a simple wooden butter mold deserved the same scholarly attention as a king's portrait.