Gare d'Orsay

The Gare d'Orsay presents a long, ornate stone facade along the Seine that conceals a massive iron-and-glass vault originally built for steam trains. It opened for the nineteen hundred world fair to bring passengers directly into the heart of Paris. When electrification made the station obsolete by nineteen thirty-nine, the building sat mostly empty for decades. Officials even considered tearing it down until President Valery Giscard d'Estaing decided to preserve the structure as a national museum for nineteenth century art.