★★★★★ 5.0
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Cité de la Musique
Right now, 7,000 musical treasures are sleeping inside this dreamlike stone building that architect Christian de Portzamparc built like a magical music town in 1995! He won the Pritzker Prize - that's like the Nobel Prize but for building amazing places - just one year before finishing this musical wonderland. Inside, you can actually SEE the real piano that Frederic Chopin played his famous melodies on, plus guitars owned by French singing legends. This incredible collection started way back in 1795 with just one tiny "instrument cabinet" at the old Paris Conservatory, and now it's grown into one of the world's biggest musical treasure chests right here on Avenue Jean Jaurès in Paris's 19th district!
Did You Know?
- The Cité de la Musique was part of French President François Mitterrand’s Grands Projets, a series of major cultural and architectural initiatives that transformed Paris in the late 20th century, and played a key role in reinventing the La Villette area from a former slaughterhouse district into a vibrant cultural hub.
- Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Christian de Portzamparc, the building is intentionally labyrinthine, with interconnected spaces, hidden passages, and shifting perspectives meant to evoke the experience of wandering through a 'dreamlike town'—a concept that composer Pierre Boulez likened to the ever-changing nature of music itself.
- The Museum of Music within the Cité de la Musique houses one of the world’s most important collections of musical instruments, including rare violins by Stradivari and Guarneri, historic French pianos, and saxophones by Adolphe Sax; visitors can listen to audio guides with music played on the actual instruments and often encounter live musicians performing and explaining the exhibits, making it especially engaging for families and children.