The Palais de la Découverte is a science museum located in the Grand Palais, in the 8th arrondissement on Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Palace of Discovery, inaugurated during the 1937 Exposition Universelle and thus the world’s first interactive museum, is a fascinating place to take kids thanks to its hands-on exhibits on astronomy, biology, medicine, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, physics and earth sciences. The museum also features a Zeiss planetarium with a 15 meter dome, as well as a circular ‘pi’ room, inscribed with 707 digits of the number π. It is open daily except Monday.
Recommended by:
Isabelle Guyon
Contact Details:
Avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 75008 Paris / +33 (0)1 56 43 20 20 / www.palais-decouverte.fr
I love science museums and this should have been one of the best. Compared with other museums there are a lot of lectures and demonstrations and these have a lot of talking in French – and I mean a lot. There are some really good exhibits but also a lot of slightly tired ones from a few decades ago. My teenagers did find plenty to do but it just wasn’t as much fun and as Science Museums in London or Amsterdam. (Mark)