Are you looking for the finest free museums in Paris to visit? Please continue reading for the specifics of my fantastic list!
There are more than 130 museums in Paris, all filled with beautiful art and history.
While most of Paris’s top museums charge admission, the city is home to several free museums where you can see amazing works of art, history, and culture without having to pay anything.
I’ve listed some of the top free museums in Paris in this guide.
7 Incredible, Free Museums in Paris
1. Le Petit Palais
The Petit Palais is a stunning structure created for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. It is an amazing tower with an enormous, decorated door and great artwork inside. It is located directly across the street from the Grand Palais, which is the building with the extensive green roof you see from the Eiffel Tower.
A significant portion of Petit Palais’s artwork is composed of plaster castings of original 1800s works of art that were shown throughout Paris.
Not only are the statues in the main art gallery amazing, but so is the exquisite arched hallway that leads to them.
The museum also contains numerous exquisite textiles and paintings, some of which are large-scale. Its collection includes works by well-known artists such as Monet, Rembrandt, Rubens, Cezanne, and Rodin.
Please take advantage of the garden cafe and courtyard; it’s tiny yet quite quaint and attractive. Not only is it an excellent free museum in Paris, but it also ranks among the best-hidden jewels in the city.
2. Musée Carnavalet
The Carnavalet Museum focuses on Parisian history. With displays spanning three to four stories of the enormous, ancient structure, it’s a significant museum dedicated to Parisian history.
I found the various signs and decorations at the museum entry, which were spread throughout Paris over the past 200 years, rather attractive.
The next portion, which was fascinating, is about Paris’s topography and growth. Several images, charts, and models depict Paris’s original layout as well as its varying dimensions, layouts, boundaries, and other features over time.
After that, you can begin exploring various halls devoted to different eras of Parisian history, from the Middle Ages to the present.
One of our favourite places was the area dedicated to the French Revolution. It included multiple replicas of the Bastille, the storming prison that catalyzed the revolution, and a fair amount of information about it.
We also found the paintings that showed important events—like taking the Bastille or Marie Antoinette’s being transported from the Conciergerie to be executed—to be quite fascinating.
One of the Carnavalet Museum’s strongest points is the enormous diversity of items that vividly depict history. In addition to paintings and sculptures, the exhibits featured furniture, signage, models, and relics. There were also interactive components, including manipulable exhibitions and brief movies.
Last but not least, make sure to explore the beautiful courtyard garden that is situated in the middle of the structure.
3. Musée de la Vie Romantique
The Dutch painter Ary Scheffer spent more than 20 years of his life in the 1800s in a modest cottage that is now the Museum of the Romantic Life.
Scheffer was a well-known artist and member of Parisian society, although he isn’t as prominent now as other artists from the 1800s. He hosted notable people, including Franz Lizst, Frederick Chopin, and Charles Dickens.
The museum takes visitors through the house’s rooms, showcasing artwork by Scheffer and his contemporaries in addition to historic furnishings and decor. Items belonging to George Sand, a very well-known female writer in the 1800s, are on display on the main floor of the home.
The property has a charming courtyard, garden, and external façade that give it the appearance of a detached house in the heart of a large metropolis. Adjacent to the house, a glass-enclosed sunroom that was constructed as an art workshop is now a café.
Even if the paintings are stunning, you can come here merely to see the little garden café.
4. Victor Hugo House
The home of Victor Hugo, often known as the House of Victor Hugo, is a modest but fascinating look at the life of one of the most well-known French writers in history. It is situated in the elegant and lovely Place des Vosges in the Marais area of Paris.
Victor resided in this apartment from 1832 to 1848, but he had to go into exile after opposing the coup d’etat that resulted in Napoleon III’s ascent to power in the 1850s. The majority of his banishment was spent on the British island of Guernsey.
You will explore the about eight rooms that make up his flats, which are beautifully furnished with a variety of Hugo’s real Parisian furnishings in addition to other pieces from his Guersney residence.
The rooms are reconstructed parts of Hugo’s several homes, not precisely as they were when he resided here.
