L'Institut du Monde Arabe
The Arab World Institute in Paris has great shows of Islamic art, a fabulous bazaar marketplace, amazing architecture, and the best unknown views in central Paris
The view from the cafe terrace atop the Institut du Monde Arabe, a bizarre building which mounts intriguing exhibitions and includes a tented bazaar of Arabian crafts.
This might very well be my favorite viewpoint in Paris.
The Arab World Institute has a cafe with a little outdoor terrace offers a fantastic view down the Seine to the backside of Notre Dame—the bit with all those flying buttresses—plus the building itself is a trip, if a bit hard to explain.
The amazing architecture of the Institut du Monde Arabe
The exterior walls of this institute of Arab studies are made up of mechanized metal irises—sort of like on an old SLR camera—of varying diameters sandwiched between sheets of glass.
A computer controls the opening and closing of these millions of tiny round holes so that when any one wall is in the shade, the irises on it open fully up to let in lots of light and heat, but when the sun hits them they all squinch up tight to block out the rays.
The idea is to help regulate the building's interior temperature with minimal use of artificial A/C and heating—though the bugs clearly were never properly worked out, since it only appears to work properly up to a point, with plenty of irises at varying levels of openness no matter what their neighbors are doing.
The exhibitions and the bazaar
Other reasons to love the Institute: it has a small museum that hosts excellent regular exhibits on Middle Eastern and Arab culture and artifacts (there is an admission fee for this), and on the little plaza out front there's a tented building turned into a permanent bazaar of Arabian crafts.
Also, it's really close to the Jardin des Plantes.
Tips
- Planning your time: Plan on at least an hour. To go up and see the view (and examine up close those weird mechanical walls), it'll take maybe 20 minutes. The frequent exhibits are small but usually interesting; another 20 minutes. Browsing the bazaar, another 15–20 minutes—more if you intend to bargain.
- Free admission with a sightseeing discount card: Get into exhibits at the Institut du Monde Arabe for free with either the Paris Sightseeing Pass
or the Paris Museum Pass.
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This article was last updated in March 2012. All information was accurate at the time.
Copyright © 1998–2012 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
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place Mohammed V at 1 rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard (along the quai Saint-Bernard at the pont de Sully)
Latin Quarter (5eme)
Tel. +33-(0)1-40-51-38-38
www.imarabe.org
OPEN
Jul-Aug:
Tues-Sat 1–6pm
Sep-Jun:
Tues-Fri 10am–6pm
Sat-Sun 10am–7pm
ADMISSION
Café: Free
Museum/Exhibits: €8
Paris Museum Pass: Yes (free)
Paris Sightseeing Pass
TRANSPORT
Métro: Jussieu (7, 10)
