Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [66]
* * *
TRANSPORT: LATIN QUARTER & JARDIN DES PLANTES
Bus Panthéon for 89 to Jardin des Plantes & 13e (Bibliothèque National de France François Mitterrand); blvd St-Michel for 38 to Centre Pompidou, Gare de l’Est & Gare du Nord; rue Gay Lussac for 27 to Île de la Cité, Opéra & Gare St-Lazare
Metro & RER Cardinal Lemoine, Censier Daubenton, Cluny-La Sorbonne, Gare d’Austerlitz, Jussieu, Luxembourg, Maubert Mutualité, Place Monge, St-Michel
Boat Jardin des Plantes Batobus stop (quai St-Bernard)
Train Gare d’Austerlitz
* * *
INSTITUT DU MONDE ARABE Map
01 40 51 38 38; www.imarabe.org; 1 place Mohammed V, 5e; Cardinal Lemoine or Jussieu
The Institute of the Arab World, set up by France and 20 Arab countries to promote cultural contacts between the Arab world and the West, is housed in a highly praised building (1987) that successfully mixes modern and traditional Arab and Western elements. Thousands of mushrabiyah (or mouche-arabies, photo-electrically sensitive apertures built into the glass walls), inspired by the traditional latticed-wood windows that let you see out without being seen, are opened and closed by electric motors in order to regulate the amount of light and heat that reach the interior of the building.
The museum (adult/18-25yr/under 18yr €5/4/free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), spread over three floors and entered via the 7th floor, displays 9th- to 19th-century art and artisanship from all over the Arab world, as well as instruments from astronomy and other fields of scientific endeavour in which Arab technology once led the world. Temporary exhibitions (enter from quai St-Bernard; Map) involve a separate fee; combined tickets are available.
JARDIN DES PLANTES Map
01 40 79 56 01, 01 40 79 54 79; 57 rue Cuvier, 5e; 8am-5.30pm to 8pm (seasonal); Gare d’Austerlitz, Censier Daubenton or Jussieu
Paris’ 24-hectare botanical garden, founded in 1626 as a medicinal herb garden for Louis XIII, is idyllic to stroll or jog around. You’ll find a rosary, iris garden, the Eden-like Jardin d’Hiver (Winter Garden) or Serres (Greenhouses), renovated in 2008; the Jardin Alpin (Alpine Garden; Sat & Sun admission adult/4-15yr/under 4yr €1/0.50/free; 8-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 1-5pm Sat & Sun Apr-Oct), with 2000 mountainous plants; and the gardens of the École de Botanique, where students of the School of Botany ‘practice’ and green-fingered Parisians savvy up on horticultural techniques.
During the Prussian siege of Paris in 1870, most of the animals in the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes (adult/4-15yr/under 4yr €7/5/free; 9am-5pm) were eaten by starving Parisians. Though a recreational animal park, the medium-sized zoo dating to 1794 in the northern section of the garden does much research into the reproduction of rare and endangered species.
A two-day combined ticket covering all of the Jardin des Plantes sights, including the park’s mightily impressive Grande Galerie de l’Évolution (right), costs €20/15.
MOSQUÉE DE PARIS Map
01 45 35 97 33; www.mosquee-de-paris.org, in French; 2bis place du Puits de l’Ermite, 5e; adult/senior & 7-25yr €3/2; 9am-noon & 2-6pm Sat-Thu; Censier Daubenton or Place Monge
Paris’ central mosque, with its striking 26m-high minaret, was built in 1926 in the ornate Moorish style popular at the time. Visitors must be modestly dressed and remove their shoes at the entrance to the prayer hall. The complex includes a North African–style restaurant and hammam.
MUSÉE DE L’ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE-HÔPITAUX DE PARIS Map
01 40 27 50 05; www.aphp.fr/musee, in French; Hôtel de Miramion, 47 quai de la Tournelle, 5e; adult/13-18yr/under 13yr €4/2/free, 1st Sun of the month free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Sep-Jul; Maubert Mutualité
A museum devoted to the history of Parisian hospitals since the Middle Ages may not sound like a crowd-pleaser,