Le Musée d’Orsay continues to be one of my favorite museums in Paris. Located on the south side of the Seine River in the 7th arrondissement, the Musée d’Orsay contains French artworks from 1848 to 1914 in the form of paintings, furniture, photography, and sculptures. The artwork within the Musée d’Orsay is the largest collection of both impressionist and post-impressionist artwork and features works from world renowned artists Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and more. Despite containing many priceless works of art, my favorite aspect of the Musée d’Orsay is that it was originally built as a train station, Gare d’Orsay, which traveled to Orleans and back. Before becoming a museum, the Gare d’Orsay also served as a mailing center during World War II.

The uniqueness of the Musée d’Orsay stands out amongst the other amazing museums in Paris because of its large, rounded ceiling. Unlike many museums in the city, the Musée d’Orsay has a very open and spacious feeling and does not separate its artwork into many different rooms.

Another aspect that’s unique to the Musée d’Orsay are the large clocks that are built into the building. Of course these clocks were most useful when the museum functioned as a train station. On the second floor of the museum there is a cafe next the one of the clocks of the museum. My favorite part was looking out the window across the Seine River and seeing le Sacre-Coeur and les Grands et Petits Palais.