Locations

The Musée d'Orsay was opened to the public in 1986 in place of the former Gare d'Orsay (Orsay Station) which had become too short for modern electric trains. The building, a very imposing one, was built by architect Victor Laloux and inaugurated at the World Fair of 1900. It was designed to be perfectly integrated with its prestigious vicinity, the Louvre and the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, and also to include an hotel. The station building, one moment threatened of destruction, will be finally classified as an Historical Monument in 1978 and the decision was taken to amenage it as a museum under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's Presidency ( in 1977). The Orsay Museum was inaugurated by President François Mitterand in 1986. Its collection then regrouped, according to chronological criteria, art works coming mainly from the Louvre Museum, the Musée du Jeu de Paume and the Modern Arts Museum (this latter being today located in the Centre Georges Pompidou)