In addition, there is artwork on exhibit that he once held and later pieces that depict his works (such as a beautiful painting of the Low back of Notre Dame). Victor Hugo himself is shown in multiple paintings, either by himself or with his family.
5. Musée d’Art Moderne
The Museum of Modern Art’s home, the Palais de Tokyo, is situated near Passerelle Debilly, one of Paris’s most beautiful bridges. It is directly along the Seine and offers a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower.
This museum has a large selection of modern art. The Electricity Fairy (shown above), a gigantic work that takes up an entire U-shaped space, is one of the most beautiful displays.
The painting shows how science and technology have developed while being supervised by the Greek gods and goddesses. Visitors can use interactive iPads to learn more about the many mural parts and the themes they depict.
Some of the finest artwork can be found beyond The Electricity Fairy, such as Henri Matisse’s “The Dance.” One of Matisse’s most well-known series of paintings, “The Dance,” was painted in multiple variants.
The remainder of the museum is filled with modern art, including paintings and statues. Although contemporary art sometimes receives a bad rap, this museum is filled with many stunning and fascinating items!
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed on Thursday.
6. Arènes de Lutèce
If the Arenes de Lutece is a less traditional museum, we will still classify it as such, as the Paris tourism website describes it! Located in the centre of the Latin Quarter, this landmark is actually the open-air ruins of an ancient Roman arena from the time the city was known as Lutecia.
The arena was built toward the end of the first century AD and was in use for two centuries.
The ruins of this arena were only found in the 1870s during excavations for a new structure, making it a very recent discovery.
You can now go inside the arena and through the tiny stands that are still there. A small garden/walking area encircles the arena’s exterior.
7. BNF Richelieu
It might be a stretch to classify the BNF Richelieu, also known as the Bibliotèque Nationale de France – Richelieu or the France National Library, as a museum. Still, in my opinion, it did have many characteristics of one.
First, while there are exhibitions here, admission is not free. The Oval Reading Room, on the other hand, is free to everyone. This is such a wonderful room!
The room’s large glass ceiling is clearly the focal point, even though the walls are covered in wood panelling, columns, and architectural decoration above numerous stories of books.
There are tables in the middle with people working and reading, but you can also go around the outside of the space to look through the books or take in the touchscreen exhibitions.
These immersive displays are essentially educational games. For example, in one, you had to locate a collection of various animals. In another, you could “participate” in the restoration of a book and learn about it. In a third, you could “try on” a historical costume that would move with you on the screen.
Free Entrance to Museums – Who Gets It and When
There are times when you may obtain free entry to the “regular” paid museums in Paris, but the permanent exhibits at the museums in this post are always free. What you should know about getting free admission to museums that charge admission is as follows:
Free Admission for Children
Children under the age of 18 have entry free of charge to the majority of museums and certain monuments in France, including the Arc de Triomphe. Furthermore, most museums and monuments offer free admission to EU citizens under the age of 26.
Little children can enter for free without presenting a photo ID. During my visit with my 10-year-old, I was frequently asked about her age but was never required to show a photo ID.
However, if you are travelling with a young adult or older child, you should bring identification to show that you are eligible for free admission.
Free Museum Day
Free Museum Day is usually held on the first Sunday of each month, and several museums in Paris take part in it. On certain Sundays, entrance is free for all guests.
While many museums take part in Free Museum Sunday, not all of them do. I’d check with the museums you might visit to make sure they have the rules you want. Furthermore, for Free Museum Day, reservations are required at some of these museums. Some of the well-known museums that take part year-round are as follows:
- Centre Pompidou
- Musée d’Orsay
- Musée Gustave Moreau
- l’Orangerie
- Musée Picasso
I suggest visiting the museum’s website to confirm if it will be participating in Free Museum Day in the fall, winter, or spring. Some museums that are not on this list might.
For example, the Louvre has a little different position. Every month, on the first Friday after 66 pm, with the exception of July and August, they provide free entrance.
Museums Without an Entrance Fee in Paris – The Wrap-Up
Many free museums in Paris display the city’s amazing history and customs. Even though visiting some of the more well-known, ticketed museums is highly recommended, many smaller museums can provide interesting experiences.