City of Science and Industry at La Villette

first      previous      next      last     

This is the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in the Parc de la Villette in northeastern Paris. It is a huge building housing a vast science museum, a media center, exposition halls, and other facilities, all oriented towards science and technology. Although “la Cité,” as it is sometimes called, is little known to tourists, it is well known to residents. If you are visiting Paris with children (or even if you aren’t) this excellent museum can make for a very enjoyable and long day. It’s great for those frequent rainy days in Paris.

The vast rectangular building with the blue roof is the Cité (the trees in front of it have gotten so big that it is hard to see now, especially in summer); the huge reflective globe slightly to the right and in front of the Cité is La Géode, one of Europe’s largest IMAX theaters. The trees and playground in the foreground are part of the Parc de la Villette, a vast and very pleasant, modern park of which the Cité and La Géode are a part (the park also includes exhibition and concert halls, and many other interesting things, such as a dynamic theater and a real submarine that you can tour). Most of the park is off to the right, outside of this picture. The water you see in the foreground is part of the Canal de l’Ourcq, which crosses the park. I took this from the elevated pedestrian walkway on the south side of the park, where it crosses the canal. On weekends with pleasant weather and in the summer, this park is packed with people.

Although the park is not very centrally located in Paris (it’s quite a distance from all other landmarks), there is a very nice, brand-new Holiday Inn right next to it (for convention and concert crowds, maybe?).

The Cité was designed by architect Adrien Fainsilber.

In keeping with its purpose, and in contrast with the backwardness of most other French companies and organizations with respect to cyberspace, the Cité has a Web site that you can visit.

Photographed on November 4, 1999.